Christmas at the Walsh House

Christmas morning is always more fun when there are kids around... Paul had a great morning, and enjoyed all of the presents he got. Santa was definitely good to him!

Paul's current obsession is Star Wars. His favorite character? Darth Vader of course. Here is is impression of Luke's father:

Veronica got some noise-cancelling headphones for her business trips.

Tim got some new clippers... thanks Mom and Dad, no more hairy Tim!

Dad got an XM satellite radio, and even more exciting for him, a whole new set of Tupperware! He was definitely more excited about the Tupperware than anything else...

Tim was really pumped about his Ghostbusters boxers, too!

Even Missy and Tonks got in on the action, chowing down on their candy cane shaped bones!

After the gift opening was over, Paul and Tim enjoyed reading part of Tim's new graphic novel... though Paul seemed to be more interested in what was on TV!

Christmas Gift Exchange

Every year the Walsh side of the family gets together to have a gift exchange. Although this year was quite tame (only a few people stole each other's gifts), it was still a blast, and seeing Brian and Carrie's new house was great!

Mom tries to guess what her present is...

Paul helps Caitlin open her garden toys.

Sean likes the wrapping paper more than the present!

Caitlin tries to get her present open before Paul tells her what's inside!

UofA Graduates!

Our favorite Canadian and our two favorite Yuma natives graduated! Congratulations to three of the latest UofA grads, we're so proud of you guys!

After the official ceremony, we had a night of mayhem starting with sushi and saki at Shogun. Kristen's mom Judy and her aunt Sue participated in the Saki bombing and showed us a few moves, too.

We ended the night at Kon Tiki, where Judy, Mel and Kristen shared a scorpion bowl.

Mom's (almost 50th) Birthday

For Mom's birthday, we headed up to Mesa for some quality cookie decorating time. The great thing was that I got to bring them back to Tucson for our work cookie exchange!

Notice that there is only one candle on the cake... we didn't want to have to call the fire department after all!

The Tims did a great job with their houses.

Mr. and Mrs. Gingerbread Claus were pretty cute.

Dad worked hard to make his tree perfect!

The end result was about 60 adorable (and yummy) cookies!

Tonks waited for one to fall... but didn't have any luck with that.

Paul and Ethan helped us decorate a few, but were too busy with their guitars to sit still for long!

Diesel and Paul

Paul and Lisa got to puppysit for Ryan and Veronica. We had a great time driving around (Diesel loves the wind in his face) and Paul loved spending time with his furry nephew!

Gingerbread Houses, Version 3.0

Kristen, Larsen, Janeen, Charles, April, Tim and I got together for some good food, presents, and gingerbread house building. The results speak for themselves...

Tonks sits pretty and waits for her guests to arrive...

Larsen proudly models his sweater vest and clip-on tie.

Janeen and the J-Lo collection.

Charles gets excited about "I am Legend."

Tim plays with his Target gift card.

Lisa is going to smell good now!

Kristen and her clutch purse.

The boys watched a little bit of "Transformers" while the girls worked hard on their gingerbread houses.

Janeen makes her annual Nativity Scene, complete with sheperds and manger.

All of the houses turned out great, and Kristen got the award for the most candy used on a house (or in this case, a hobo hotel).

Putting up the Tree

We had friends over for Christmas tree assembly/decorating. The boxes are not unpacked yet, but we have a tree!

Larsen and Kristen find just the right place for the ornaments.

Tim puts the star on top.


Larsen gives Kristen a boost.

Cheesy smiles!

Moving Day

We have moved into our house! Tim's Dad and Grandpa, and Lisa's Mom, Dad and little brother Paul came down to help. Kristen and April also helped us. It was a long day, but it was worth it. The house looks great!Tim puts the first box into the house.

Mom shows us how it's done when she paints.

Paul gives Kristen a painting lesson.

Paul helped us paint over the green wall in the apartment before moving out. At one point, he turned to Kristen and told her, "I'm doing way better at this than you."

Paul takes a break from moving to make sure Tim's Guitar Hero guitars are still rockin'!