Family Christmas 2011--Pictures

Because of everybody's schedules, we ended up having our family Christmas on December 30th. All were gathered at our house. We had a great dinner of tacos as, after celebrating with big dinners all week, we wanted something simple. After dinner, we waited for the highlight of the evening; because of modern technology, we were able to see Kim and the kids open their presents from us and from cousins via X box 360 video Kinect. I remember when we moved to Pennsylvania and how grateful I was for modern technology so I could talk to my parents..the modern technology was a telephone.

Here is our first picture when the connection was made. We could see the Brown family and they could see the Petersen family. This was such a great part of the evening.

A great picture of the 4 Brown girls. With my camera
I was able to take pictures of the TV and have photos
of Kim and her kids on Christmas.

The cousins from Vegas were able to watch
little Kyle open their present for him.

Isabella had to check out Kyle's new toy

This is our crew watching the Browns on TV

We were watching Blake open a present. Look
at Kaylin on the right side. Doesn't she look
so excited?

Hayes was so excited about his Harry Potter
book that he received from his cousin in Vegas.

If they aren't in Beaumont to get a picture of
all four of them, I will take the picture off the TV

Mark liking what is in the box

Don't ever try to take a picture if Kyle is in
the room. This is the picture you end up with.
I was trying to take a picture of Emma.

With Kyle out of the picture, you can see Emma
with her Cabbage Patch tiger. The High School
that she attends in Katy, Texas has the tiger
as their mascot.

Kyle loves his book

...and Gabi loves her Squeakies DS game.

Drake with that great smile

Braydon was so excited about his Captain America
shield that he didn't notice the shirt that was in
the package. The shirt says NYPD on it. We had
to explain to him why I loved the shirt being a New
York native (and having a nephew that works for the
NYPD)

Hayes and Syd with their Kindles

I believe that Hayes is taking photo lessons from
his Uncle Kyle

A few years ago, Emma decided that Batman
was her hero. For some reason this year, Syd
decided that Superman was her hero. Being that
we love to give our grandchildren books, grandma
pulled through with Batman and Superman books
(maybe not exactly on their reading level)

She is so beautiful inside and out

And another little beauty with her new book

...and with her miniature American Girl doll

Isabella opened her gift and then lugged
it over to Maren

Braydon loves Ninjagu

Syd and her great Superman jewelry from

Aunt Maren

Isabella's "I'm cute" pose

We may not have a picture of all 13 of them
together, but a picture of 4 and a picture of
9 is just fine with us for now.

Merry Christmas from our house to yours. We had a great time as a family and wish you all could have shared it with us. We hope these pictures will give you a little idea of all the fun we had.