Christmas day

Well, when the kids woke up on Christmas day they didn't even remember that it was Christmas! I told them to go look out in the living room and then they of course were excited to open their gifts. They also hadn't even seen their stockings hanging up so I gave them those first:
Abby testing out the wagon:
Jamie's cocoa mug (which he told his teacher was his favorite gift, along with a $3 microphone):
New bath squirters, because the old ones were squirting mildew {yuck}!
I made Abby a photo album with pics of her and her family:
We read a new book as a break from opening presents (to make it last longer):

Wall-E!
New colors!
This is her "how do I get this thing open?" face:
The mess:
Christmas breakfast:
whole-wheat blueberry pancakes....
and brown-sugared bacon:
Me getting ready to cook most of the day (I made lasagna completely from scratch, including the noodles - don't worry, I had fun!)
Hangin' out and having fun! We did not go anywhere on Christmas day, it was so relaxing. We had spent the previous evening with Chad's family and my parents brought presents over to our house at dinner time! What a blessed Christmas we had!

Christmas Eve

Well, Christmas Eve went by way too fast and before I knew it, it was time to go to Chad's parents' house and I was hardly ready for Christmas morning! But that's just the way it goes and we all had a good time. We had a traditional Christmas dinner (well, traditional for Chad's family) which was smoked turkey (tastes like ham), layered salad, potato salad, overnight potatoes, homemade bread, brussell sprouts and raspberry pretzel salad(which I made!). And there was no hard alcohol {wink}! After dinner all the cousins (well, except Aiden who can't walk yet) helped be Santa and passed out the presents. And then, of course, in no time, ripped them all open! (Except for Abby who was so impressed with her sticker book that she played with that for another hour before I could get her to finish opening the rest of her gifts!)







And then we went home, put the kids to bed, and I spent the rest of the evening (and part of the early morning) getting everything just right for Christmas morning! Here is the picture I took of the living room all setup with the gifts:


Actually, it looked like this but I fixed our crooked star in photoshop!

Christmas pj's

Well, I thought I should probably go back and revisit some Christmas photos before January slips away! On Dec 23rd, we took the kids out for dinner and then went to see the lights that they had setup downtown. When we got back, we let the kids open their Christmas pj's. I was going to give them the pj's on Christmas Eve but since they were already going to be opening presents at Grandma&Grandpa's, we let them open the gifts a day early. And they were super excited!

Okay, it's hard to make out but Abby & Chad are standing in front of Santa on his sleigh (did I forget to mention how cold it was!):
I had my flash on so you couldn't see the lights lit up on this shot:
I asked Chad why we didn't eat outside:
Some cute light scenes:


The kids were excited to open their first present of the season!

Abby got a nightgown and a scrunchy:
Trying it on:

Jamie got football pj's and slippers:
Cool dude!
little princess:
Brushin' those teeth!

The way Jamie sees it

Yesterday the kids and I went to Target and I let them each pick out a new toy. Jamie decided to get a punching bag (the kind that you just blow up ~$4). When I told him that it was something he could punch and kick, he was all for it. I got a video of him fighting with his "little boy" as he calls it.


And tonight, the kids and I watched the little mermaid together and as it was ending, Jamie announced:
"I hate this movie. I hate this movie because everyone is happy!!"
I could not help but laugh out loud..

Here's an archive of Jamie's past comments:

jan 09 (the day after I took Abby's bottles away):
the ba-bas went bye-bye for another baby
your going be a big girl
and take care of the baby
and I'm going take care of the baby
(just to clarify, "the baby" is just another baby, someday...not yet!)

10/10
"Daddy I want Abby give me some slack..."

9/19
"my mom cut my hair and I didn't cry and I didn't move and I didn't whine!" (not really, but I'll let him think that)

9/9
"Mommy we need to get more toilet paper so we can go potty some more"

9/5
"mom, there are wittle kids in my whitening-mcqueen car"
me-"oh, really what are they saying?"
"they're saying to me 'you are a filthy hippy' and they say 'dadda got his hair cut'"

8/25
"my hair looks funny"

8/2
"Mommy I jus' have to take a bath cuz I am a filthy hippie."

7/5
"Daddy your not very good at stop signs."

6/30
"Flies fly by why they're named flies, bugs bug by, and spiders slide 'round on their webs and go down and scare you."

filthy kids

Here's some unedited pictures of some unbathed children for you (because I wouldn't want to make them look any cleaner, when they're not!):

Making a bridge: Jamie has been having fun making bridges and forts with cushions and blankets. He built this bridge for him and Abby to crawl across. The pile of pillows under the bridge was to make it "safe" as he told me (to cushion a fall I suppose):






To the pool (what better place to clean them up, right?):