Christmastime!

My sweet Chloe, got me up before the rest of the family....I didn't mind.



"oooooh, what's all this?"








a white Christmas...how cool is that?! Brian and the Bit had to check it out.


the face says it all. One of her favorite presents. She lost this doll this summer and Santa 'found' it and gave it back to her. :) Great mommy and daddy moment too I might add.

I got Brian his motivational Disney calendar. A collection of our Disney pics for his office


notice the barricade behind Chloe. Evidently we were boring her with gift time and she kept trying to escape. :)







ahh, the magic that was the dancing pink hippo. The kids loved it. Nice job MiMi




that's good stuff right there



sweet grammie loving the portrait of all of us we had done.

well after all , it was the year of the pillow pets all over the country.....am I wrong???

A special time. Brian got skype up and going and got Grampa Mike online to join us. Meet your Grampa Mike Chloe!

the kids loved the online chat time w/ Maine

Another wonderful Christmas season this year. God has been so good to our little family again. We celebrated His birth with lots of food, smooches and princess wrapping paper for 2010. Chloe got me up nice and early for her bottle. I didn't mind at all embracing Christmas morning early and alone w/ my sweet Chloe. She waddled in sleepy puffy eyed looking at all the pretty packages. Not having a clue what it all meant. Brian woke up long enough to see that Abigail wasn't awake yet and headed straight into her room to make sure she wasn't missing any of the fun. All 3 of us piled into her room to get our Little Bit up. Her eyes hadn't even opened and her skinny little feet didn't hit the floor before she asked us if Santa had come and could she please open her presents now. :) We enjoyed each other all day. Mom and Dad came over and piled out of the truck w/ big black trash bags full of gifts. They had to keep them dry in the snowy ride up from the lake. We fed dad some soup and fudge and spent some time together. After they left we no longer had time to clean the floor and dishes before our other family arrived armed w/ more gifts and lots of hot steamy dishes of Christmas dinner. I tell you, what a blessing to have dinner arrive hot and ready on your doorstep. Christine and Dee and Greg were so good to bring it all over ready. We ate like true kings and enjoyed each other and some very hyper kids through the evening. What a wonderful day together. How fortunate we are to have such wonderful family and to live close and not have to go anywhere. The girls passed out by 8 and Brian and I weren't far behind. We took our sleepy full happy bodies to bed still smiling with all the memories made. One last peek at the sleeping princesses under their new matching pillow pets. Tell you what,.....that's good stuff!!!!!

Christmas Eve

Had a sweet time tonight for Christmas Eve. We went to our churches Christmas Eve service and it was really special. It was a little late in the evening to venture out but we thought it was worth a try. Both girls did really well. Chloe mostly just spent the hour emptying out the contents of my diaper bag on the floor but HEY she was quite! More then once I had to excuse myself into the aisle to retrieve random items that she tossed out. Nothing like your whole congregation knowing what exactly is in that black bag! Pastor Jay even walked by our aisle at one point and did a double take at the horrible mess on the floor but I'm sure he remembers the years where you just do what you have to to get them through. Abigail was excited to get to go up on stage and sit with the other kids and listen to a special kids sermon about Christmas and get a candy cane. And we even let her hold her own candle at the end, she was so proud. We came home happy and ready for the day to follow. We let the family open one gift to start a new tradition. Everyone got new pajamas for the holiday. The muffin got new Minnie Mouse and Tinkerbell for the Bit made them smile. It was nice to see Brian in some new sleepy pants. I did not get a pic of the event but the morning to follow we got plenty of PJ pictures. :) Brian and I did our ceremonial grown up movie and I enjoyed a glass of wine to celebrate meeting my goal for the year. All wrapping COMPLETE before Christmas Eve. Very possibly a first for me in my whole life. All I had left to do on the big night was enjoy it all being done and have a date night w/ my sweet hubby. We were the only creatures left stirring, Cookies and milk out, fire roaring in the fireplace and God is so good to give us another wonderful Christmas Eve as a family. Can't wait until tomorrow!!!

Pa Pa's turn!

That's right Chloe, eat any and all items with in reach, she's just that kind of kid.....but Mom doesn't mind does she!?


Sweet Pa Pa shared his birthday wish with Abigail, she was so happy!



That's a happy birthday boy I'd say!

I honestly can't remember what made her make this face, she either wanted to be the one to light the candles or cut the cake. Not sure.

Well another year another tasty party at mom's house! She broke out the million Santa Clauses for the crowd again on Sunday and we just had a wonderful time celebrating Dad's birthday. Bless his heart he's always gotten Christmas cheer with his pineapple upside down cake but he's never minded. As long as he gets to see his girls and his grandkids he's a happy man. Unfortunately I was a little under the weather. A nasty sinus infection kept me from being all the way there in spirit. I was in a bit of a medicated fog so my picture taking got a wee bit lazy but I did capture a few special moments from the day. It was a blast to see Amy Shannon and the kids. Always! Abigail followed them around like she always does and Ben and Caroline never seem to mind. Especially little Ben. I think he and the Bit have a sweet friendship. Maybe it's a first child connection they have in common. They are so cute playing together. We at mom's delicious meal and spent the day being lazy on their couch. Which always seems to happen when we get back around them. I guess that's normal when you're back with your parents, you just find yourself so relaxed. Happy 65th Dad! From that big smile on your sweet face I'd say it was another good one. We love you!