Christmas 2010

This Christmas Tour '10 began with an injury


Celebrating my birthday at my parents'

Christmas at Dee Dee and Pap's

Brother-in-law love

Ben and Daddy

Rhyne got the best dirty Santa - Burger King

gift cards- thanks Craig

Playing with her brother's toy

Dee Dee

Making cookies for Santa
(gluten free of course)

Christmas Eve at Nani's

Nani (my aunt), Paw Paw, and Dee Dee (my mom)

Ready to eat

Bernie and Ben checking out the goods

Putting food out for Santa's reindeer

Ben's Santa gifts

Will's Santa gifts

AP's Santa gifts

Santa had sweet elves this year to help him-

Boots (my brother) put together all three

4-wheelers for Santa - he even personalized

the boys'

AP doesn't know what to think

The Buzz Lightyear with the BLUE

UTILITY belt - Santa had a hard time

finding this exact one

Ben riding his 4-wheeler

Will

AP has to be able to roll with her brothers

Pop and Ben

Grandmother and Ann Phelps

Opening presents at Grandmother's house

Showing Uncle James the Christmas morning video

Christmas at Maw Maw's

Sister-in-laws

our attempt at a family pic

We were blessed with another great Christmas this year! We got to visit with family and make many memories! I am having a hard time typing this post because I am down to one hand! At the beginning of our Christmas tour, I decided to smash my left hand middle finger in my Dad's car seat! I had to get stitches and I passed out three times - talk about making memories!! Poor Rhyne had to go through the Christmas tour acting as mama and daddy!! Needless to say, he asked his mom to come back with us to help me this week - what a blessing! The pictures show the abundant blessings God has given us! The greatest is His Son! We look forward to 2011!

The Days before Christmas

The boys made lots and lots of Christmas crafts

We visited the new Children's Museum -

Ben letting his inner artist out

It took Ben only 10 minutes after we arrived

at the museum to get lost from us - in this picture

we are on the 3rd level and he has made it to the 2nd level alone!

Gassing up the car at the museum

AP being a fly on the wall

Decorating Christmas trees at school

Counting down the days til Christmas (it was the

16th when I took this pic!)

Lots and lots of Christmas crafts

One of Ben's crafts

Will made this for us at school - so sweet!

AP modeling her Christmas tights

Enjoying the Canton Christmas Celebration

Canton

We had to bring Otis to see the lights!

In this picture, Ben is very upset and crying because

we have to leave the firetruck and train! This is a

REAL picture of everyday life!

This is a picture diary of what the Hooks family has been up to these past few weeks. We are all ready for Christmas - I am ready because my kids are so wild right now due to the excitement! As I type, I am thinking about my birthday tomorrow - my family has always joked with me that my birthdays are a month-long celebration and no one's birthday is as special as Beth's! I guess that is what happens when you have a birthday so close to Christmas! Well, I don't know if it is the fact that I am getting old or that I have three kids, but birthdays have lost a lot of magic for me! I wouldn't trade it though - God has blessed me beyond measure!!

A new beginning

I always thought when we lost Buster (our Chihuahua) and Duke (our black lab) we would be dog-free for a while. Having three kids in 5 years has been tough and we didn't think we wanted to add the stress of raising a dog from scratch until the kids got older.......never say never! As I mentioned in the post before, Duke had to be put down this week and it broke our hearts. Rhyne and I have never been dog-less before. I thought about it for 48 hours and thought about how much fun the kids would have getting to grow up with a dog. They always seemed disappointed that Duke and Buster where past their playful years. I also saw how sad my husband was - only one thing (one completely CRAZY thing) could be done - I started searching for a black lab puppy!! I know I should be committed to a mental hospital! But I surprised Rhyne yesterday with our newest addition: Otis! The kids are already in love!!! I guess we are just dog-lovers who will ALWAYS have a furry friend around- the house doesn't feel right without one!!