Ok here is the second part of our Christmas.

After leaving my parents house we came home and had our own family traditions. Big E, Little E & J went and got into their new P.J.'s and brushed their teeth. Then we set out cookies and milk for Santa. This year my amazing sister (who is a second grade teacher) gave all of her nieces and nephews some reindeer food to sprinkle on the lawn so that Santa's reindeer would come to our house first (adorable!). We then all gathered in the family room and I read them The Night Before Christmas. After that it was off to bed.



After Santa came and before the kids woke up.

All three of the kids woke up at 2 in the morning wanting to open their presents from Santa. For 3 hours Ben and I were sending them back to bed because it was just too early. Finally at 5am we gave up and went into the living room to open presents from Santa.





You may have noticed that the tree wasn't just bursting with presents. We follow a philosophy in our house that was taught to me by my parents and we try to follow though with in our own home. The kids are allowed to ask Santa for 3 things, but only hope for one of them. Santa only brings them 3 things (plus stockings). We do not need more than that (greed) and there needs to be enough for all of the other children of the world. We have never had a problem with this and it has never been an issue.





Santa does always try to bring them the one thing they really wanted though. If you remember from the last post Little E wanted Hulk hands, J wanted an Hannah Montana plate and Big E wanted a T.V. and cell phone. Santa delivered.


Ben and I then started making our Christmas dinner. Ben's mom came over Christmas Eve and stayed the night so she was there Christmas morning and the whole day with us. I love that his mom comes over the night before. It has become one of my favorite Christmas traditions!



Here is a picture of our dinner table before we sat down to eat.

Christmas 2009

Well here we go. I think that posting about once a month is all that I have time for. I keep meaning to post more often...it doesn't happen. Oh well.

So here is the post for December.

At the beginning of the month we went ice skating with little E's Cub Scouts. We had a blast! Big E decided to hang out with his friends instead so there are no pictures of him here, but little E and J had a great time.





Dad even got in on the act.




A couple of weeks later we went to see Santa. Little E and J were so excited! They asked him for the same things they wrote to him about earlier in the month. Little E wanted "Hulk Hands" and J wanted a "Hannah Montana" plate. Why she wanted a plate I'm not sure, but she was very specific about it.

Big E wanted the usual 14 year old boy things, T.V., DVD player, cell phone, Xbox 360, etc...




In the midst of all things Christmas my best friend Kim had her "29th" birthday. We all went over to her house and celebrated. This time was different though because there were no kids. It was kind of nice, but a little odd that we didn't have to break up any arguments, see what the kids were up to, you know the normal stuff with kids. Because of it we got a little crazy.







On the morning of Christmas Eve the kids decorated 120 sugar cookies. the pile went from looking like this.


(adorable child included)

To looking like this.



We then got dressed and went to my parents house for my dad's birthday/Christmas. my dad has a Christmas Eve birthday. So we always have his birthday before we have Christmas. We all gathered around and watched him open his presents.



We then had the big Christmas dinner. I snapped a picture of the table before everyone sat down to eat.




And another one after we were seated.



We then all went into the living room to open the presents. There was my sister Bridget and her family.



My sister Holly and her family.



My brother Pat and his family.



Uncle Juan holding holding our niece Ellie.



And of course my family.




I can't forget the 2 people who created all of it, my parents.




I love this one of Keira trying to feed Ellie.




One last one of Kris and big E.




I will have another post in the next few days showing our Christmas at home.

New house update

I realized today that I haven't put up any before or after pictures of the new house. Keep in mind that it is still a work in progress, but things have changed dramatically.

Front of house before



Front of house now




Backyard before





Backyard now





As you can see, a lot of work has already been done. Who knew there was an actual yard under "the jungle"? Ben & Big E have done so much work. I am so proud of them both! I will post some pictures of the inside some other time.

Why?

Why do I have such a hard time keeping up on this blog? I always have every intention of updating every week and then the next week will come and I realize I haven't updated again. Oh well, such is my life.

A couple of weeks ago my sister went with my family and I to a wonderful store here in town. It is a nursery that goes all out for Christmas (as I think we all should). She brought her beautiful daughter (whom I think looks like Snow White).



I just love her!!!

Anyway this store is amazing. Every nook and cranny is decorated in a different theme. One is baby themed, one is dog themed, one is sugarplum themed, you get the idea. I took a few pictures, but they do not do this store justice. Enjoy!!

Halloween

I know this post is a little late, but as always things have been a little busy in our house. We had a wonderful time. Big E took little E & J around our new neighborhood and then we headed off to our friend's house for some trick or treating and a Halloween party after. Big decided to stay the night with one of his friends and hang out around our little town with all of his friends.

When we got to our friend's house there were a ton of kids. It was so nice to go with everyone. I had to make sure I got a shot of all of the kids before we headed out.




This little guy didn't want to stand with everyone else.

After hitting up the whole neighborhood we headed back and decided to party down.