ST. LOUIS CHRISTMAS

For our 4th Christmas celebraton...we headed down to St. Louis to celebrate with Papa and DD.

Emily and Molly Moo
Adam and Maggie May

Daddy & Adam

Time for presents!

Adam opening the PS2

TAYLORVILLE CHRISTMAS

The day after Christmas we went to Uncle Jon's house in Taylorville. We played a pretty competitive game of "Christmas Carol Pictionary" and then stuffed ourselves with a great dinner. Then it was time for the first annual Christmas Swap. All the adults bought a $50 gift and then we played where you could steal from someone. It was a big hit...and was decided to do it again next year.

Cousin Jeff and Emily

The "other" Aunt Stephanie (Jeff's wife) and Buster the dog

During the Pictionary game
The winning team Starting the swap Judy and Buster

More swapping

CHRISTMAS MORNING

The kids woke us all up at 7:30. I think they particularly enjoyed jumping on Aunt Stephanie and ripping off her blankets!! It was a fun morning opening presents and seeing what Santa brought!


Rob modeling the Bears stocking cap to go with the ticket to the Dec. 28 Monday Night Football game I bought him.

Emily loved her new Hello Kitty nightgown!

A new pair of "real" golf shoes for Adam!

Making "Morning Glories" for a Christmas toast

Nickie...the Christmas dog

New Bears-wear

Emily loved her new Taylor Swift CD that Santa left in her stocking!

Making bracelets and necklaces with the new jewelry kit

CHRISTMAS EVE

We spent Christmas Eve at Grandma's this year. Had a wonderful dinner, went to candlelight service at St. John's at 7:30, then back to Grandma's for cookies and spent the night at her house.

Stephanie, Grandma, Jennifer & Emily

Grandma and her two favorite kids!

WHEATON CHRISTMAS

We celebrated Christmas with the Russell's on the 19th in Wheaton. It was a fun day of helping wrap presents they bought for children at their church, sledding, snacking, fixing dinner and finally...opening presents!! We also played "Christmas Carol Pictionary" even though Rob and Aaron would have rather just watched football!

The kids pose for the annual picture!

Emily opening some cool new jewelry.
The boys showing off a few of their gifts.
Kelsey got some new Bath & Body stuff.

Molly, the newest Russell family member, relaxin under the Christmas tree.

Bundled up and ready for some sledding!

Making snow angels and throwing snowballs!

Family dinner :) Thanks Colleen for making a great meal!

DISNEY WORLD VACATION!!!

After a year and 1/2 of planning and preparation, the Powers Family finally made it to Disney World (and back!) and had the time of our lives! Even Rob is planning the next trip! We stayed at Disney's Pop Century Resort for 5 nights. We visited one park each day, Hollywood Studios, Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom and Epcot. We opted out of the two water parks because we wanted to spend our time at the other parks, but all agreed we would do one of them next time we go (and probably skip Animal Kingdom, which was our least favorite). The weather was great, there were no crowds and we never waited more than 30 minutes for a ride or show. It was truly a "magical" vacation!!! Here are just a few sampling of pictures. I'll post a few more later, but don't worry, I won't post all 410 that I took!!!

Here we are arriving on WDW grounds! Rob and the kids pose by our pool
Character breakfast at Chef Mickey's - a fabulous buffet!
Goofy and the Powers!

Daddy and Emily on Dumbo

When they lit the castle it was just breathtaking!

Our resort

Magic Kingdom

Meeting Cinderella (who told Adam he was a very handsome Prince Charming!)

Sleeping Beauty

Arriving at Epcot

The entrance to our resort

Mowgli and Baloo (from The Jungle Book) at the entrance to our building.

Outside our room