Livingston, Texas

 We drove a couple hours out to Livingston to visit Sam's longtime friend, Keith.

 Bex having fun with Daddy

 We brought Keith and his wife, Carol, Christmas presents to open. 

 Emily snuggling with Sam while Carol unwrapped her gifts.

 Keith was Sam's limo driver when he did all his Elvis performances.  They have such a fun history together!

 I got the thrill of thumbing through stacks of old piano music that Carol had collected throughout the years!  I was drawn to them like a magnet and was excited to be able to take the original edition of Clair de lune by Debussy home with me.  It will take a ton of practice to get this one down and it is extremely difficult for me to play, but I love this song so much!  I am definitely up for the challenge!

 Katie taking a turn on the piano

 All the kids loved their dog "Baby"

Here is Rebecca trying to feed Baby and she loved Baby's tail.

At one point, Rebecca curled up into the doggie bed like she was ready to fall asleep

My favorite picture of Baby, Keith, Carol and Sam 

 And our group shot missing Katie who was outside exploring the big yard.

It is always hard to say goodbye - here is Emily not wanting to let Baby down, hoping to sneak the dog into our van!  Always fun to visit good friends!



The Lazy Rollers

 With family in town, of course we had to go bowling!  We had 3 lanes all together and the team name for our lane was The Lazy Rollers. 

 Matthew showing his stuff!

 Rebecca helped mom bowl often.  Here we are watching the ball slowly, slowly, slowly roll down the lane. 

 Sam and Bex bowling beside Kylie

 It was such tough competition!

 Emily and Maren side-by-side

 Parker got a few good bowls in!

 Greatest scorekeeper!

 Lefty Sam showing off!

 We love bumper bowling!

 Not everybody liked waiting for their turn.  Matthew, Mom and Bex waiting.

 Dan and Amy Rogers side-by-side

 Kylie and Emily playing during their break

 Emily and Kylie bowling

 And the crowd looks on!

 Katie got a spare!

 Root beer break with Emily, Kylie and Bex.

 Maren and her mom Amy side-by-side.

 Parker hanging out with Bex

We may not be professional bowlers, but everybody sure had a great time!

Go Lazy Rollers!



Pounce!

 Whenever the Whimpey family gets together, there is always time for Pounce!  We love gaming it and this card game happens to be our favorite!

 Elisa, Amy, Ashley, Amy and Brad ready to get the game started!

 I have to actually admit that Brad did win one round!  (that does not happen very often, but since I let him sit in my hot seat - where I won a couple rounds - he was bound to have my awesomeness rub off!) 

 Elisa and Amy bringing the competition out!

And of course our #1 cheerleader Rebecca!

  Katie is definitely old enough to learn how to play this game now so she got in on some of the action too!  We will have to practice lots before our next go round!

Fun Family Game Night!

Christmas Morning

Santa did make it to our house this year! 

Before the kids came down to look under the tree...

The excitement as everyone headed down the stairs!

I love all the facial expressions captured on our new camera! 

Each of the kids took turns opening one present at a time around the room.  Katie was excited to get this lamp...only where is the rest of it?

Rebecca really tore into her presents this year and was such a joy to watch!

Emily was very excited to get her LPS!

All of the kids got bathrobes - here is Matthew doing his funky dance to show his off!

Katie's excited face when she opened her cellphone was the best to watch!  We made her open that gift last of course and it was well worth the wait!

I was very excited to get a new watch from Sam and a Ninja blender!

Here is Emily posing with all her new gifts!  She was such a happy girl and scored with her very own DS!

Here is Rebecca's score on Christmas gifts this year!  She still loves dolls and takes them everywhere she goes!

This is Matthew's big pile of gifts with his very own DS as the biggests highlight for him!

Katie's gift pile with her cellphone as her favorite!

And this is what we are going to see a lot from Katie - a lot of sass with her new phone!

Aerial view of the mess after unwrapping!

Emily got a new Barbie makeup kit that we immediately put to good use!

Makeovers for everyone!

The girls sporting their new fashion style!

Rebecca helped me open my gifts

Rebecca tackling some more presents!

Matthew had fun opening his gifts

It was actually very peaceful after the gifts were all opened because Matthew and Emily both started playing their DS's in separate rooms quietly. 

We are so blessed to be able to share these gifts with eachother and thankful for the holiday season to draw nearer to eachother in love and friendship!

Merry Christmas to all!