The Lists

I know Christmas is over, but I wanted to share the girls’ Christmas lists on here, mostly to remember what a cute age this is!  I love their minds!

Here’s Susie’s list – it’s two-sided, and quite extensive.  You’ll notice that the last item is a cruise to Alaska.  Keep dreaming, child!

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And here’s Becky’s – it’s a bit more realistic, but the last request is for a pet – which is about as likely to happen as a cruise for Susie! 😉

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Christmas Party

We had a wonderful get-together with some friends and family for Christmas.  Lots of food, games and singing!  I unfortunately was having too much fun to take many pictures after my initial set-up, but here are the few that I took:

I tried a few new recipes – brownie trees, cookies and cream popcorn, a cheese cube wreath, and a cranberry cake.  I made my old standby, a Jalapeno Cilantro Cranberry Cream Cheese Dip.  And I had to take a picture of Aunt Mary’s amazing shrimp cocktail candy cane!

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We had a few rousing ping-pong competitions:

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And a six-child pile-up on top of the young at heart:

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So many wonderful friends with wonderful caroling voices:

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We’re so thankful for the fun memories!

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Christmas Part 1

Where do I start?  Due to minor technical difficulties (I’m so thankful Jim knows his way around a computer!), and the craziness of the season, I am way behind in sorting through my pictures!  We’ve had a wonderfully jam-packed few weeks, but I’ll start by sharing pictures from the pinnacle of the season, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.  The kids were predictably bonkers with excitement by the time the big day rolled around – and their enthusiasm was infectious! 

We had incredibly warm weather on the 24th (almost 70 degrees!), so I took the kids out for a walk – we barely needed coats!

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We went to my in-laws’ that night to celebrate with Jim’s aunt and uncle.  There was so much delicious food you had to roll us out the door afterwards!  The highlights were the filet mignon and Aunt Mary’s Nutella cheesecake:

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The evening was worthy of a spontaneous conga-line:

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The next morning brought bouncy kiddos into our room at 6:15 am, but we were able to hold them off until my in-laws arrived at 8:30, and then we tore into the stocking stuffers (Jim’s specialty – we need huge bags to hold all the little presents!).  Danny was especially cute to watch all morning – he kept exclaiming, “I LOVE it!  I LOVE it!” with a huge grin on his face:

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Jimmy even got his very own bicycle pump in his “stocking” – a fitting gift, since he received an air pressure gauge earlier this year, and ended up flattening all the bike tires by checking them too frequently!

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More pictures to come!

Pair at the Park

A few weeks ago, the girls and I took advantage of the warm temperatures and Daddy’s willingness to watch the boys by heading over to the park.  They had a grand time swinging, rolling down the hill, and frolicking around.  Especially as they get more and more grown-up, I love to see them having simple fun at the park! 

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My Big Ham

You know you’ve done too much shopping at Costco when you have to wedge your son in between the ham and the popcorn!

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Santa Picture

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Sometimes Reading Requires Stretching

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My Wet-Haired Cutie

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Little Helper

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Daddy always loves little helpers outside – especially ones who dressed to match the tractor!

Bedtime Huddle

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