Christmas Recap part 3

Ok- I'm going to finish up this Christmas recap before 2010- promise. This will be the final post(maybe) and I'm leaving out a lot of stuff but saving you from overload! You're Welcome!

First, 2 of my favorite pictures... for different reasons. The one below because I can see the excitement in my children's faces as they open their gifts from each other... It was really sweet!

And this one, well, because of the look on her face as well. Not exactly one of excitement... more of "what the heck is this thing?" and, "Why doesn't someone fix my bow instead of snapping a picture! It's caddy wompass on my head!!" Love it!! We have several taken after when she is smiling but this one truly captured the moment! Ha!!
As you may have noticed, Santa visits our house. I realize there are some people out there that do not partake in the Santa side of Christmas. We, however, do. Although, we also work very hard to emphasize CHRIST is the reason for Christmas. the children understand we celebrate because it is Baby Jesus' birthday and we plan several activities emphasizing that. This year we marked advent with an advent wreath and we used our advent calendar that depicts the manger scene. We read books about the first Christmas and sang songs about the birth of our Savior. We also attended Bethlehem Marketplace (AMAZING) and it is probably their favorite activity to do all season. This year we even knew the Holy Family!

On Christmas day we also celebrate with our very own birthday cake for Jesus. we sing happy birthday and blow out a candle. It's very sweet and the children get very excited!

This is our cake from this year...
Yet, Santa does still come. And he probably lavishes us with too much stuff.

This is our living room before Christmas morning...
and this is after... AND we had already cleaned up some by this point.

Well, we had a great month, and a FANTASTIC Christmas! We had so much fun celebrating the birth of Christ I could go on and on with these recaps. But, a New Year is just around the bend and I have lots to do to prepare for that so I will be moving on with these posts. Wherever you are, I hope you had the Merriest of Christmases as well!!

Christmas Recap part 2

One of the best things about this month was that little Daisy learned to clap... yes she did!!! And after she sings us a song, she applauds herself for a job well done!!! PRECIOUS!!! And baby Bud... we he has become our "mobilebutnotofficiallycrawlingyet" baby. He showed particular interest in the Christmas tree. He LOVED it. He loved the lights, the ornaments, the gifts, but he especially enjoyed gazing up inside the tree after he scooted himself across the room and underneath the tree! He sure makes for a wonderful gift if I do say so myself!

After he wiggled himself across the room and under the tree

This year we weren't able to spend Christmas with 2 of our favorite people. My sweet mother-in-law had some health problems this fall and has been recuperating so spending Christmas with them just wasn't an option this year. Instead, Papa sent some gifts and the kiddos had a great time opening them a couple of days before Christmas. Thank you Papa and Nana!!

The girls opening their gifts

Puddin got a jewelry box and a fairy necklace that she loves!!

Daisy got a caterpillar that rattles and rolls... it has provided lots of fun for us all!


baby Bud with his gift... he's very excited!



Wow!! He wants his clown with balls out of the box!!


Monkey See and Monkey Do (Puddin too) posing with their gifts.

Monkey See opening his gift...

Monkey Do opening his...

Ta-Da!!!! New big boy car seats for my little Monkeys!! They were so excited because Puddin has one like this and they wanted one sooo bad!! They are perfect!!

So, this closes out round 2 of the Christmas recap! I'll try and finish it off in 1 more post... hang in there!!!

Christmas Recap

Well, what can I say?? It's been a long time. We were so busy fa-la-la-la-la-ing that I didn't have the time... or the desire (no offense) to blog. I hope everyone reading this, if anyone still does, had a wonderful Christmas as well. I know we sure did! So brace yourselves... I 'm about to share about 2 weeks worth of Christmas in 1 post!!! So- you might want to use the potty or get a drink before we start!!! hehe!

1st stop... Breakfast with Santa...

This was hosted by the multiples club that I am a part of. It was so nice!!! I wish I could have done more to help but I seem to be a little out of the loop these days and I'm not really as much of a participating member as I'd like to be. The children had a great time though! My 3 oldest, who are usually very well behaved, had a little too much excitement. The anticipation and joy of the season was just about more than they could take. It seems for the past few weeks they had been "sittin on go", so to speak. Anyway, they were in rare form... see for yourself!

Upon arrival...don't let the sweetness fool you...

10 minutes later... things are starting to unravel!
Notice the other children nicely coloring in the background....

I have no idea what caused this to occur! Serious case of the sillies!
Madness!! in all fairness... I have never seen my children so out of control while in public... I'm chalking this one up to the anticipation of Santa's arrival... Puddin was beside herself with excitement and I think she actually instigated most of the above silliness.



Finally- the big man himself!!! She raced through the crowd and grabbed a hold of him like he was her long lost grandpa! We had to make her leave him alone so other kids could see him!

On the other hand... Just the sight of him caused this reaction from the Monkeys...

He-Man!
anxiously awaiting her turn (the line is really long when you come to visit a multiples group!)

First thing she does is hug him.... So sweet! Santa seemed to have missed her too!
She had just shown him the picture she drew for him of Santa, Mrs. Clause, Rudolph and herself at the North Pole. He was telling her he would be sure to hang it on his refrigerator when he got home at the the NP.



Telling Santa her whole Christmas wish list!! (She was very specific!)
Precious Puddin & Santa!!
Sweet smiles from Daisy and Bud

Hubby...praying for the screaming to stop!

This shot will have to do!
After a couple of hours at this event we loaded up the kids and headed across town to Cannonsburgh. One of our favorite places to play that I have blogged about here and here. Anyway, they were having a Cannonsburgh Christmas that we enjoy going to. We mostly go to see the Shepherd and his sheep and some really great apple cider but we also saw Santa- again! In fact, Puddin seemed a little perplexed at this one... he wasn't as authentic as the one she had seen an hour before!

Hubby took control of the camera so Mommy could be in some pics...
I love these 3 babies!
Puddin with the Cannonsburgh Santa... I didn't actually witness this exchange as I was outside in the cold with the babies and Monkeys. The boys became like statues and refused to enter the cabin!

My sweet trio!

on the back of an old caboose

the sheep!!! The boys loved this part last year! This year they were more afraid than last year.

They just wanted to look instead of touch.

They did seem bigger to me than they did last year. But then again, so are the boys!

The sheep and shepherd from a distance

Ok- since you probably have exceeded your limit of "cute kids at Christmas", I'll save the rest for another post! Back in a bit!

The best gifts I ever got didn't come from Santa...

I am thankful every day for these 6 gifts that were given to me.

God is good.

Eye Candy

We're busy fa-la-la-la=la-ing lately so I leave you for a bit with some eye candy.... The sweetest kind!