Merry Christmas!

Santa was here!

Avery was the first one awake. After she woke everyone up at 6:15am, they all opened up their bedside gifts then all of the kids came into our room to exchange their pollyannas with each other.

Kamryn peeking down the stairs!

First stop, stockings!

The magic of the day!

Last gift to open was a gift for the entire family, XBOX Kinnect.

Daddy building Kamryn's Barbie house.

Kylie and Kamryn playing Barbie's

In the afternoon our company arrived. The Kelly Family, Nana and Poppop, Aunt Jane, Amy, Dave, and Grammy. We all had so much fun.

Kylie and Shauna.

It was such a wonderful Christmas!

Christmas Eve

Here our Madison, Ally, and Kylie on Christmas Eve. This year was a first. CJ and Chelsey both had to work on Christmas Eve and missed a lot of our family get together.

My mom and dad opening up one of their gifts.

Chris and Alan being goofy.

One of my favorite parts of Christmas Eve is when Santa drives through the neighborhood on a fire engine. Of course he always seems to arrive right as we are about to sit down to dinner.

Poppop opening up a lil box of chocolates.

Yeah, Chelsey arrived!

Finally, around 8:30 CJ came home, making our night complete!

Avery's concert

Avery had two concerts this year, one for chorus and one for orchestra. Here she is singing. Unfortunately, the morning of her orchestra concert, she up sick and missed it.

A Hartman Thanksgiving

This year for our annual Hartman Turkey Bowl, we had shirts made up. Thanks to Jill's friend who designs logos and someone Chris knows who does shirts, we all looked fabulous this year!
This is such a great way to start off our 'Hoilday Season.' No one seems to mind the cold or the early morning hour we meet to play.

Daddy and Kamryn on the same team.

Madison and CJ waiting to play.

Avery's turn.

Kylie laughing at one her cousins no doubt.

After the game, we headed home, cleaned up, and had Nana and Poppop over for a visit.

Madi and I.

Our dinner guests arrived

A Visit to st. Nick

Kamyrn has been so excited to see Santa this year. But once again she is too scared to sit on his lap or talk to him. Last year only she and Avery went to see Santa. This year she asked all of her siblings to go with her. (Perhaps she had a little prodding from me to get them to go.) Ironically, it was CJ and Kylie who agreed to go right away. Madison agreed once she found out that her older siblings were going. Avery gave us the hardest time. She is too old to want to sit on Santa's lap, and too young to understand that you're never too old for this. So now the hard part, trying to find a time in our crazy busy schedules to go see Santa. We had a one hour window on Sunday between 6 and 7 pm. Great time to go, NO LINE. As we got closer and closer to Santa, Kamryn got more and more nervous. As we were about to walk up to Santa, she turned around and asked her big brother to hold her. Thank you to my big kids for going with your little sister to see Santa. I will love this pic forever!

Parade Time!

On Saturday Avery and her cheer squad walked in the Lansdale Parade. The big kids were not home, so it was just Chris, Kamryn, and I. Here is our baby waiting for the parade to start, and chomping on some pizza.

Chris waiting patiently!

Kamryn and daddy.

As the keeper of the camera, I very rarely end up in a picture. In order to make an appearance, I handed Kamryn the camera to take our picture. Nice work, KB!

We got to our spot 45 minutes before the parade started. This is how Kamryn entertained herself, torturing her dad.
Finally, the parade started. Even though we have lived her for 13 years, we have never gone to the parade. We have really missed out, it was fabulous. We will definitely be sure to go again next year.

Here is our Avery walking in the parade.

Gotta love a man on stilts!

Yes, my husband jumped out of his seat to stand in front of the giant wiener and asked me take his picture.

Avery's squad walked toward the beginning of the parade. As soon as she passed up, Chris walked up to the end of the parade and met Avery. He then brought her back to our spot so she could enjoy the rest of the parade with us.

Getting ready for the grand finale......Santa's arrival.