Post- Christmas Cuteness

This just might be my favorite picture of J so far.  I just wanted a pic of his first Christmas, with some of the things he got, and then he started smiling so cute …

One thing, when you breastfeed your babies, you have to explain a little to your older kids what you’re doing.  And then, if your older kids are girls and very much into being moms, inevitably, they’ll mimic you.  And one day, they’ll steal your boppy!

But she was just so cute about the whole thing!

And L is just my big girl now, convinced she’s a mommy, too, with her baby that she’s carried around since Christmas.  We’ve explained that her cousins gave it to her, but she keeps saying it’s the baby that Santa brought her. 

Christmas 2010

We were all smiles waiting for Christmas this year.

We invited my parents up, and they brought both my little brother, L, and his girlfriend, A, and my other brother, K.  (You may remember A as the girl who was on the bike with L when they got hit.  She must really like him!)

And I get to use having guests for Christmas as my excuse to bake!

I made two pies …

 The Apple Pie was for my dad, who has all kinds of weird allergies.  It’s a simple crust with no egg to help it brown and apples, and raisins, but no cinnamon or nutmeg – just brown sugar.  I prefer my apple pie with spices, but I still have that little-girl delight in cooking something special for my dad. This is the maple-pumpkin pie from a recipe I found last year.  I LOVE it to death!.  It got a little over-done this time around, because I was taking care of J when it was done.  

Operation Gingerbread House

I’ve always wanted to make my own Gingerbread house from scratch – here was my oportunity. Someone had told me it was easier if you roll the dough out on the back of a cookie sheet – then you don’t have to move your pieces after cutting them out.  Aside from making a huge mess, it worked pretty well.

I didn’t expect the pieces to puff up quite as much as they did.

But it still seemed to work – not perfectly, of course, it was my first attempt after all.  But it did fit together.  My mom and I put it together on Christmas Eve.

 

We let it sit for a few hours, so it would endure it got the beating it got when we set two little girls on it, armed with ziplocks full of icing and buckets of candy.

I was very pleased with our finished product!

The next morning, the girls were very excited to see what Santa had brought them and open the rest of their presents.

J wasn’t sure what was going on, but he wasn’t going to miss any of it.  He sat up wide and alert while his sisters “helped” him open his presents.

Even big kids need toys, and they all got nerf guns.  It became quite the game when L and A arrived later that day, and there was many a battle fought in my kitchen over the next two days.  There were also many nerf darts stuck to my doors, walls, and ceiling – who would have thought they’d stick to the ceiling … and now that I’m thinking about it, who thought to try?  Hmmmmm.

My mom bought this Roudolph at the store, and S carried him around, playing his song, most of the time they were here.

And Santa made sure the girls went to church the next day in style!

Good Bye Grandma

You may have noticed I've posted a number of videos of the kids lately. We did it for my mother-in-law, who was diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer in October. With my c-section, and a brand new baby, and then with C's back surgery, we weren't able to take the whole family out to see her, so I posted videos of the kids for her to watch.

C did make it out in November, before his surgery, but Vicky didn't live long enough for us to get the whole family out to see her. She passed away quietly this last Sunday.

We will miss her greatly, but we're comforted at this time by the knowledge that we will all be together again one day. "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." - 1 Corinthians 15:22

Happy Birthday Grandma!

Girls hiding

J on the floor