Christmas 2010

2010 is over.  Whoa.  

Here's the Ussery Jr. Christmas recap:

We got a new camera.  This was the first picture I took with it.  Clearly, Jack was so confused by the different black box I was holding that he couldn't remember how to smile.  

Finley learned from his brother's mistake...

Ten minutes after the camera landed on our doorstep, we headed to Harbor Town to listen to Greg Russell (Gweg Wussell for those of you who know him) sing 'neath the big oak tree.  I failed to learn how to use the new camera in the 20 minute drive there.  Partly because I'm a victim of car sickness, and partly because the manual was in Spanish.

Regardless, this turned out to be a cool picture.

After the sing-a-long, the cousins played around in the yard and hugged for about 0.5 seconds.  Thanks to my new super fast camera, I was able to catch it on film.  Our lives are so much better now.

Finley hates candy canes.  Can't you tell?

Thankfully, we got to spend a good amount of time with these guys...We're excited for Smith Baby #2 to make his or her arrival in early Spring.  

This was a fun night.  We were in the Christmas spirit.  I hope to go again for 2011.  Hopefully this year we won't lose Jack for 5 minutes when he bolts towards Santa at the end of the show.  

On Christmas Eve, we did the 2nd annual Wrapping of the Door.  As much as I would like to claim this as my idea, I can't.  My friend, Jessi, clued me in on the awesomeness that is Wrapping of the Door.  Basically, it goes like this:  

Wrap the Door frame with wrapping paper....

...and on Christmas morning when you say it's "go" time, they bust through.

Finley got a Big Wheel.  Sadly it's too big of a Big Wheel, and he'll have to do some growing before he can ride it.  Oops.

Jack got an Iron Man head.  It talks and says things about checking your systems and having your repulsors ready.

And Mama got a shot gun. 

Actually, John's parents got the Ussery girls a joint gift this year because we had so much fun this past summer shooting skeet together.

This was just a very natural thing, so I took a picture of it...

**John got a Keurig coffee maker.  There's no picture of it here because that would require him to let it out of his loving embrace long enough to photograph it.  Seriously, it is the coolest thing.

Austin was receiving his baby Iron Man mission instructions from the giant Iron Man Head...

This is what Austin does when you say "What's your crazy face?"  He's so smart.  

On Christmas evening, we went to Trevor's parent's home for the annual gathering of neighbors and other random families.  There's always a one point ping pong tournament.  Everyone plays.  This year Jack made the bracket, which was the best Christmas gift he received.  

However, it was the worst news ever for Finn, because he was too small.  We tried to remedy the situation by letting him "play" with me, but that did not suffice.

The next day, all was forgotten. :)

So, Christmas was a lot of fun.  Our Christmas Eve service at LCC was the best I've ever been to.  The boys seemed to understand more this year about what Christmas really is.  One evening I let Jack watch a show that told the Christmas story on a child's level.  After the show, I asked him to retell me what he had learned.  Here was part of his reply:

"And then an angel showed up to Mary in her sleep and he said, 'Hey...don't be scared, but, girl, you're 'bout to get pregnant."

More on post Christmas fun coming soon. 

Maybe now that I have a new camera, and theoretically better photos, I'll blog more. 

Hopefully so!  These guys are hilarious, and we have some stories to share.