christmas day

the kiddos didn't get up until 7:30!  hooray.

here are the girls stockings.

under the tree.

THE KITCHEN!

pizza cooking.

homemade cinnamon rolls.  YUM!

passing out presents.

doll house bookcase.  ADORABLE!

we had the tree in the front room so the present opening was in there too.  so the kitchen was the last thing the girls got.  santa left them a note about the cookies they left him and asked if olivia and mallory made the cookies with their pink kitchen.

brett asked if they had a pink kitchen and livy screamed and ran into the playroom.

when olivia saw the kitchen she let out a total girl squeal then ran to the kitchen and hugged it.

what a great reaction.

mallory didn't really react.  she just started playing with the kitchen just like they had had it forever.

LOVE IT!

playing already!

kale with his favortie toy.

YUM!

we had a great christmas morning.  relaxed and fun.

brett surprised me and got a huge framed picture of "the kiss" by gustav klimt.

it is my favorite picture. E.V.E.R.

what a great hubby.  he even thought of it all on his own!

we went over to madsens that afternoon and had pizza. 

megan and i didn't really want to cook, we just wanted to enjoy the day so we got papa murphys.

it was the best idea ever.

we used plastic and paper to eat.  no preparations and no clean up.

i think we will have something easy like that until the kids actually want to eat the nice dinner!

it was a great day.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

christmas eve

we had an interesting start to christmas eve. 

mallory got her thumb stuck in the van door. ouch!

they girls went to get in the van and all we heard was screaming.  brett got out to the garage first and all he saw was her whole thumb stuck in the door.  he was really worried.

turned out to just be a really sore thumb for a couple days, no broken bones.

we had dinner and then the kiddos opened up one present.

they picked a present from nana and papa. 

BOOKS!

we read them right then before bed.  i think it is one of our new christmas eve traditions.

we left cookies, milk and a note for santa. 

the kids were tried and went right to sleep!

it was a good thing because santa had alot of work to do!

being a bad mom and a christmas present

olivia had a christmas party at preschool and this is the only picture i have of the whole thing!

i did have all 3 kids and 1 extra boy

 (a mom friend was really sick and goes to the same preschool, so i took him too)

so that is my excuse.

the preschool kids were so sweet.

 they several songs and we all got to have cookies they helped make.

here is the bag i made for my niece jennie. 

my first messenger bag.  it is really cute if i say so myself.

i am finally done ALL of the family gifts and they are off in the mail!

hooray.  now to enjoy the holidays!

kiddos-YES more pictures. it is MY blog you know!

i wanted some pictures of olivia's bangs and those pictures turned into lots of pictures (AGAIN) of the kids.  i just can't help it!  they are so cute.

if only i could hold the camera a little more still.  then maybe all the pictures wouldn't be so blurry!

we haven't gotten family or individual photos for a whole year.  we need to get it done but i want to be outside and it is still cold, snowy, rainy here. 

but after doing these shots i think i may want something different for our family pictures!

we have always just gone to an inside photo place and got the standard pics.

i want something not so normal and i can't wait for nice weather!

KASI, we want to be your first appointment!

little off the front

olivia decided to cut her hair yesterday.

i was right there, for all of you wondering.

she was very sneaky. she is my daughter after all.

(i always found the christmas presents every year and then made sally look at them with me.)

she LOVES it.

i am getting used to it.

brett will be making no comment.

she did mostly the bangs as you can see, lots and lots of bangs.

we keep on joking with her asking where olivia is.

just had to post these.

so silly
look at those eyelashes.
growing up way to fast, yet not fast enough.

best friend sisters.

cccccold!

one morning we woke up and it was 62 in our house. 

the furnace was NOT working. 

called the landlady and she said someone would be there soon.

the furnace man did come pretty soon but we were COLD! 

i got the kiddos all bundled up.  we had an electric blanket, coats and hats!

the kids thought it was so fun.

it was just the ignitor switch.  the furnace man replaced it quickly and the house started getting warm again!

this is when we are glad we are renting!

decorations, carnivals and santa!

i picked up these little snowman sticky things from target.  the girls just loved them.

they re-arranged them every 5 minutes for the first day.

we went to the little brownsburg carnival.  it was pretty fun.

they had some crafts. this is brett's crafting face apparently!

cute babe!

adorable bubba

there was also some games.  both the girls had tons of fun.

they had prizes and everything.

SANTA!

the girls whispering what they want.

kale didn't even notice some guy with a long white beard was holding him!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!