Mountain Mornings and the TICKLE MONSTER

The 2nd half of Christmas break (after the 24-hour flu bug in the middle) was spent in Scofield. 

Linaya slept fairly horribly and was up before the sun, just about every morning. 

The only perk to that........... Seeing a gorgeous SUNRISE! 

and.......... being the first to turn on the Christmas tree lights each day. 

 This year's tree just MIGHT be the prettiest ever. Perfectly shaped! 

Luke was back and forth a lot with work..... and one of those days I went with him to take Adelia and Linaya to the doctor, each getting diagnosed with ear infections. Oh they were sick!
But we did manage to find some time to play in the snow and have some good old fashioned Scofield fun. 

My dad was sure to read "The Tickle Monster" book for all the grand kids several different times.
New Years Eve was no exception.  He donned the fluffy gloves and read the book before tackling each kid to give them their tickle. :) My kids just eat it up!

 Even the babies weren't spared!

We couldn't resist showing off our beards for my side of the family. 

New Years was fun....... we had my Great Aunt Katherine and Uncle Ken up to the cabin. We sang some songs, told some fun stories of holiday's from the past, played games, ate lots of treats... had a divine steak dinner, sipped sparkling cider and got midnight kisses from some pretty cute girls and one handsome dude.  It was the first year letting the older 2 girls stay up... they were just having too much fun to put them to bed. okay, I take that back. Around 11:45 Adelia hit the end of her fun but we just let her rest because really, what are 15 more minutes at that point?
Anyway, happy new years to all of you! So far this year I have already had more doctor visits than I have in the last 5 years total with one illness after the other, but here's to a healthy remainder of January and on through the year! 

CHRISTMAS 2013!

Christmas morning was very unusual this time. I heard the kids awake at 7 am so I told them I'd wake everyone else up and THEN we could go see if Santa came. I went to wake Monica and Chris but their room was empty. Courtney came out of her room to tell me they took Monica to the E.R. really early in the morning because she was in so much pain. She had kidney stones in November and was again in a lot of pain but it seemed different this time. She worried she had appendicitis.  

Seeings as 2 of the bigger kids were theirs, we decided it best wait until they came home.  It was difficult, but we held the kiddos off for 3 hours until Monica, who was in fact, passing more kidney stones, came home.  

Meanwhile, I got some good pictures of what Santa brought while the kids watched a movie in Grandpa's bed. 

The Santa Loot:

Bert and Belinda's

 The Bingham's 

 Courtney and James' 

And our Girls' stash: 

 Santa brought all the kids a new bike (well Linaya and Gauge got something to ride on, anyway)

Tianna and Adelia also got helmets, some new markers, a wood giraffe craft for Tianna to color and a unicorn for Adelia, stars for their bedroom ceiling and each a new little book.

A Better look at Tianna and Adelia's stuff

 Santa Claus brought our dog, Copper, a warm jacket, a mouse toy for Willy the Cat, and Luke and I a new faucet/sprayer for our kitchen. THANKS SANTA-- we needed one in a bad way!

 Linaya got a little Minnie Mouse airplane, a GIANT Minnie, a little baby doll, and a book about ... ?? you guessed it, Minnie! I am sensing a theme....

This is where we tried occupying the kids...... Move over Grandpa! 

 Hey look! Santa ate the treats they left out for him.

 Christmas Eve we decorated this fun house. Santa also liked it.

 More pictures of us killing time.................. 

I assume that was Linaya's happy face? 

OHhhh finally they get to go see what Santa Clause brought!!!
As expected, immediately Linaya tried to claim Gauge's Cozy Coupe. She has one like it at home, so obviously, she needs his too.

 This is what the Giant Minnie is for-- tackling!

 1....2... 3.... out!

 Oh.... turn-about is fair play! She didn't like when Minnie was on top of her nearly as much!

 oh back to the Cozy Coupe

 and back to the airplane... and back to the Minnie........... She had a very busy morning!

 Aunt Monica made this adorable Minnie Mouse hat.

 Luke's mom knitted EVERY person in the family an awesome beard!

 We gave the 4 oldest kids a marshmallow gun. When paired with their rockin' beards, they looked especially tough!

 We donned our beards and headed off to Great Grandma and Grandpa Peacock's house

HAIRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW BEARD 

from the Peacock's, Ya'all!