Christmas With The Schuiteman's

The day after Christmas we headed to my parents to celebrate Christmas with my family.  

Our table is officially full and the kids filled up two other tables.  It is amazing to see how our family has grown over the years.  

Max gave a few "mmmmmmmm's" as he enjoyed grammy's Christmas brunch.  We always have grammy's egg bake, fruit parfait, muffins and the yummy peaches and cream.  

When there are 11 grandchildren there just isn't room for the stockings to be hung so grammy shifted to baskets.  Look at that row of kids.  God is good ... we are blessed!

Next it was the adults turn to open their stockings.  We all still love the little treasures my mom finds to fill our stockings with ... still children at heart!

Alexa snapped a picture of Eric and I as we were going through our stocking.

We surprised Papa and Grammy with a new TV. 

With all the additions to the family we were all agreed that our kids are blessed and really don't need anything.  So we simplified Christmas this year in the gift giving department.  It was so nice to feel like things were crazy with presents and paper flying everywhere but instead our focus was on each other.  

Our afternoon was spent playing games with cousins ....

getting tickled by uncles ...

trying to figure out the new scooter ...

playing Nerf guns ....

and of course sipping some soda!  The adults had fun playing the dice game while the kids played their hearts out. 

We finished the night trying to get a picture of all the kids in their matching pj's on papa and grammy's bed. This is about as good as it gets with the whole gang!  I vividly remember taking this picture last year as we were so close to traveling to bring Max home.  Shane was the only little boy and I couldn't wait to see Max in the mix this year!



Little did we know that in the past year God would bless our family with a few other precious boys! 

Look at all those little girls! 

We had a wonderful time celebrating Christmas with our family!

Easter Celebration

Easter is a holiday that I have always loved.  Celebrating Christ's resurrection and victory over death is something I pray I never take for granted.  Since the death of my friend Leigh Ann Easter continues to bring new feelings and emotions.  Singing, hearing and reading about Christ's victory over death and heaven penetrates my heart at a deeper level. I can't help but think how amazing the Easter celebration she is experience in heaven is. 

This year Easter also was a celebration of new life in our family.  We have been blessed with the sweetest little boy from China.  Through our journey to him and back home God has taught me so much.  One of those things is how much love my heavenly father has for me.  He sacrificed his only son in order to give me life.  He loves me like his own and has adopted me into his family.  The depth of this love didn't resonate to the depths of me until I held Max in my arms and felt this overwhelming love for him.  What a love ... what a gift. 

Alexa Grace - 8

Emma Faith - 7

Shane - 5

Max - 20 months

Sweet Sisters!

A proud big brother!

This is one of my favorite shots of the day.  Cousin Bailey helping Max up!

After a yummy lunch the kids changed out of their Sunday best and were ready for some backyard fun! The first stop was the sun room to see what treats grammy and papa put in their Easter baskets.  Our line of little ones with baskets just keeps growing.

It is always exciting to see what treats grammy finds for the baskets. After the baskets were emptied it was time for Easter Egg Hunt.

It took very little time for Max to catch on to this fun game.

The kids were off, quickly covering every inch of the yard in search of the Easter eggs.

And of course an Easter is not complete without the appearance of the Easter pig.

Max wasn't one bit scared and was ready to share his eggs with him.

When Max discovered there were treats in the eggs this is what he thought "oooooooo"

The eggs were emptied and everyone filled a bag with yummy treats to take home.

It was a picture perfect day! We had so much fun just sitting around, chatting and watching the kids play.

Papa is always up for some fun.  

We broke out the bubble guns from the Easter baskets.  The kids had fun chasing the bubbles around the yard.  There were a lot of smiles and giggles. 

The kids decorated the cookies we had cut out and cooked the day before.  They thought it was great to pile it high with frosting and sprinkles.

In the afternoon we headed over to Eric's sisters house to finish off the day.  The kids were excited to see and hold their neighbors baby kittens. 

Alexa loves animals so she was in her glory! 

Max was trying to figure out what "gentle" meant! It was his first interaction with an animal. 

We finished off the evening with a yummy dinner and another Easter egg hunt. 

The kids loved spending time with their cousins. 

We are blessed!

Christmas At Papa And Grammy's House

On Saturday we went to my parents to celebrate Christmas.  We all gathered to take the traditional Christmas picture while all the kids were awake and happy.  I love seeing how our family grows and changes every year! 

We started the morning with a yummy brunch that my mom made.  Every year we have peaches and cream, egg bake, fruit and granola, muffins and this year she added a baked french toast.  

What a full table! 

The four youngest get a little eating in but a lot of socializing!

We then moved into the family room for stockings and baskets.  There is not enough room to hang all the stockings so Grammy fills baskets for the kids.  It is something they look forward to every year! 

They love all the goodies that Grammy finds for their baskets! Socks, underwear, lotion, ornaments, movies,  ......

Then it was the big kids turn to open their stockings.  We all love the fun things that my mom finds for our stockings too. We look forward to them every year.  

We gathered in the sun room to open gifts.  The scenery was picture perfect this Christmas.  It truly was a beautiful white Christmas!

Oh the many expressions of Christmas above! Christmas through the eyes of a child is priceless!

Speaking of priceless! Don't you just want to kiss my niece's cheeks! She was such a fun addition to the celebration this Christmas!

Shane was pretty tuckered out after all the days of fun. He decided to relax a little while as he flew his new Geo-Trax airplane.

The kids were begging to get out in the snow.  

Darby and Alexa spent hours in the snow.  A highlight for them was playing hide and seek with Papa and Aunt Ang.

Emma was all about trying to find the biggest icicle

The blonds stop for a little rest! 

Shane needed a little help from dad once again!

They went from walking through the deep snow to crawling!

We finished the night with a yummy dinner and then the kids got their jammies on.  Every year Grammy finds matching jammies for the kids.  Pretty soon they aren't all going to fit on the bed!

Thanks Papa and Grammy for a great day!