...And Later...

Well it seems I'm not going to be able to wrap up posts about this year before 2013 so I might as well drag them out longer... :) Next year I can do hour by hour posts so you can really see how our day went (just kidding...or maybe not...) Here are a couple of my favorite pictures from Christmas.

Christmas Morning!

We're still recovering from Christmas here but in a good way. The kids are going from one new toy to the next and Pat and I are enjoying the new entertainment just as much as they are. We  had a wonderful Christmas and as always, I have so many pictures that I'll be turning the whole thing into multiple posts. Owen woke up first on Christmas morning and ran upstairs to let us know that Santa had visited, had written him a note, and left crumbs from his cookies! We had our scones for breakfast and then opened presents. Owen got in on the giving more than ever this year-he picked out a present for Paige at his school's Christmas store and made us an ornament (some of us cried...me).

We slowed them down long enough to take this picture!

I'm in a picture!

Owen gave Paige a cow stuffed animal. She was very pleased.

Paige asked Santa for princesses. This is Rapunzel wearing a Snow White dress.

Owen's model train set. Ridiculously happy.

Yay Christmas!

Almost...

It's Christmas Eve! There's still time to get some good behavior in!

Snow!

The first day of Winter was Friday and it was also the first snowstorm of the season! Pat took the kids sledding down a very icy hill today and they had a great time: there were no injuries and they were rewarded with some hot chocolate!

New Bed!

It finally occurred to Paige to start climbing out of her crib instead of waiting for us to get her out so we decided to lessen the chance of injury and get her into a bed! She really loves it and visits it often, announcing that she's going to take a nap and then returning a minute later. We're having some trouble convincing her to take actual naps but that's probably helping keep her in bed at night because she's so tired! Paige has fallen out of bed a couple times, once without waking up and Pat found her sleepily trying to get comfortable on the floor, not realizing she was no longer in her bed!

Birthday and Baking!

Yesterday was our yearly baking day/birthday celebration for my mom. Every year we try to make a traditional Christmas recipe and this year we chose one of my grandma's cookie recipes called Nut Horns.  Paige is getting old enough now to want to help out and she really did a good job listening to directions. She even one-upped us by doing everything one-handed (see below). 

Past baking days-figgy pudding, yule log, rugelach, sugarplums, fruitcake, a gingerbread house and rum balls

Hippo and Giraffe (and the kids...)

It was always my intention to take pictures of the kids with hippo and giraffe at regular intervals but I'm not so good about remembering. Check them out now and then click on the links to see past pictures!



Now and Then




Now and Then



Still Celebrating...

Pat and I went out over the weekend to belatedly celebrate our anniversary/do some Christmas shopping. It wasn't our fanciest dinner ever (yay mall food court!) but it was still really tasty and so much fun to spend time together. We also got a lot done since we didn't need to stop for train rides and play areas.  

Still Being Thankful...

I didn't want you to miss out on Thanksgiving pictures even though it was a couple weeks ago! So much happened that day- we ate and watched the parade and ate and sat around and ate and...Ok, we also ran our personal Turkey Trots (not pictured, but it happened, really!).

A little wrestling in the morning. Owen did not let this affect his parade-watching.

That is the face of a guy who has successfully finished dinner and moved on to dessert!

Cool Whip! Yum!

Paige and I dressed alike at her request. Pat dressed like Owen just to be funny:)

Adorable.



Everyone got to talk to Lauren!




Mom and Dad



It's a...Hippo!

I haven't published much of Owen's artwork on the blog but this can already be found on the internet so I didn't have to go through the effort of scanning and whatnot. The artist wouldn't reveal much about his process but he did admit it was a hippo when pressed. Also, that blue thing? That's a crazy blue sun because they were supposed to make things crazy colors. I'm pretty sure this is the most adorable hippo ever. Ever. (Ok, there's this hippo too but really Paige's presence in those photos is what makes it a contender.)

Christmas Party Pictures!

I'm back! Hopefully it's not temporary! Here are a couple of the pictures we got from the playgroup Christmas party. The kids were such good sports and let us take a lot of pictures of them before we released them to run around and play.

Happy December!

I'm still working out what to do about the picture problem on the blog but I didn't want to give it up entirely in the meantime! We started off December with a day packed full of fun and the kids made it all the way through without any complete meltdowns.
This morning we went to Pat's work for their kid's Christmas party. They always do a great job and always have the same basic elements that the kids look forward to -doughnuts, Santa, games and prizes. We couldn't convince Paige to sit with Santa or even stand near him (remember this picture of Owen?) but she did accept a candy cane from him.
 After that, we headed straight to our playgroup Christmas party/gift exchange.  Everyone had such a great time, I don't think it would have even occurred to the kids to head home if we hadn't told them it was time to leave (and even then it took a lot of convincing...). These people have been a big part of our lives for a long time and it's getting harder and harder to all get together at the same time so today was extra special to all of us! Click here to see other posts about playgroup get togethers (Ahh! They're all so cute!).
After the party, we came home, added some layers of clothing and went to the Christmas parade for our city. The kids were excited to see the parade and I'm so glad we went. Pat and I questioned whether or not we were pushing our luck by going to the parade but the kids were totally enamored by everything. We let them ride the carousel and stopped on our walk home to watch the fireworks too. The weather was perfect!  We did so much today and it's only December 1st, I can't imagine what's in store for the rest of the month!