Merry Christmas...

We had to wake M up at 8 am so she could open up presents, the poor little thing was tuckered out from Christmas Eve. When Mike went to wake her, I could hear him tell her it was Christmas morning and he asked her "Do you think Santa came", and she said "Yes Daddy, I was good all week!", she is so cute. We let little C sleep until he woke up because it was going to be a long day, but with all M's excitement he woke up at 9 am.

Before the opening began...

Santa must have been pretty full from all his other stops because he left a couple cookies behind.

Good Morning M.





C on his new quad...




Ho Ho Ho C...


Our Christmas routine consists of going to Mike's family around 11 am and then going to my family around 5pm, so it ends up being a pretty long day for the kids, but with all the excitement they did great.

Christmas Eve

I had taken the entire week off from work to hang out with the kids and it was a good thing. On Monday I ended up taking M to the doctor because her eyes were watery and had a horrible cough. Well it turns out that she had pink eye in both eyes and a lot of congestion in her chest and head, which she had been fighting for over a week and a half. We ended up coming home with eye drops and antibiotic's to help her fight all the congestion. We were not sure if we would be able to join everyone for the holidays, but we were very excited when Christmas Eve came and M's eyes were clear and her cough was much better. M was excited all day that Santa was coming at night. Luckily M and C slept in so they would be perky to celebrate at night, unfortunately Mike had to go to work until noon. Both Mike and I got what ever M had.

It has been our tradition to go over to my parents house on Christmas Eve. My mom always has appetizers and dinner for us and we let the kids open some gifts, if not they drive us crazy. It's nice because each one takes a turn and shares what they received. It's fun to see their excitement.

M in one of her Christmas dresses.



One of the few pictures I got of C, he was a man on the go all night!



One of N's favorite gifts.



Jammie time with Pa.



C showing his feminine side (he absolutely loves these shoes!).



As you can tell we had a wonderful Christmas Eve with family.

Merry Christmas Brother...

Last night we called Doug and Mary-Ann to wish them Merry Christmas and thank them for the kids gifts. They were telling us that tonight their family watches the Christmas Story (my ultimate favorite Christmas movie)as their Christmas Eve tradition. After we got off the phone with them we took the kids in their jammies Christmas light looking and I just had to take a picture of this for my brother and his family. This house puts the lamp up every year. So here's for you L Family, Merry Christmas.

Our Little Star...

Today M had her school Christmas program "I Need a Little Christmas Vacation". The kindergarten classes were taught 4 songs to sing and M was really nervous about being up in front of the audience. This is nothing new, M has never liked to perform infront of people. When she attended Little Gym, she would never participate in the recital in front of all the parents. Knowing this, it always surprises me that she is a social butterfly and never hesitates to talk to anyone about anything. Well tonight, M surprised us all and did an awesome job singing and dancing in the front row (yes front row) on stage! When she came out she looked so scared but once she started talking to her friends she seemed to relax and had a great time. I was so pround of her tonight. It was the first time we got to attend a school performance, our little girl is growing up. It was also very special having N, Esie, Grammy and Pa there.

Before the performance.





M is in the front row, second in from the right.




Esie bought M flowers to celebrate a great performance.

Christmas Pictures

I was lazy this year and decided to take pictures of the kids for Christmas cards myself. The thought of dragging them to a portrait studio with all the other families this year did not sound appealing. Last Sunday we had an overcast day, so I rounded up the kids and Mike and we went out driving looking for picture locations, but it seemed a lot of other families had the same idea. We found two great locations I hope to use again. Anyhow, I think they turned out okay, and you will find out which pictures I picked when you get our card in the mail (hopefully before Christmas).

Actually it turned out to be a great day. C and M had fun climbing the rocks and running around the grass and then we went to Grammy and Pa's house for dinner and to check out their Christmas decorations. C was all excited. He kept running all around their house point to things. It's so fun to see the kids excitement during the holidays.

Happy Halloween

Yeah, I know it's only 20 days until Christmas.

This year Halloween was on a Friday and was a lot of fun. M was a cat, C was a pirate, and the big kid was the Cat in the Hat. We went trick or treating with our neighbors, some of their family, and some of our friends and the kids had a blast. My neighbor Tracy and I went with everyone for about a block, but then we went back to pass out candy. The kids and dads were gone for at least an hour. I couldn't believe the kids made it that long, but based on the their candy stash it was worth it!

Our spooky house...


The little black cat...


Our little pirate...


The BIG Cat in the Hat...


M and her good friend L...