Merry Christmas!

We celebrated Christmas at our own home today. I know, I know. It's really late, but it was the first day we were home that we could do it. The kids graciously slept in until 8am today (YAY!). Once they were up I had them wait in the hallway just like we always had to do when I was a kid so that I could take their picture.



We headed out to the living room and the kids excitedly looked at the wrapped presents. We tried to open as slow as you can possibly have a 2 and 3 year old do. I want them to care about what others get too. They'll get it eventually, right? We didn't go overboard with gifts this year. We bought a few things that we knew they would love to have. They were so excited and loved everything. It was so nice to see their faces light up when they opened each one. Their big combined gift was a play kitchen. I couldn't wait for them to open it so that I could see their smiles. So fun!



The rest of the day we ate yummy food, played with new toys and just hung out and laughed as a family. It was such a wonderful "Christmas". I'm so thankful that I got to share this day with my wonderful family. We are SO blessed! I can't wait until next year when there's 3 little ones to give to. (That's right. I haven't announced that on here yet. Yup, we're adding to our family next June and can't wait!)

Packing, packing, oh and cleaning.

We're headed out for our Christmas vacation tomorrow morning and are so excited to go! The only thing that isn't so exciting is packing and all that goes into leaving. Laundry is never finished of course, but who wants to come home to dirty clothes? Cleaning out the fridge, vacuuming all the dog hair off of the floor, doing several loads of dishes... Yeah, that's our day today. I must admit that we're some of the worst procrastinators with packing. We've gone enough places with the kids to know what to take and what to leave, so it's never something we stress over. It almost always happens the night before too. Oh well. At least we're consistent, right?

I am actually bringing our camera with us, so I should have some fun family pics while we're there. I'll post them as I have the time, but honestly I'm looking forward to just relaxing with my family, having great conversations and going to some local fun places. It's going to be a great Christmas. What are you up to this holiday? Going anywhere fun? Staying home and doing something special? I'd love to know!

Quite the quiet day

Today was just about getting the house put back together and playing with the kids. While there's nothing overly exciting about a day like this it was a great day. It's so nice to just play with the kids and not worry about being late to get somewhere or having a list of "to do's" that must get done. I love just sitting around reading books with two snugly children or putting puzzles together. So fun! I think I have the best kids in the world too! What did you do today? Anything exciting or did you just have a nice day too?

We LOVE snow!

Tonight we hurriedly ate our dinner so that we could go outside and finally go sledding. It was the first time this season that we've had snow, and all of us were so excited. Well, 30 minutes after the first snowsuit was put on we headed out the door to our little hill. It was so much fun! So much in fact that the camera stayed inside the whole time we were flying down the hill. What can I say? I'm the oddball in the family who does not take a lot of pictures. The kids loved it though and really enjoyed going down the hill by themselves. I was so proud (and relieved) that Luke can finally walk up the hill all by himself. YAY! That is a milestone that I am thankful he has reached!

I did end up running in the house to grab the camera right before we headed inside though. Of course I tracked snow through the house, but I think it was worth it!



Evelyn really wanted to go down the slide. It didn't work very well though as you can see.


Luke was busy throwing snowballs so this is the only picture I captured of him that's not blurry. He really wanted to build a snowman, but with it being only 16* outside it's not really snowman weather...yet.



Evelyn tries really hard to walk in the snow, but her legs are just a little too short. She ends up falling down and then she can't get up (which I might add is very funny to watch her try. Am I a horrible mom or what?). Instead of being upset about this or asking for help she just starts eating the snow. That's my girl!

Have you missed us?

I've been thinking about this blog the last few weeks and contemplating coming back and posting. I must say that it's been a struggle inside my head to decide whether to just let it go or to actually start posting again. There are of course pro's and con's each way, but I think the pro's for posting again have won the day! I feel like I need a small outlet to share my thoughts and tell what's going on in our lives.

So, instead of going back over the last several months and telling short details about the many things we've done I'm going to start from here and post what's on my mind today.

Today:

It's snowing- A lot! JD is currently outside using our beloved snowblower on the driveway so that we can go to our small group tonight and celebrate Christmas with friends.

Evelyn is finally napping. You would think that this is just a normal blah fact, but for some reason it took her forever to go to sleep today. It's days like this when you know she's exhausted and needs the sleep, but she insists it's playtime in her crib. I'm so thankful that she's finally sleeping. Now we can leave her with the babysitter tonight and not worry about major meltdowns. (Hopefully.)

Our tree is up AND decorated. It's looks so pretty too. The kids love it too! They ask for us to "light it" whenever they wake up or we come home. What's a dark Christmas tree for anyway?

And finally- we have exactly 8 days until we travel (by plane) to my families house for Christmas. We're so excited! Now I just need to finish Christmas shopping for said family... oops!