Christmas Morning!

OK...this is a little late, but better late than never...

So, Christmas morning was wet and foggy, but my kids had lots of great gifts to brighten the dismal day! Here is the photo journal of our day!

Santa came...he and his reindeer enjoyed some treats.

Here comes the Bright kids Christmas morning stampede!

Kate's Santa stash...Disney Sing It (wii game) and Baby Alive
Clair's Santa stash...doll house and Cooking Mama (wii game)
Bowen's Santa stash...workbench and personalized matchbox car carrier box!
As most of you know...our kids get three gifts from Santa...so where is number three. Well, as most of you know...Santa worked for MANY HOURS, ALL BY HIMSELF, to finish gift number three. We wrapped the back door so the kids couldn't see what was going on. So, Christmas morning, the got to unwrap the back door and see present number 3...A PLAYGROUND...

Bowen, waiting for daddy to get a towel to wipe the slide dry.Kate waiting for a dry swing...And, it's dry so here goes Clair!Bowen's fleece PJ's made the slide really fast and he shot right off the end and landed in the damp grass on his rear! Look at those happy kids...our Santa is the best for making this dream come true! Thanks Santa Baby!

Christmas Sunday

Here are my beautiful kids all fancy for Christmas Sunday!

The Lights at Riverbanks Zoo

We met Grandma and Grandpa Lynes, Uncle Justin and Uncle Jordan at the Riverbanks Zoo in Columbia on Friday night to see the lights. The boys were so intrigued. We had fun walking around and seeing allllllllllll the beautiful lights. We also saw a Llama!!!! Ben's favorite book is Is Your Mama a Llama so we were pretty excited to see one in real life!

A Visit With Santa

I took the boys to visit Santa at Creighton's work. It was so fun to see all the kids...some excited and some petrified of Jolly Ol' Saint Nick. Santa was a good sport and was very sweet to Alex who walked right up to him and reached up for Santa. Ben on the other hand began screaming half way across the room "NO! NO! NO! NO!" There were a couple of good shots. So here they are.

Franklin Family Disco

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Country Elves

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My cool Christmas gifts I made!

Money is tight for everyone this year! So, I found this cute idea for bookmarks in a magazine and decided it was the perfect gift (and in my budget) for my neighborhood friends (who all like to read) and other girlfriends!Emily, wanted me to post pictures! Maybe you will be lucky enough to get one of my fancy bookmarks! :)

Family Photo Shoot

Aunt Rosalind came over on Saturday and we had a family photo shoot. It was fun but REALLY cold! The pics on the steps are on our front porch and the ones on the "bridge" are at one of the common areas in our neighborhood. Great place to take pics!!!

Daddy had fun walking with his boys and talking to them about all the things we saw on our walk to the bridge.

Finally! A family photo!!!

Everything is funny..........

What a cutie!

Ben thinks Alex's ability to "honk" his own nose is impressive.

Nobody Here.....Just Us Elves!

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Gingerbread Houses 2008

Lots of concentration on mommies part.
TJ LOVED eating the candy

TJ meticulously placing his candies.

Thanks to Oma, we (the Bright kids) all have fond memories of making Gingerbread Houses each December. I thought that I would attempt to make memories with my own kids this year and few of the neighbor kids too. We had a blast, although I stressed about the way the houses would turn out. But they turned out great. Can't wait to be home soon. We love you guys.

Love

Maria

Cheese! The final project!

We are ALL done, and the kitchen was cleaned up!
Peyton-4, TJ-3 1/2, Devon-7

Great Granparents are GREAT!!!

The boys had a wonderful visit with Mimi and Papa today. They played with Papa and gave lots of hugs to Mimi.

Mimi, Alex and Ben

Ben and Papa.

Alex and Ben watching Papa be VERY silly.

Ben thought Papa was hilarious!!

Alex was very serious about stacking the silver cups that Papa gave him to play with.