Christmas Day

Well, it was a good thing the kids were too young to really know about Santa since we had to wait for Sam and Katherine to return from our house. It was not too hard to keep Sophia and Caroline out of the living room.
Jaime, Sophia and Will in their Christmas jammies.
For some reason Sophia was not happy about her stocking.
Nana and Pops got Katherine and Caroline a playhouse for the backyard. All of the kids enjoyed playing in it and luckily the weather cooperated. Katherine loved playing pretend with everyone.
The kids got all dressed up for the day and lunch. Katherine insisted on wearing her pink princess slippers all day with her Christmas outfit. Not a battle I choose to fight.
This was another day where I thought Katherine looked so grown up. Where has my baby girl gone?Sophia was a cutie in her red velvet dress and pig tails. I love those huge blue eyes.
Will, Jaime and Sophia.
After lunch the kids went back outside to play in the playhouse again.

Christmas Eve

We celebrated Christmas Eve at my parent's house. We had planned to go to church but just could not make it in time with naps and dinner. Our family tradition has been to open ALL of our presents on Christmas Eve. You can see from the pile around the tree that it was a good thing we did not go to church or we would not have had time to open them all. You can't even see in the picture all of the presents that were just to and from the members of our family of 4. We have to take an annual photo in front of the Christmas tree. It is so hard to get a good photo with a baby and a preschooler, especially one who likes to make silly faces so we have a silly picture.
Will, Jaime and Sophia did a better job of posing in front of the tree.
Nana and Pops wanted a photo with the girls. Caroline was eating and could not pose.
Again, it is so hard to get a good photo of kids at this age. Katherine is sticking out her tongue and Sophia is hiding her face.
Katherine had a great time. Her job was to deliver the presents to the correct person. She was so cute as she would announce whose present it was. She helped every person open every gift so she is in most of the pictures.
Nana gave all three girls princess slippers. Katherine wore them nonstop for the rest of the holiday. I made Sophia a tutu. She was pretty excited about it and decided to wear it on her head.
I received a lot of jewelry to go with a few new outfits I have.Katherine received a "puter". In the first photo she was not 100% sure what it was and wanted daddy to get it out of the box. In the second photo she is excited because she realizes she has a "puter" of her own.

Sophia received the same computer last weekend and so she showed Katherine how to work it.
Will received a remote control helicopter along with some accessories.
Caroline made a plate with her footprints on it to match the one that Katherine made for her first Christmas.
Sophia also received an art box full of goodies.
Jaime requested sweatshirts so Will made her a "super mommy" sweatshirt. We all agreed that this would be great to wear around the house but a little dorky to wear in public.

It was a fun evening until bed time. Our family decided to spend the night at Nana and Pops' house even though we only live 15 minutes away. Katherine has spent the night over there a few times but never with us there as well. We put her to bed pretty close to her normal bedtime but we could not get her to go to sleep. Sam stayed with her for over an hour and then I was with her for awhile. We did not want her to cry and wake up Sophia and we could not leave her in the room because she could open the door and come out on her own.

Over and over she told us that she was not sleepy. She used every stall tactic ever. She wanted water. She needed to go to the bathroom. She told me she was hot. She said she needed her toenails cut. She said she was scared. At midnight we finally decided that she and Sam would go back to our house because none of us were sleeping. I have no idea how she was able to stay awake but I think that the fact that we were all in the same room together kept her awake. She fell asleep in the car on the way home and slept through the night with no problem. It made for a very frustrating Christmas night and a delayed Christmas morning. If she were older I would say that she was just too excited about Santa to fall asleep. All I can think of is that she was excited about all of us being at Nana's house and maybe her allergy medicine kept her up.

Caroline's First Christmas

This was Caroline's first Christmas. She is 5 months old. We spent Christmas Eve at Nana and Pops' house.
It was really hard to Christmas shop for a second child because she needs NOTHING. She can wear her big sister's clothes and she is just now starting to notice toys and plays with all of Katherine's old toys. The first part of the present opening festivities Caroline spent under the cover nursing. Here she is "opening a gift" which was some cute shirts from Will and Jaime.
After waking up she enjoyed the concept of the presents, especially playing with the bows and wrapping paper.
She was a very happy girl all evening long. All three girls were given princess slippers from Nana. I don't know what it is about babies. No matter how tight or how loose socks or shoes are they are always kicked off. Nana got Caroline a silver cup with her monogram on it. Katherine has one just like it. I have one from each of my great grandmothers. I love sentimental keepsakes like this.
The second half of the evening was spent in daddy's lap. Here she received a lullaby glow worm.
She enjoyed snuggling with it while in her bumbo seat.
Christmas morning we opened stockings and Santa gifts. Poor Caroline was one of the last ones to open her stockings because others had to do it for her.
She got a new headband bow, a rattle, blocks, teethers and a book.

For Christmas lunch Caroline watched from the swing. The table was full and we did not have a high chair.
Caroline is such a cutie and was decked out in Christmas outfits every day. She had a fun time though she had no clue what was going on. Next year she will be at a really fun age for Christmas.

Pre-Christmas Festivities

My brother and his family came in from California this week for Christmas. Katherine is 12 months older than Sophia but they are pretty much the exact same size. Every time we get together it is more fun as they are getting older and able to play together more. When the families get together it is always a challenge to find activities for the toddlers that coordinate with different nap schedules and time zones.

Monday night we all went to Nana and Pop's house for dinner and to play. The girls had fun with vintage toys that used to belong to me and Will.
Tuesday we all went to the science museum which has a large children's museum. Sophia loves bubbles and that was her favorite part.



Nana was fascinated with the ping pong balls that are released to fall, supposedly forming a bell curve as they bounce their way down. The time we watched it was messed up and not exactly a bell curve. Katherine also enjoyed it. We have always laughed at how much Sophia looks like Will, especially in the profile.
There was a fun part where there was a thermal camera. I thought this was a fun new family portrait. I especially love Caroline in the stroller and the cool spots that are Sam's glasses.
There was also a weather station. Here is Nana with the girls in front of the weather map.
You can see that they were excited to see themselves on TV.
Katherine loves to make a "silly face" for the camera thanks to her older cousins.
Of course dad's favorite part was the kids took bench. This area has always been here but I think they have improved the tools lately. Katherine loves tools and had fun pretending to make things.


Caroline really enjoyed looking at the fish tanks. She started at it and smiled a lot though I am not sure if she was more interested in the fish or the bubbles.
Katherine had fun in the little farm area. I think she looks so cute in the straw Cowboy hat.
They have stick horses and John Deere tricycles for the kids to play on.
There is also a cow to "milk". Water actually squirts out when you squeeze. These city kids had fun with it.

After naps we went back to Nana and Pop's house where we met up with my brother's best friend from childhood, Dean. He is in the military and moves all over the place so he and Will are not always home at the same time. He, his wife, two kids and mom all joined us for dinner. He was my second little brother growing up since he and Will were inseparable so it was fun to catch up. Here they are with their kids.