Christmas Morning @ Night!

A little dancing before dinner...

Showing off his ornament he got from Grandma & Grandpa

Samantha got some doll clothes for her new American Girl Doll!

Goofy Alden!

We usually celebrate Christmas with Doug's family on Christmas morning, however we had a few other Christmas celebrations to do first. We ended up at Doug's parent's house for dinner on Christmas Day. Greg stayed in Seattle this year, but Auntie Debra & Mike came down from Omaha. Sandy made a delicious dinner for us and a fantastic peppermint cheesecake!

We opened presents and then played for the rest of the evening. Mike got the kids the Despicable Me movie and the silver goggles that Alden is wearing came with it! They looked so funny on him! :)

McKnight-Weekly Christmas

Alden - posing by the tree!

Samantha & Cassie talked about Jessie (Samantha's new doll from Disney World) alot!

Erin & Eric colored with Alden & Samantha!

Alden, Clair, & Samantha by the Christmas tree!

Our best family picture this Christmas! :)

Lila & Cecil with all the grandchildren & great-grandchildren that were there.

Jamie, Doug, Eric, Brett, Myself, Clair, Alden, & Samantha. ( We were missing 9 people!)

Doug & Alden have the same facial expressions (the eyebrow raise is funny), so I had to take a picture of them doing it together!

We had the McKnight - Weekly Christmas on December 19th @ Doug's parent's house. Sandy made a wonderful lunch and we had a good time. There were a bunch of family members that couldn't make it, so we had a small gathering this year. Brett, Cassie, Scott & Debbie came from Liberty, MO; Tom & Evie came from Fremont. Jodi, Jamie, Brandon, Eric, & Erin came from Omaha. Debra & Mike came from Omaha for a few minutes, but then had to leave to go to Mike's family's Christmas. And then Lila, Cecil, Doug, Myself, Samantha, Alden, Clair, Jim & Sandy were all there from Plattsmouth.

We played a gift card game and had fun eating all of the Christmas treats that Sandy made!

Great-Grandpa Cecil Inducted Into Hall of Fame

Doug's grandpa Cecil McKnight was inducted in the Plattsmouth Hall of Fame as a coach on Friday August 27th at the Plattsmouth High School Football game. He spoke at the high school to all the high school students earlier in the day and Doug and his parents went and watched his speech. We had a nice dinner on the patio at the high school before the game and the kids really enjoyed watching all the people at the game. Alden kept saying "GO HUSKERS" and when we told him the Huskers weren't playing, and that we were yelling for the blue team, he started talking about the "Blue Huskers"!

Omaha Royals Baseball Game

Doug & the kids stop for a quick picture before leaving for the game.

3 generations of McKnights! Doug, Sam, Alden, & Cecil

3 generations of McKnights - Doug, Sam, Alden, & Jim

4 Generations of McKnights: Doug, Sam, Alden, Jim, & Cecil!

Samantha took a picture with Kasey, but Alden was too afraid! The funniest part about it is that Alden says he wasn't scared! And talks about Kasey all the time!

Doug, Jim (Doug's dad), & Cecil (Doug's grandpa) took Samantha & Alden to one of the final Omaha Royals Baseball games at Rosenblatt Stadium on August 23rd. 4 Generations of McKnights were there!!! Samantha & Alden loved it. Samantha got bored very quickly, but still had a good time! Alden really seems to like watching sporting events and gets very excited! When they got home that night, they couldn't stop talking about all the fun they had! Samantha went last year with Doug & Jim, and she really wanted to go back. She talked her dad into getting the tickets! They plan to go to a game at the Sarpy County Stadium next year!

Cecil & Lila's 60th Anniversary Party

Cecil & Lila with all 4 great-grandkids. From L to R: Alden (2 1/2 years), Clair (10 months), Charlotte (11 months), & Samantha (4 1/2 years)

Cecil & Lila with all of their kids and their spouses

From L to R: (in the back) Tom & wife Evie, Scott & wife Debbie, wife Sandy & Jim, & (front row) Jodi.

This is the grandkid picture with Eric. (everyone except Alex & Greg)

Grandkid picture with Alex (everyone except for Greg & Eric)

We had a 60th Wedding Anniversary for Doug's grandpa & grandma McKnight on August 8th in Omaha in downtown Omaha. Almost everyone made it back for the party, but not all at the same time. We had to take a few different "family" pictures with all the grandkids because Alex wasn't able to get to Omaha until later in the afternoon and Eric had to leave early in the afternoon. Samantha & Alden had fun chasing Charlotte (Doug's cousin Dustin's baby) around the room! And I think Charlotte had fun running from them! :) It fun to have so much family there to celebrate such a wonderful event - 60 years together!!

Great Grandma Lila's Birthday

We went to Grisanti's in Omaha on Sunday, March 28th for Great-Grandma Lila's 81st birthday. The kids were monkeys as usual!

A Visit from Scott & Debbie

Doug's uncle and aunt from Kansas City - Scott and Debbie - came up for his Grandma Lila's birthday a week early. We all met at Doug's parent's house and had dinner and cake and watch Kansas lose in the NCAA tournament. Sandy made a delicious cake!

Christmas Day

After our little "Christmas Morning" with just the kids, we continued opening presents with Doug's parents and Auntie Debra and Uncle Greg. It was a morning full of present opening!! :) And we had no reason to rush since there was a blizzard outside and the Holman Christmas was already postponed!

Samantha, Alden, & Clair all got money for college from Grandma & Grandpa McKnight. Samantha also got a building set of Duplo Legos that make a Supermarket. Alden got the Mickey Mouse's Magical Choo-Choo Train. Clair got lots of clothes! :) Doug & I got money to help pay for our membership to the Community Center in town. Doug also got Cycling gear and I got a gift card to Oakview Mall! :)

From Uncle Greg & Auntie Debra, as a family, we got Henry Doorly Zoo dollars that the kids and us could spend at the zoo. The kids also got Zoo hats, which they love!

After presents, we had breakfast that Sandy made, and later on we had a lovely Christmas dinner, just the immediate family and Greg's friend Jennifer from the across the lake. We spent the rest of the day napping and watching movies and watching the snow continue to fall.

Great-Grandma & Great Grandpa McKnight's Christmas

We had our Christmas at Great-Grandma & Great-Grandpa McKnight's house on December 21st. We aren't able to go to their Christmas Eve each year, because that's when my family does our Christmas. We picked up Pizza Hut Pizza and had supper with them, and after supper we had ice cream cake. The kids had a great time. Alden got a nerf football and a basketball and a little toolset. Samantha got penguin pajamas and a slinky that she played with for hours! Doug and I both got clothes and Clair got the adidas outfit that she is wearing for her 3 month pictures (the picture is on right side of the blog). We gave them a calendar with all the family birthdays on it and pictures of the great-grandkids. This was our 2nd Christmas of the year...only 3 more left to report on because we weren't able to make it to 2 of them due to the blizzard. :(

McKnight-Weekly Christmas

On December 20th, we gathered at Doug's parents house in Plattsmouth for the McKnight-Weekly Christmas. Every year all of Doug's uncles and aunt from his dad's side, as well as the Weekly's from Kansas City come to celebrate Christmas together. Doug's brother even surprised us and flew in from Seattle the day before for Christmas. We did a $10 gift card exchange again this year and it's always a wild game! This year was special because Doug's cousin Dustin and his wife Goldie had a baby girl -Charlotte- in August of this year, we had another baby in the house besides our own kids! Doug's mom always makes a fabulous dinner and fabulous cookies and desserts, too! Samantha & Alden got Light Swords from Great-Grandma & Great-Grandpa McKnight! They were VERY dangerous! :) It's always fun to catch up with all the cousins who scattered throughout the United States. Doug has cousins in Omaha; Lincoln; Columbia, MO; Columbus, OH; Houston, TX; and the Weekly's are in Kansas City and also in Columbus, MS.