Christmas in WV

Christmas Eve was spent at Grandpa Lewis's house.All our favorites were there

Uncle Bub We love Uncle Bub!

Aunt Beck

Cousins Jamie, Gracyn and Addyson

Little girls up to no good, I am sure.

Santa found us even though we made last minute changes.

She was up bright and early, despite not sleeping more than an hour at a time all night.

Sweet little bedhead.

Sometimes he gets lucky and has this cute Jude Law thing going on with his hair.

Owen wasn't nearly as anxious to get out of bed.

Santa left him a letter and a Christmas ornament of the Macy's mailbox like the one we dropped their letters in a few weeks earlier. Very clever.

Ah, there's Owen! One of the first things he opened was a DS game and he immediately said "Ethan, you can have this. I don't have a DS." He just hadn't gotten to that present yet. :-)

And the look on his face when he doesn't know I am watching sends my heart a flutter.

Hello my pretty!

And my handsome!

Times 2!

I think everyone had a great time!

Present Highlights from Home

It was a last minute decision for us to head to West Virginia for Christmas this year. We had planned on staying here until Sunday or Monday and then heading up, but there was a change in plans so we ended up opening our gifts from Papaw and Mamaw Hamilton and each other a few days early.

Some highlights for Ethan were legos and Monopoly Junior.For Owen, it was legos and these race car things. Not sure the name of them, but Owen loves them.

For Eliza, it was a giggling baby doll and Tinkerbell and Fern dolls.

Eliza's favorite thing from mommy was a purse.

She loves taking things out and putting them back in. She will even put it on her shoulder and walk around when I tell her to go to the store. Very cute.

Next stop, West Virginia.

Aunt Jan and Kallie's Visit

The past few weeks have been an absolute blur. It started Aa few weeks before Christmas when our aunt Jan and cousin Kallie came to stay with us for a few days.Owen was having a Christmas program at preschool and they wanted to watch. Unfortunately, his last day before break was a snow day so they had to postpone his program until this coming Thursday. Lucky for us, he was happy to sing his songs for us by himself.

We read the Christmas story and the children opened their presents from aunt Jan and Kallie.Our elves continued their mischief despite having guests in the house.

We put together a gingerbread village

and per usual, there was more eating of the village

than there was building.

We made cookies, went to the mall and Chris and I even had a date night! It was a wonderful visit. One day soon after Jan and Kallie had left one of the boys (I can't remember who now) said "I sure do love it when my aunt Jan comes to visit." Me too, buddy! Come back soon!

If you give a mom a shower

before 9am, she might decide to dry her hair. And if she decides to dry her hair, she might decide to put on make up. And if she decides to put on make up, she might decide to wear eye shadow. And if she decides to wear eye shadow, she might decide to wear leggings and boots. And if she wears leggings and boots, she might feel empowered to take her three littles to the mall. And if she takes her three littles to the mall, she might decide to go to Macys. And if she decides to go to Macys, she might let the smallest of the three littles get out of her stroller.And if she lets the smallest of the three littles get out of her stroller, she might let them mail their letters to Santa.

And if the three littles mail their letters to Santa, they might tell their mother they don't need to sit on his lap now because they wrote him a letter.And if the three littles prefer to write letters rather than sit on the big guys lap, their mother might think that is good enough for her.

Because the mother will get warm fuzzies that she has three wonderful littles that bring her the magic of Christmas.

And all because a mom had a shower before 9am.

It's the Most Busiest Time......of the Year

Just a few photos from here and there and some updates on what we have been up to.

December is Owen's month to provide play dough for his classmates so we choose green and put lots of glitter in it. This was a lot of fun for me as well. We kept stirring and stirring and I was thinking there is no way this stuff is going to form into a ball and dry up for play dough and then right before my eyes it just happened. Very interesting science, if you ask me.

He got his cast off last Friday and now has this boot. It velcros across the top and he has to wear it night and day except for bathing. And thank goodness he gets to bathe now. Getting his dead weight body in and out of the tub with a trash bag over his leg ranks up there with my top 10 things I never want to do again.

He gets around really well with it but has a really nasty blister/callous like thing on his heel where he has been compensating his walking over the past month. It will go away in time. Just looks really nasty.

Ethan is tracked out now and I am enjoying having him home with me. We did a little shopping this morning after Eliza's doctor appointment. She had two shots this morning and is almost caught up on all of them where I have been delaying and only getting 2 at a time. Her next visit she should be up to date, which makes her doctor very happy.

Speaking of the misses, she is doing well. Still getting over a cold and runny nose, but is sleepy nicely.

We are pulling out all the Christmas dresses and trying to wear them every chance we get. I know she is going to out grow them before I know it.

She is also very interested in my shoes.

I had these out the other night trying them on because Chris's company Christmas party is coming up this weekend and I wanted to see how they looked with my dress.

She loves to get a hold of my shoes or jewelry and play.

And finally, these little ones have come to stay with us until Christmas. Santa sent them complete with letters to the boys saying their names are Chip and Jingles and they are here to watch the boys for Santa until Christmas. Can't really say the boys are behaving any better though. They are currently wearing their hero capes and beating on the walls in the bathroom saying they are getting the bad guys.

As for the elves, they have been creating their own mischief. One night they were hanging from the boys ceiling fans, one night they ate one of Ethan's donuts and last night one of them made his way into the refrigerator and was hanging onto the orange juice when the door was opened this morning. The night we came home from Cam's house our tree had fallen over!!!! The boys both yelled "IT WAS THOSE ELVES!" I don't know what it was, but it scared Owen to death. He insisted that I remove his elf from his bedroom that night for fear it would come alive and do something. Whatever works kid, just stay in your bed. :-)

Christmas Card 2010 - Finally!

I have finally decided on a Christmas card for this year and I am so excited to order them. They are from Shutterfly and love their designs. I have looked at many other sites trying to find something that I like better and I keep coming back to Shutterfly. I have come up with at least 5 different designs (possibly more!) trying to decide on "the one" and I finally have it. At least I think do. I have been known to change my mind at the last minute. :-) The thing is, they have sooooo many designs to choose from that aren't just the same ole design different formatting or colors, they are completely unique. So this has been tough to say the least. Here are a few that I like though.

I love the funky colors.

The monogramming.

And I love that you can choose more than one photo.

They have cards that are religious

as well as holiday cards.

The past several years I have ordered calendars for family members as Christmas gifts (and yes, you will be getting another one this year as soon as I can get some photos for December to add). Everyone always raves about the calendars and cannot wait to turn to the next month to see who is the star. Chris started doing this for me the first Christmas we had Ethan. Everyone wanted to know where he ordered it from and over the years it has grown into the default gift for all our family members.

So go check them out and see if you can guess which card you will be receiving this year.

**Shutterfly is sponsoring this post by offering 50 free Christmas cards. However, my opinions are still my own**