Ruddick Family Records: December 2009

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

December 27th

Matching sweaters from Gr. Grandma & Gr. Grandpa Ruddick:

After church on Sunday my family gathered one more time at our house to spend time with my aunt, uncle, & cousins from Portland. We had a fun time visiting, playing foosball, and eating together--we made soft tacos and snacked on leftover Christmas goodies. (:

Birthday gifts for the Novemberists from the Neals

Uncle Truls, Papa, Eleanor, and Aunt Robin

Hannah, Cedar, & Sadie

I finally remembered to take a picture of our decorated house.

the day after

Since Erik was in town for one more day we all decided to get together for pizza and games the day after Christmas. Josh was excited to try out his new foosball table (with some good competition), and we got to play our new game, Jungle Speed. Erik's friend, Laura, was there too, and we all enjoyed getting to know her. (:

Griffin challenged Laura to a light saber duel.

Soon she was surrounded by the mob of kids!

Jungle Speed

Monday, December 28, 2009

Ruddick Family Christmas

Our final stop on Christmas was Josh's parent's house. We got there around 3:30 joining Josh's two sisters & their families, and his grandparents (Grammie & Grandpa Lermo). We ate a delicious meal together, opened gifts, and watched the kids play with their new treasures.

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care....

It's tradition to take pictures by the tree, and that always includes silly poses by Erin, Josh, & Amy. (:

It's so nice to have the older cousins there to help with the younger ones!

All 8 Cousins:

Dylan, Griffin, Lydia, Macey, Audrey, Ronan, Ethan, and Emma (in front)

Josh got new tool kits for the boys. Ronan got one when he was two years old and it got well used & worn out during our house construction. Now they each have one to use on pretend projects. (:

The Greens gave this to Ronan and it was a huge hit. He said, "This is exactly what I wanted!" (:

Aren't they cute together? (:

I drew Mom's name and gave her a Snuggie and some of the murder mystery DVDs that she likes.

Josh gave Dad the Band of Brothers Blu-ray set

Hecht Family Christmas

We all gathered at Mom & Papa's house around 11:30 for brunch and presents! I'm always amazed at the enormous pile of gifts--even when we say we're trying to scale down!

Ronan & Sadie waiting so patiently for the gift giving to begin.

Our 12th Christmas together

Ronan, Cohen, Finn, & Griffin are all getting guns like this in the mail from Memaw & Papa--any day now!

Papa drew Josh's name this year and gave him an Epiphone guitar!

Kenton drew my name, and he (& Katrina) picked out this cute apron for me. (: I also got some fun jewelery and pretty sweaters.

Ronan got a Zhu Zhu pet!

sweet sleepy Cedar

Erik got some cooking essentials for his new apartment. (;

Christmas morning

I woke up early on Christmas morning to prepare food for our day full of family gatherings. I like to be the first one up on Christmas so that I can have the video camera ready to catch the boys coming down the stairs and seeing the presents for the first time! Ronan came down first and seemed stunned by all the presents. He sat on the couch and just stared at the tree. (: Then he started getting anxious for Griffin & Josh to wake up, so after a little while I let him go wake them up. Ronan was excited to see the Santa wrapping paper...this was the first year that he had specific items on his wish list and wrote a letter to Santa. It was so much fun for Josh and me to experience the excitement of Christmas through the eyes of our boys!

Ronan looking for his name on the gifts, while Griffin was still trying to wake up. (:

Opening gifts from daddy's best friend, "Uncle" Logan,

Griffin: "What's it gonna be?"

Griffin got the Monty Rex moving dinosaur from Santa

cool new pirate ship!

Josh and the boys got me my very own set of pink tools. (:

Just what Ronan wanted & had asked Santa for!

A pearl necklace for me from Josh.

I surprised Josh and got him one of his most favorite things: a foosball table!

Christmas Eve

We hosted dinner at our house on Christmas Eve and everyone pitched in to help. Josh and Erik started making sushi at 3:00, and when the Henrys arrived around 5:00 Kenton took on frying up the tempura. I made orange chicken and yakisoba noodles, and my mom brought egg rolls. It all tasted great and we ate as much as we could--and still had leftovers.

The sushi & tempura chefs in action. It was quite a production!