Christmas morning was memorable, we awoke to no electricity. So we lit 50 tea lights and armed ourselves with flashlights. 
Tiffany was over joyed with her American Girl Doll, she had been asking for her for over 6 months.
Tristan was pleased with his Game Stop gift card.
Tegan loved his Geo Trax Airplane.
We had a great Christmas morning.
In the evening we spent time with our cousins at Grandma's house.
Group pictures are the hardest! Especially when the B-day boy doesn't want his picture taken.
The kids loved playing together and working on there gingerbread houses. The kids took this on as a competitive adventure, boys vs girls...
They don't look to competitive here do they... maybe it was just the girls... I don't remember anymore how that played out. I just remember in the end the kids devouring this sweet treat!
As you can see Tiffany wasn't to happy that Grandma had her glasses on. A few seconds later though the glasses became Grandma's early Christmas gift to Grandma. Grandma's comment a little later "I can see better!" I looked at her puzzled, she said it so convincing. My reply "really?" She looked at me and gave me a look and said "No" silently. Once again we had to laugh out loud.
We had great fellowship and fun playing. Here are some of the CSI kids giving us a concert.
After the retreat we took some vacation time and had a great time at Disney.
Took in some mini golf.
We love the water!
We stayed at my favorite place again. Kidani Village at the Animal Kingdom. Here is one of our last pictures right before we left.
Disney put us into the Christmas spirit. We got the Christmas tree up and had the help of friends.
We also had one of the best Thanksgiving's, I will remember this as one of my favorites. Topped off with Mom crying and not being able to make it through what she was thankful for. Mom did all the cooking and did great!
Tristan then decided to be a pirate when we went Trunk 'r Treating on Wed night. 
Tegan dressed up as a Dragon. He was usually a sleepy dragon.
On Halloween we had a party with our friends. We had supper and then went trick r treating. The kids had so much fun being with all their friends. We all had a great time! Tristan is holding Tegan and yes, he is wearing a different costume. He is now a skeleton. Tegan always put his costume on last, it made him so hot that he would get so sleepy. 
Trying to pick the perfect pumpkin can be hard work!
It takes a lot of time to get that perfect pumpkin, even putting back a few before you can decide on the right one.
Tegan knew right away which one he was going to get.
Tristan went for the little pumpkins. I think he was drawn to the huge hill that made up the smaller pumpkins. He spent most of his time at that pile.
Tiffany had the hardest time trying to find her pumpkins. She had no problems getting the gunk out though. She not only cleaned out all her pumpkins, but helped Tegan finish his too.
As I watched the kids picking out their pumpkins, I cringed. It was so hard not to say anything. I did try to help, but that didn't get me anywhere. I would say "don't you want a bigger pumpkin"? :) Ronn finally said, why don't you pick out a pumpkin for yourself?:) Well, I didn't say much after that. :)
Our neighbor friend came to watch the game too. Tegan spent the whole time snuggling with her. Tegan loves her so much, he begs for her to hold him all the time. She is so patient with him. 
Tiffany has lost her other front tooth. Yah! Tiff's favorite thing about the soccer games is seeing her friends. I love watching her play and interact with others. She is actually very entertaining.;)
The kids enjoyed the Dinosaur exhibit. They also were drawn to the sand that the Dino's stood in. So that was interesting keeping them out of the sand.
As you can tell we loved this area. Tegan's favorite was the pig. Tiffany and Tristan fell in love with the donkey. As we left the donkey put his ears down and followed us out as we left. I think he captured all our hearts. ( *disclaimer not all of us loved the petting zoo, Ronn does not like petting zoo's so he took pictures instead.):)
Disney has a new movie coming out, A Christmas Carol. To publicize the movie they have set up a train for people to walk threw. They have the characters of the movie, models of the scenes and how they made the movie. The movie comes to theaters Nov. 6th, 2009.
Here is our long wait! Would we have waited if we did not psych the kids up? No Way! This is looking at just one end of the line. It was also hot! It really felt like Disney!! Long lines and freaking hot! :)
We are about to board the train, just 2 hours 45 min 54 seconds to wait for this one time experience. 
The rooms where set up so beautiful. They had some interactive areas and how they made the movie. These pictures are just some of the characters that are in the movie.
Our trip back to the car was filled with fun too. The kids loved the air rushing into their mouths. Reminds me of dogs sticking their heads out of the car window. :)
