when the kids think the camera is a toy

Cloe LOVES apple pie, like her mom and g'pa young, and she loves to make things. Let it be crafts, decorations or food. So today I taught her the joy of creating a delicious apple pie. And the joy of snacking it all day. oops.

melt my heart

yeah, they're pretty much all the same, but I can't pick just one!!

Christmas festivities

On Christmas eve, we always go to Ryan's parents house. Which includes acting out the nativity by the chitlins.



Tianna, Cloe and Abbey, the angels
Brody a wiseman

and Charlotte making her debut as baby Jesus. She pretty much cried the whole time.

All the cousins


One of my favorite traditions that I've carried on from my childhood is opening Christmas pj's on Christmas eve. And they are also sporting some slippers that g'ma Brown made them. Another tradition.

Christmas breakfast. I got this cute idea from Ryan's cousins family.


Cloe with her stuff. the only one that would make a pile and pose. She's my organized child.





Christmas was so relaxing and great. I love watching the kids play with their new toys. They are so excited and play so well. It just seems more "magical" on Christmas with little kids.

We told the kids they had to wait for us to wake up before they could go downstairs. They did pretty good and did wait. Later that evening I asked Brody if he went downstairs before we woke up and with a smirk on his face he said "no". It doesn't take long to get the truth out of him. He finally admitted it and I thought it was cute because we all used to sneak out before our parents got up. How could we really expect them to contain their excitement.

We went to my moms for dinner, games and more presents. 363 more days until Christmas. Time to start thinking of my New Year goals. Weight loss at the top, of course.

While cleaning my house, I passed a mirror and saw this little bundle of joy looking so sweet

no need to dream of a white Christmas

I was so excited that I didn't have to get kids ready for school today and was looking forward to being able to go on a nice morning jog. Until I looked out the window and saw this.

I did eventually start to enjoy it. After Brody had thrown the third snowball at the back of my head, I got him back good. Then we started to build a snowman. Do you know, I don't know how to make a snowman? I grew up in sunny CA and it doesn't snow there. Ryan tried to explain to me on the phone how simple of a process it is. I seriously can't do it. You make a ball and then roll it in the snow, duh. Nope, couldn't do it. It made such an odd shape or would break. Pathetic.

week in review

Cloe got Scholar of the Month in her class.



Charlotte looked so cute in the tub after a diaper blowout

Brody had a class Christmas performance. Much better than last years

I'm the room mom for Cloe's class and they decorated gingerbread houses for the class party.

Brody and Abbey lucked out and got to decorate one as well. It was so fun to see them decorate and how creative all the kids were with their houses.

Charlotte's Sunday nap. The room was a little too bright.


and now, Christmas break! Hooray!!!

The kids picked names and we went shopping. It was so fun to see them in the toy store trying to find the perfect gift for each other. I also started wrapping "Santa" gifts today and it got me so excited for Christmas morning when my kids get to open them. And to see the excitement, I can't wait!

the new trend in accessories

i never leave home without mine. if you don't have a baby, bird poop will work just the same

here's a little action shot

ugh!

it snowed again today. i say "ugh" and the kids say "woohoo!"

this little princess slept through it all

it smells like Christmas!

I let Cloe and Brody make this today and it smells SO delicious! Oh and they had a fun time as well.
Ryan's cousin is a contributor for this blog and they have some really good and easy crafts.

gingerbread house fun

I found our kit for $5.50 and to my surprise, the house came already assembled! What a relief. I wanted to save this activity for when they were on Christmas break and needed something to do during the day, but I couldn't wait. And either could they. I started out putting on the frosting while they did the candy and finally got to the point where I just let them do the frosting. They loved it!! And I was able to get the dishes done. win win.
They were having the best time and kept telling me this was the funnest thing ever. And my favorite line that Abbey says when she's excited
"This is totally AWESOME!" and her voice starts to get louder at "totally". I was really bummed when the battery to the video camera was dead. I wasn't going to blog about it but because of a dead battery, I wanted to make sure it was a memory that got documented.
Then for the final pictures. If only Abbey and Brody could stand and smile.
Then they wanted me to keep taking pictures of them. It was a good laugh for me.