Christmas

Madeleine & Luke were terribly festive this year. However, this appears to be the only photo I got. I am certain there are more... somewhere, on other peoples phones or cameras, but in all our lives, I didn't take time to hide behind the camera. Thinking back on this, I am going to be a bit more photo happy in the weeks to come - once things settle down. It is literally all I could do to simply get through each day.

Here are Faith and Isabelle in their Christmas Eve PJ's though, Isabelle made a mess of her's an naturally had to change into another while we washed the matching ones. It was fabulous to see how excited Faith was about everything Christmas and therefore, how excited Isabelle was too.

I don't have any Christmas morning shots {read:terrible mother} but the juggling of the twins, feeding them, unwrapping, sorting, stacking, shifting, burping and so forth, left all the remaining time to simply enjoy CHRISTMAS. It was wonderful. Amazing and perfect. Santa was good to our family this year, blessed and blessed beyond our belief!

{place Christmas photos here}

{oops}

Finally, we moved home. January 2nd the trucks dumped it all off {well almost all of it anyway}.

Painters painted on the 1st and the next several days were a mad dash of making the house functional for our family to come home... all of us, together. David and I were up until almost 4 each night, unpacking, prepping and cleaning. Just trying to set up the essentials before the kids got there and then the Baptism part on the 8th.  It was a lot to do, but we chose to do it that way. We decided we could do it, and I am certain we wouldn't have done it the same crazy way again, given the chance

little people

they are ours

these little people

all of them

they are wonderful

and we are blessed

Merry Christmas Ya'll

Funny Holiday Footage

forgot to post this awhile ago.... silly daddy

Christmas...UPDATED

... so many wonderful blessings & moments I am sure I could type forever. I promise to get it up.

:)

As promised....

Christmas Decorations

I have updated the photos on the left with some more Christmas festivities. We have been busy and especially since David is home for the next two weeks. Between Christmas shopping & quality family time I must say it sure is nice to finally have Christmas in our own house. This is the first year we not only get to set up Christmas decorations, but we get to actually put presents under our own tree & open them Christmas morning. David and I are thrilled that Faith gets to 'see' Christmas on Christmas morning. We are just crossing our fingers and hoping she decides to sleep in until at least 8 (which is possible seeing how she just finally got over her cold-bug).

We saw Santa last night and it was really something special. Faith was able to tell Santa exactly what she wanted....a dollhouse,a big one, and a tutu. That's all. I am sure Santa is super happy about the short Christmas list this year, because I have a feeling it will only grow longer and longer as the years go. We did attempt to see Christmas lights yet, Faith opted to fall asleep in the car, which made it a little easier on us. David and I picked up a yummy Starbucks Peppermint Mocha, decaf for me, and viewed the lights at our own pace with a perfect bundle out in the back seat. Once we got home, we finished up our wrapping, helped Santa with his and thanked God for His endless blessings. I could probably go on and on about the laughter and giggles and smiles my husband I shared last night. Things that almost brought me to tears I was laughing so hard. He is an amazing man who continues to blow me away with his strength and compassion. I love him so much, though I do think that wrapping presents is my Superman's kryptonite. I have never seen someone move around and utilize space so much when wrapping the simplest things. I believe at one point he had almost moved himself out of our room in attempts to wrap something. I have no idea how, but I do think it is my job to make sure I give him more and more to warp each year, just to watch him take on the challenge. *love you*

As Christmas Eve is closely approaching and Christmas Day just around the corner, we would like to send our love and blessings to all our family and friends, as well as those whose path cross ours in one way or the other. May the True meaning of Christmas be in all your hearts and may it carry on into the new year. Merry Christmas, Ya'll. ;)

Christmas Cookie Chaos

My mother and I have made Christmas cookies for as long as I can remember. Several years ago we decided to make our cookies for family and friends as well....sort of like good ol'fashioned Christmas Cookie cheer.... so that is just what we do. Even when I was living in NC the cookies were still made in whatever time we shared and delievered before Christmas, we always made it work.

Well this year was no exception. The only tricky thing is that Mom & Dad are headed to NYC for the full week before Christmas, leaving me to make sure those cookies get to everyone fresh and on time. So for the last week my kitchen has been full of sugar and flour and yumminess. Me, mom, and Faith, decked out in our aprons making batch after batch of cookies. Total, we had 7 varieties of sweets, including 7 varieties of Grandma Natalie's sugar cookies. Each box, to which we made 35 of them, held a little taste of everything & a nice explanaition of each treat as well (for those who needed to especially know if there were nuts in things).

Wednesday night we officially finished everything. We set up a nice system of cookie stations and filled each box till it was overflowing. All of the treats are fresh, never frozen or even stored for a moment in the fridge or freezer. That helps make sure they get to you fast :) So I suppose it finally does feel like Christmas since we have made our Christmas Cookies. Please enjoy the photos below of the process :)

Sugar Cookies ~ Your basic sugar cookie dough topped with vanilla icing & decorated with love

Rolo Cookies ~ A cocoa based cookie dough wrapped around a Rolo & sprinkled with laughter

Butterballs ~ A family tradition of buttery dough mixed with walnuts & rolled withjoy

Tassies ~ A tradition of perfect cups overflowing with a walnut filling & finished with kindness

Pretzel Treats ~ A bit of sweet, salt, & savory, carefully crafted with patience

Almond Bark ~ Vanilla and peppermint mixed & melted with gratitude

Puppy Chow ~A little bit of crunch, some peanut butter, a lot of chocolate & plenty of happiness to share

Thanksgiving.... UPDATED

Our Turkey Day week-weekend was fabulous. Daddy was home and we took full advantage of it.

First came all the goodies...

my first homemade pie, which we referred to as "Holiday Surprise" It was a success. Homemade pie crust and all.

David and Faith made Holiday Pretzel Treats... adorable, easy and perfect to keep a toddler busy. All who are nice will receive them in their Holiday Cookie Boxes arriving in about 3 weeks.... She was quite the little helper

Black Friday fun...random shopping excursions and tree decorating at our house...

Faith was a bit tired from all the fun festivities, and even though we never intended on leaving the house Friday we did steal a few great holiday gifts for some.

Our decorations are finally complete and I hope to take lots of pics for you to see. :) I love Christmas. And the 25+ boxes we have of it in our attic...ahhh, I can't wait to get more over the years. Just wait till we get that 20ft tree for the living room next year ;)

Did I mention that not only did my first pie crust come out perfectly fabulous.... David made his first homemade pizza dough.... an Faith helped (hence the toys near the pan). It was amazing!!!!

Turkey Day Part 1 was with my family and my uncles (john & george) and cousins (chelsea (and her man Jeff) and garrett, and brian from the other side, too). It was great to have 14 at dinner. Mom did an awesome job with the turkey-and she did manage to time it perfectly and without opening the oven a million times. Faith was a HUGE helper this year. She was officially ready to help out with Pop and Mommy's favorite sweet potatoes... we all know there is no real secret to the fact we never measure anything so as far as it goes, Faith was perfect for dumping in spices and tasting along the way. Her favorite part---adding the 'butta'. I hope to steal some pics from my mom who took several of the Pop and Faith making moment. Maybe next year I can get her to stand and stir the gravy for 30min or so. :) My Holiday Surprise was well shadowed by "Mom's best cheesecake ever" so they all voted. Mom never eats it so she was glad to hear it won out not only over the other pies but all previous ones, too.

Turkey Day Part 2 was with David's family complete with Great GrandMom, Aunt Sara an Uncle Chris. Faith had a wonderful time claiming all her territories of the house and keeping Gigi bouncing around playing and reading in between checking on the turkey and yummy goodies. We managed to corral her long enough for a fabulous lunch in which she particularly favored the rolls. So much that she even pretended to not like peas to get more rolls (and I say pretend becuase she absolutly loves peas on just about anything). The night wrapped up with us managing to keep her awake just long enough to have a quick Target run and eat some soup before bed time. I however, went to bed with a fever of 100.6 in hopes of it being gone in the morning.

It wasn't. Which meant we were off to the hospital, where we stayed for most all of Sunday. Faith was able to steal away to Grandma & Pops for church (since we figured we would be done after that). But after clearing me of all flu types and other major conditions I was released with a "baby is good and not in harm, but we have to wait for the other tests for a few days. Stay hydrated and see you on Thursday (at my doc appt). So then it was back to get Faith, a quick dinner and back to bed for me. Boo - I hate being ill of any kind and you can bet I am still not sure of what is up, but I am safe. So on to quick recovery and back to Christmas Preparations. Almost all of our gifts are done, cards are hear and ready to be stuffed and labeled (once I can get our letter written and labels made). So who knows, hopefully it is a fun, relaxing holiday season!