Christmas Day Pictures 08

Christmas Eve Pictures 08

The Christmas Season is always a busy one!.....In short....Christmas Eve morning, it has been tradition for the past 3 or 4 years to have my sister, brother-in-law, mom and dad over for brunch and then open our gifts from one another. Then, we usually go to church (which this year we opted, again, not to go due to the kids not being able to sit for an hour in one place QUIETLY!) Christmas Eve night we go to my Uncle Bob's house and spend time with my mom's side of the family. Christmas morning is spent with Greg's family at his mom and dad's house. Christmas night is spent with my dad's side of the family at my Aunt Bonnie's house. The kids LOVED climbing on the boxes of presents more than they did tearing off the paper! We are well aware that the novelty of this will wear off by next Christmas :) Both of the kids received wonderful gifts from family members. Clothes, books, puzzles, Elmo and Big Bird stuffed animals, DVD's, a picnic table, a slide/swing combo (my first swingset), shopping cart with veggies...you name it, they most likely were spoiled with it. Thanks to all of the family members who were so generous this Christmas Season! We are very appreciative of everything received! We had a wonderful time visiting with family members and wish everyone a Happy New Year.

Getting Ready For Christmas

I was so excited this Christmas to be able to have Evan and Leah join in on the preparation of the Holiday Season. (Last year they were only a month and a half old! Crazy how time flies by.) We made homemade Christmas cookies while listening to Christmas music. The kids especially enjoyed partaking in the eating of the cookies. We also decorated our mini-Christmas tree which we placed in our dining room on a very high buffet table the kids couldn't reach. Greg and I decided we didn't want to constantly chase after the kids and tell them "No touch" for weeks on end with our 7 ft. tree we normally put up. The mini-tree is special to me as it was given to me by my mom's mother who passed away when I was in the 6th grade. I usually put it up every year somewhere in my house in remembrance of her (Christmas was her favorite time of year). So, it was very special to me to have this be Evan and Leah's first tree they were to decorate.

What kind of cookies to bake for Santa next year?.....Mrs. Claus says, "Why wait till next year?!"

Love to play with EVERYTHING!

The last week or so the kids have REALLY been going in our closets and our bathrooms if we have forgotten to close the doors or we need to be in there to quickly get something. Leah has found a purse of mine that had a receipt, medicine, a pencil, and an earpiece thing for my cell phone. Her favorite thing to play with out of the purse was the receipt (the other things I realized were in there before she did thank goodness!!!). She would keep taking the reciept out and putting it back in the purse. This kept her entertained for quite some time. The same day, she decided she wanted to wear Evan's Cardinals hat for a couple of hours (this is the little girl who before could not stand a THING on her head. Minnie Mouse ears for Halloween were a chore to keep on her!). She has also found my wonderful sanitary napkins in the bathroom and has emptied the box on the bedroom floor twice now!

Evan has become jealous of Leah having something to carry on her shoulder. So after they fought and fought, I went and got him a purse as well. He carried it around for about 10 minutes and was done with it. I had to get a picture of him with it though.

The other pictures on this blog were taken the day we tried to get pictures in front of our fireplace with the kids dressed up for our Holiday Greeting Cards. We had to take several breaks during the "photo shoot" and this is one way they decided a pay-back was in order for having to dress up and sit still. I am so gosh darn tired of picking all of these pieces of tupperware up! I definitely have to find a smaller cabinet and put just a couple of them in there for them to play with.

Shake Your Groove Thang

Forgive the sideways photo. Evan has just started showing us his dancing moves. Sometimes we have to coax him to dance, but usually when he hears music (especially anything from Sesame Street), this is what he does. Let's hope he takes after his mother's ability to dance....just joking Greg!

Breakfast With Santa

Angel? (most of the time, but not today!)

Rau's with Santa

Evan helping Mommy make his ornament

Kids picture with Santa....what a classic picture with Santa

Leah sticking her head through Christmas Tree cut-out

Leah eating a cookie from Mrs. Claus

Evan shaking Mr. Snowman's hand

On Saturday, we took the kids to see Santa. We belong to the Mother of Twins Club and every year they have a Breakfast with Santa. Last year we were excited to go, but it had snowed quite a bit the night before and the kids were only a month and a half old at the time, so we decided not to venture out in the messy weather. However, this year we were able to go and meet up with some of our friends, the Laramies and the Mulligans at the breakfast. The day didn't go quite as planned. Here is the list of things that didn't go as planned: Leah didn't nap, Evan was still sleepy (had to be woken up to get in the car to go), Evan got upset when I didn't give him anymore of my food at breakfast (this little one can EAT! He already had breakfast a couple of hours earlier), Evan upset when we had to change his diaper, Evan upset because I had to pry his fingers open when he took a fistful of "reindeer food" (which consisted of seeds, glitter and ?)...he was trying to eat it!, Evan upset because I won't let him play on the stairs and on the stage where people are trying to get pictures with Santa, both kids upset when they met Santa, (and teething and colds were also part of the crabiness). Do you see a trend here with EVAN? I know that alot of parents have been through a child having a temper tantrum in public, but this was my first big temper tantrum from one of the kids and I was so embarassed! Besides all of the things that didn't go as planned, I did come away with some good memories...making ornaments with my kids, watching Evan shake hands with a blow-up snowman, and seeing Leah stick her head in the Christmas Tree cut-out. Hopefully next year will be better with the behavior. As for a great picture with Santa, I know it could be awhile.

The New Craze...

Leah...colander head

Leah and Evan have been getting into my tupperware cabinets this past couple of months. They use to just sprawl all of the lids, etc. onto the floor. Then, the "thing to do" was to take a container and go "AHHHH" into it. Now the newest craze is to take the colanders and put them on your head and walk around with it. I laughed hysterically when Leah first did this. It's really a riot when they each have one on their head and are walking around the house! Hey....whatever keeps them entertained. Santa, bring on the tupperware!