Heart of the matter

This evening after dinner.........me and the girls sat around the art table coloring. All of sudden, Kellyn stopped everything and looked at me and said "Mommy....you make my heart so so so happy".

It's official..........she has me wrapped around her little fingers! Such a sweetheart! :-)

Meanwhile - Kait took a nice little spill on her new "big girl princess bike" (and yes...that's it's name). Although she just got a minor scrape on her left hand, her tears represented something like a limb breaking off. Very dramatic! However........my "big girl" got right back up on her bike and peddled around like a champ. LOVE HER!

Christmas Aftermath

First and foremost - I hope that all of your family and friends had a VERY Merry Christmas and we hope this season brought the love and joy of it's true origination into your homes and hearts.

Also- we want to say THANK YOU to everyone who made this day special for us. Santa's little helpers (a.k.a. UPS, FedEx, Postal Service) have all visited our doorstep many times over the past weeks and have filled out home with beautifully wrapped gifts that the girls are just in love with. I'm humbled by the generosity and completely overwhelmed with the comfort that wonderful family and friends can give. LOVE YOU ALL!!!

Now..........on with it.

Kaitlin has been BEGGING for a big girl princess bike for the past several months. Let me just say............this was the highlight of today. She's still talking about it. And now that they are tucked into their beds fast asleep after a fun day of playing with all their new, cool toys..........I can almost guarantee Kaitlin is dreaming of all the fun things she's going to do with her big girl princess bike!!!

Amidst all the craziness of new toys - we gathered the family (mutts and cats included) and all headed for a small little hike through the fields and woods behind the house. Kaitlin and Kellyn had to show me a dirty old toy car they found last week while taking a hike with Daddy. How they even remember that was there...........beyond me! We even did a little "fishing" at the creek. Well, we PRETENDED to fish in the creek. Would help if there were fish! :-)

This was truly a wonderful Christmas. Not only did we SOOOO enjoy watching the girls excitement build, but just having the time to spend together as a family........with none of the outside pressures of life......That was the best gift ever! Granted, I'm in SERIOUS need of a shower, but oh well! I've loved the whole "PJ" look we've had the past couple of days. Reality will settle back in..............next week! :-)

Christmas BEFORE the insanity

The Night Before Christmas.....

.....and all through the house, MANY creatures were stirring..........even a mouse!

We hosted Christmas Eve dinner at our house and were welcomed with Chris, Lisa and the boys. Joey joined the party too but sadly poor Jake (Joey's hubby) was sick and wasn't able to make it. I'm sure he will count his blessing after seeing these pictures! There was A LOT of activity in this house. A LOT!!! But it made everything just perfect and we wouldn't have it any other way.


The cast for the evening:

Mace

I mean seriously......do they get any cuter than this? HE IS ADORABLE!!!

Merrick

The life of the party

Kaitlin

Every present made her smile even bigger

Kellyn

Had more fun giving OUT presents than anything else

Matt

Total character........he just makes me laugh!

Tryg

Always full of life and energy - love this guy!

Chris

Once again - my brother cannot take a normal picture...EVER. See Proof!

Lisa

Can somehow look amazing while nursing BOY #4. HOW????

Me

No introductions needed

Jim

King of "silly"

Joey

The glue that keeps it all together!

The Entertainment

After dinner and everyone had left for the evening...........the girls gathered their cookies and milk together to place by the tree for our certain "friend"

Once the girls were fast asleep, we discovered Jessie (Jake and Joelle's lab that we are dog-sitting for the holidays) gobbled up the cookies and found a soft place to take a post-engorging snooze. Sweet Jessie!

Meanwhile - Chase helped himself into "Santa's workshop" and found a little present of his that was SUPPOSED to be wrapped later that evening for his stocking. I think he knows he's guilty!!!

The Spider heard from far away -

It seems to be that dinner time in our house is when the strangest things are said.

Tonight...........while the girls were gnawing on their green beans, someone (and I'm not pointing fingers KAITLIN) let out a HUMONGOUS "spider" (a.k.a. fart). Of course, we're human and the only thing we could do is laugh. Once we regained composure - I asked "Who did that spider??".

Like good sisters always do - they pointed their fingers at each other....share the blame, right? Then Kellyn said with complete conviction:

"I think Daddy did that while at work and it was so big that we heard it all the way here at home!!!!"

She just might be right!

Joelle has done it again.....

Somehow........sweet Joey all knows exactly what to do to make me cry. Mind you....these are tears of complete joy and happiness.

She presented me and Jim with this last week. Not only did she take this picture and have it framed, but she handmade the tutu's AND the headbands!! She is truly amazing and she's a complete angel in our lives.

THANK YOU JOEY!!!!

What do YOU do at work?

At dinner tonight, I asked Kellyn and Kaitlin what they thought Daddy does when he's at work.

Their answer: "Playing"

Then I decided to ask them what they thought Mommy does when she goes to work.

Their Answer: "Get's the flu shot"

Well........several thing are for sure. First - their round of seasonal and H1N1 flu shots last month certainly left and impression. Second - my immune system must be on overdrive. Lastly - I want Jim's job!!! :-)