birthday boy

We finally celebrated Beckett's birthday on Sunday.  Unfortunately Steve was sick that day but we still managed.  I was stupid and tried to do too many things before church.  I snapped a few pictures but didn't have time to really get good ones.  We were so rushed for church but I made it there early with all three kids by myself.  So Beckett had just gotten up from his nap and I thought his shirt I had just made (and kind of ruined because it was still a little wet when I went to set the paint with the iron) on him and he was not happy about sitting for pictures.

"Beckett, how do you feel about turning one?"

Sadly the evening didn't go so well either. Beckett fell asleep on the way home from church and slept until almost 6 I think.  He was not happy when he woke up.  We were just finishing dinner so I had him eat a little and then it was time to sing.

 "how does your mommy feel about you turning one?"

Beckett wasn't very thrilled by me putting him down.  Lately he only wants me to hold him all the time.  Chandler is such a good brother as I asked him to make sure Beckett didn't dive off the side of the table.

He calmed down while we sang to him but as you see his eyes were still on me.  That kid never loses sight of me:)

Then everyone helped him blow out his candle.  I just love how the other kids are just so excited for him.  They were asking all day when we could have his party.

Remember how I mentioned I was trying a new frosting??  Verdict: disgusting.  It was like pure butter and didn't even taste good...and I love butter.  I think I will just stick with my normal frosting from now on.  Anyway, it wasn't as bad when you had some cake with it but still so buttery.    

 Beckett sort of ate some cake but he just wasn't really into it.  He hasn't been feeling that great lately, either teeth or a little cold.

Then we had him open presents.  Well, Chandler and Emery opened presents and then Chandler and Emery played with said presents:)  Poor Beckett got left over stuff from Christmas.  I had this mega blocks pirate ship that's been in my closet forever.  So we gave that to him.  I feel kind of bad that I didn't really think of something special but he doesn't know the difference.  Then he had two learning toys from Steve's mom that had already been opened and played with but  I wrapped them up anyway:)  Oh, and in the picture he is unwrapping a little bouncy ball that Chandler had wrapped up for him.  cute, right??

So that was Beckett's birthday.  Nothing too much but what one year old really needs anymore than that???  Today he suddenly started walking more.  Still not all the time but definitely getting more confident and taking more steps.  He is also talking all the time.  It is so cute to hear him make all kinds of noises and have little conversations with him.  I just love this stage.  Happy Birthday Bucket, Bucky, Buddy, Beckett!!!


(definitely the kid with the most nicknames in our family)   

12 months 12 pictures

I did it.  I took a picture of Beckett on the 26th of every month for his first year of life.  I know the first picture says 1 week and it really was one week but his one month picture was in the hospital and not that great.  But I did take it!  I think 3,8,&10 months are my favorite pictures.  He is just so cute and happy looking in those ones.  This was actually really fun to do and I wish I had done it with the other kids.  It was fun figuring out what fabric to use that was cool and not girly looking.  Gosh, if it was for a girl it would be a piece of cake.  I kind of ran out of ideas towards the end and I never made it to the fabric store to look for new things but can you tell I love chevron?!?  Yeah, I have it in yellow and brown too:)  I went crazy one day and ordered all the colors from fabric.com.  I've used the yellow for a pillow and the green for a few different projects but the other colors haven't been cut yet.  I have a bad fabric hoarding problem.  I'm trying to not buy it so much but it's just so hard to pass up cute fabric.  Anyway, blah blah blah, who cares about the fabric, this is about Beckett.  He's cute and he's one and I don't want him to grow up anymore.  

We still haven't celebrated his birthday yet.  We plan to do it tomorrow.  Hopefully my frosting for the cake works out.  I'm trying some I have never tried before where you cook flour, sugar, milk, and corn starch and then add butter.  (link)  And I will most like make a box mix for the cake.  I still need to make Beckett a shirt with a nice big one on it.  I just can't decide on what color.  Anyway, hopefully I can get pictures before it is dark outside with Beckett and his cake so they aren't totally yellow pictures like all my birthday pictures.  Someday I will have a good camera and knowledge of how to take better pictures in low light.  

Again, blah blah blah, I'm boring tonight and shouldn't be writing this but I wanted to post the pictures.  So here they are....I'm going to read my book now.

12 months

Our baby is 1 year old today.  

He takes steps (usually 3-5 at a time).

He stands all the time and loves to do squats all day long.

He says da-da, ma-ma, ba-ba and I swear he says hi.

He waves and claps.

He has 5 teeth.

He nurses at least 4 times a day.

Just the past two nights he has finally slept all night long.

He loves golden grahams with milk.

He loves oranges and melon.

He loves playing in the toilet and shower.  

He is our climber- climbs everything including ladders.

Puts phones to his ear and talks.

Has yet to sleep in an actual crib- poor child has spent his first year of life in a pack-n-play (we need to convince Emery she does not need to sleep in the crib anymore)

He's very whiny in the evening and I usually make dinner one handed.

Loves playing with Chandler and Emery.

Beckett is my favorite little baby ever.  He drives me crazy some days but he is so sweet when he sucks his thumb and lays his head on me.  I just love his cuddles and hugs. It is amazing to me how little and baby like a one year old really is with each passing child.  With Chandler I thought he was so big and walking around but Beckett seems so much like my little baby still.  I can't believe a year has gone by already.  We love our baby boy so much!!

blue eyed emery

Oh how I love Emery.  She is seriously the cutest thing ever.  Last week I finally sat down and started sewing something that has been on my list for a while.  I started it on Friday and finished Saturday so she could wear it to church on Sunday.  I am in love with how it came out.  I totally made up the pattern.  I copied the idea (from here and here) but I had to come up with all the measurements and how to put it together myself.  I am in love with cream and white together.  Notice it in her headband and I also mixed up the ruffles on her skirt and added in some muslin so they weren't all white.  Love how it looks.

Emery was so not into letting me take pictures.  I never got any on Sunday because she fell asleep on the way home and stayed asleep and then it was dark when she woke up (we don't get home until 4:30 from church).  So all week I have been begging her to put her outfit back on and let me take pictures.  She flat out refused and trust me, you can't force that girl to do something she doesn't want to do.  Anyway, today I begged and begged and talked about it and then I pulled out the bribes.  I told her I had a new toy in my closet she could have.  That got her upstairs and in her skirt.  Then I pulled out a Belle barbie doll.  Then to get the rest of her clothing on it was 4 Hershey kisses, one for each piece.  Then the t.v. was turned on (which is what she is staring at).  She sort of cooperated in turning different ways but she wasn't about to smile or anything.  Finally when we were done she got to open her doll.  

I love the detail of the lace on the side.  I also added a cream smaller piece on the other side and just on the waistband part, so not all the way down.  This pattern would make a super cute apron but I love how it is used like a dress here.

I did manage to get a classic Emery cheese smile:)

So this post should probably be on my other blog but since I don't really keep it up to date very well I figured you all wouldn't mind seeing my latest creation.  I actually make quite a few little things for Emery that I never take the time to get pictures of and post. (the dress she is wearing in our family pictures I made for her)  I wish I was good about it and I always want to but there is so much pressure to get good pictures that I just give up.  Plus it is pretty impossible to get Emery to cooperate.  Tonight I just finished a cute little shirt for her.  Hopefully she will wear it tomorrow.  I also have made myself two shirts.  One is already dead -it got blue all over it in the dryer:( but I just finished a new one so hopefully I will take pictures soon.  I love making things but I just wish I had more time to do it.  Plus I'm always torn on what I should do.  Starting a project is the hardest part for me.

And here's the back.  I was super impressed with myself that I made button holes and didn't mess up at all.  They came out perfect and in the right spot.

Anyway, I think my next project should be for the boys.  I haven't made them anything in a while (besides tie shirts- which I get comments on all the time).  I'm thinking some cool plaid pants are in order for them, with knee pads and pockets.  Also some houndstooth pajama pants.  I bought a pink and white and black and white houndstooth flannel on black Friday for $1.50/yard so I better make the kids their pajama pants before it gets too hot.  It was 65 today and so warm outside.

Monster Jam

Since Katrina didn't get to go to this activity with the kids she put me in charge of the blog post.  I had told Chandler that the Monster Trucks were coming a few weeks ago and so Chandler really wanted to go, then at the last minute Emery decided she also wanted to tag along and come.  They both had a really good time.

It was kind of cramped having it in a Basketball arena compared to a dome but it was good for the kids.

 Best move was making sure they had their earplugs.  It was loud!

It was cute hearing them yell to each other because they both couldn't hear with their hands over their ears.

 Emery's favorite truck.  "Daddy, look P-U-R-P-L-E!!, Chandler, you see?  P-U-R-P-L-E!!"

 Chandler sitting back and enjoying the intermissions.

Chandler's favorite, Gravedigger.  He remembers going to their shop while at the Outer Banks two years ago. And he likes it because it is green.  

Highlights from the kids(in no particular order):

1) Gravedigger going over the cars backwards

2) The robot battle (two cars that transformed into Robots and then did battle).  Chandler was so proud that he realized that they weren't real guns just explosions pretending to be guns.

3) The PURPLE car!!!

4) The School Bus Monster Truck  

5) Monster Mutt - the Doggy.  It has a tail, ears, and a tongue.  Chandler actually has this one (well the Dalmation version, which he made sure Katrina knew they were different while explaining all of them) so they loved it.  Surprised this wasn't Emery's favorite.

6) Quad racing during the intermissions

How in the world do you fall asleep watching a Monster Truck show while plugging your ears?  Somehow she did it, right at the very end (with about 5-minutes to go) but she was out cold.  Luckily it had stopped raining but it was pretty funny since on the way home a youth group was passing out donuts.  Chandler picked up two (what a good brother) and in the car put one on her lap.  So when she woke up there was a surprise waiting for her.  It was fun hearing them come home and tell Katrina how awesome it was.

It was fun, but I think I will wait until they come to a larger arena before taking the kids again.  The course was to small for them to even think about wrecking (which is what I really wanted to see).

family pics

I just remembered that I never got around to posting all the pictures we took.  I put the one at the top of our blog and used the same one on our Christmas card but I never posted all the reject ones.  Actually the above one was my other option to use on our Christmas card but I decided to go with one where we were all looking. 

 I'm pretty sure I mentioned this but we had my mom take these photos for us.  It was the Saturday after Thanksgiving.  We had family at our house and Chandler's birthday celebration and I never got a chance to actually figure out any outfits for us.  So Saturday morning I was searching everyone's closet for something cute and picture worthy that would match everyone else.  I guess it worked out okay?  I usually like our pictures fancier (and I like to get some new clothes) but this worked this time.  I did put a bow-tie on Beckett but it doesn't really show.

 This is a chair that my parents brought for me.  I always ask them to bring me old stuff I can re-purpose and use for decorating.  So far I have 100 year old windows, two 100 year old chairs, and a wooden shutter.  Anyway, the seat is missing so I have to fix it somehow but for now it sits in the garage in my to-do pile:)  The kids thought the hole was hilarious though and it was pretty funny when Emery climbed in and got stuck.

 My dad was awesome and stood behind my mom making the kids look and smile and apparently crack up laughing as Beckett has his head thrown back in laughter it looks like.

 The kids played around with the chair while I nursed Beckett in the car.  He was being fussy and I realized we had gotten him up from his nap and I never nursed him.  He didn't really eat though- he gets too distracted.

 I love our picture we have of Emery standing between our legs when she was little and I wanted one with Beckett but he had other plans.  He decided he did not want to stand up no matter what.  We quickly gave up and moved on as we were quickly loosing our light.  Which I think is a big reason why the pictures aren't very clear.  I also think the fuzziness has to do with the fact that maybe our camera had been slowly dying.  The last few months before it stopped working I was constantly bugged by slightly blurry pictures and I couldn't figure out why they were that way.

 This is probably my favorite pose we did.  It kind of just happened since Beckett wouldn't stand up so we just let go and held hands.  I just wish everyone looked normal and we probably would have used it.  Plus I look kind of funny and blurry.

I love how we were all looking at Beckett here (too bad Steve is moving and blurry).  He is the center of our family right now.  He is so spoiled because we all love him so much and can't get enough of him.

So those were the pictures we took this year.  I know we aren't short on family pictures because I'm constantly insisting on taking pictures with all of us throughout the year.  But I like really like having planned out ones taken once a year.  We decided it was too much to pay for real professional ones this year so I'm glad we could still make something work out.  Thanks mom for taking them!!!

How to make a banana sandwich

Before you watch the video I have to give a little background info.  So about a month or two ago, I asked Chandler what he wanted for lunch and he said a banana sandwich.  I had never made him such a thing before.  So I questioned him and said, "you mean, peanut butter, banana, and honey sandwich?".  He was very adamant and said he just wanted bread and banana and he wanted to make it.  So he did and the banana sandwich was born.  He now will regularly have a banana sandwich for lunch if we have bananas.  It is just so funny to hear him talking about his banana sandwich.  And he has to be the one to make it.  The only thing I do is I have have cut his bread in half for him so it is nice and neat and sometimes I have to help him start peeling the banana.  So one day I decided this had to be recorded because he is just so cute.  I apologize for the horrible shaky recording and the awful edit job.  I have no idea what I'm doing and don't really have time to figure it out.  I just wanted to cut the video down from almost 5 minutes to almost 3.  It's still long but watch the whole thing because I don't think Chandler could get any cuter.  I just love his talking and hand gestures and everything (I may be a little biased here but I'm sure you'll agree:).  Enjoy!

Oh, and go make yourself a banana sandwich!

just some stuff

Steve came home from work today and we were all so distracted he somehow snuck in the door without us hearing him.  So I was on the kitchen floor picking up all of Beckett's dinner that he loves to throw, the kids were at the table playing their Leapsters and Beckett was crawling around.  All of a sudden Steve jumped up from behind the couch and said, "hi guys!".  We all screamed and screamed and then laughed and laughed.  It was awesome and scary and so so funny all at once.  (and now my throat hurts from my scream)  Steve will never ever grow tired of pranking people.

It rained all.day.long today.  And most of the time it was pouring, not just a drizzle.  I'm sure our woods are flooded.  When it is cloudy our house always feels so much colder even though it is the same temperature it always is.  I just wanted to crawl into bed and take a nice long warm nap.....but having 3 kids to look after doesn't permit such things usually.

I made a really yummy dinner tonight.  I'm not a huge fan of the crock-pot but this one sounded good so I tried it out.  It was Bacon Ranch Chicken Pasta and it tasted so creamy and yummy and all three kids gobbled it right up.  That right there makes it a winner. Maybe I will take a picture and actually post it on my other blog.

We moved Chandler and Emery into the same room.  Oh yeah, I guess I already mentioned that in the last post. Anyway, they are just so cute.  Emery is now so attached to Chandler and tonight I had to go in to tell them to stop talking and Emery was standing in the corner of her crib closest to Chandler with her arms on the railing just leaning there chatting away to him.  They told me they were talking about Transformers and Emery pipes up, "yeah, and they have guns!".  An hour later, Emery is still up there talking and Chandler is fast asleep.  He has been such a good boy since we moved him into Emery's room.  He goes right to bed at night and falls asleep even though Emery stays awake so long jabbering away.  He also has been so good about trying not to wake her up in the morning.  Though she usually does wake up shortly after he gets up and then she cries and cries like she's heartbroken because Chandler isn't there.  She never used to cry when she woke up in the morning.

So Steve has a guilty pleasure.  I have more than once come on the computer and found pintrest to be opened up and I was NOT the one to open it.  He loves looking at it and it just cracks me up.  We are planning on making a headboard for our bed and he was like, "lets consult pintrest for some ideas".  So funny.  I actually look at it quite often but I don't have an account.  I like to use it to search for ideas for certain things.  And when I start looking just to look and realize I've been scrolling way too long I shut it and swear I'm not going to use it anymore.  But then of course I do.

I have a really cute video of Chandler that I need to edit and post.  Hopefully tomorrow it will be done.  I'm probably cursing things by saying this but he's actually been a pretty pleasant kid lately.  Yeah, we still have our days but for the most part he has been good and he hasn't had bad reports from school since he's been back from break.  Hopefully this lasts because he is a good kid and it is just so frustrating when he doesn't show that.

Oh, and whats a post without a picture?.....lame is the answer.  So here is a sneak peek of our great bedroom makeover that is happening right now:

This is part of the reason blog posts have been few and in-between.  Too many nights painting and working late.  Hopefully there will be more info and pictures coming soon.  I'm not promising anything though, I'm not one to quickly finish projects:)

Okay, that's all for now.  Steve stayed up until 2 reading some book last night so he just went to bed.  I'm not one to stay up later than him- I hate having to turn the lights off- so I'm off to bed now too.

Emery's itty bitty teeny weenie threenie birthday

Disclaimer: Before I start the post I will just complain right now about my bad pictures.  I just have a point and shoot little camera to use right now and I hate it and I hate the pictures it takes and it is horrible.  So now I've said it and I won't comment on the terrible pictures anymore.  the end.   

(Steve's Note: My wife's crazy, the pictures look fine)

On to the par-tay.....

So a little girl around here turned 3 years old on Friday.  Since she is so tiny and cute and loves little things we made her a itty bitty teeny weenie party.  She had little pennant banners, mini cupcakes, teeny party hats, and one adorable tiny cake.  

Of course the cake had to be pink.....Emery's color of choice. 

For dinner we had little smokies wrapped in crescent rolls, tiny apple pieces, mandarin oranges, baby carrots, and salad.  Everything had to be little.  Steve got home just in time since I called him at work and begged him to leave on time so he would be here by 6.  It was all I could ask for Steve to get home since my day hadn't been all that great and the kids had been asking all day when the party was.  I told them it could start at 6 and Chandler then said we were starting whether daddy was there or not.  Steve had just come home and Emery was showing him her Tinkerbell birthday card that she absolutely loved, thanks Jeanne.

I love it when Emery tells me how little something is.  I tried to get her to show me so I could get a picture of her doing it.  It's so darn cute.

After dinner it was finally cake time.  When I first took this picture I glanced at it and hated it because I didn't realize how dumb we looked with just our heads.  But I wasn't about to redo the picture but when I looked at it on the computer I just laughed and now I love the picture.  It's just so funny looking so I like it now. 

Of course the inside of the cake had to be pink too.....well red velvet but close enough.  By the way, I love cake mixes (I have no problem not making my cake from scratch)  but I wasn't a fan of red velvet cake mix.  It wasn't very good at all.  Chocolate cake mix is much better. 

Emery was so happy.  She kept talking about her cake and having to put candles in it and blow them out.  She was so excited to have her birthday.

As some may know, Emery is still not potty trained.  She will not even sit on the potty.  She has never put underwear on and won't even try anything.  It is quite ridiculous.  So we talk about when she will go potty a lot.  She has said all kinds of things to when but lately it has been when she's three.  So I told her on her birthday she would wear underwear and go potty.  She agreed.  And guess what happened.........surprise-nothing!  She is one stubborn girl and I wasn't about to push too much on her special day.  She is so timid and scared of new things so I think that is her big hang up.  We just talk about it a lot and hopefully one day soon she will finally decide to not be so attached to her diaper. 

After cake we opened presents.  I can't believe we did this but I got her a Leapster Explorer.  It was a super good deal and I got two games on Black Friday for a great deal so really it wasn't too much.  Chandler got his on his 4th birthday so Emery got one a whole year early.  It's amazing how younger kids get things so much sooner.  But this was something we needed because they fight over Chandler's so much and it drives me crazy.  Now of course they have been fighting over the new games but I'm sure that will end soon once the newness wears off.....right??

When I came back from running on Saturday morning this is how I found the kids.  It was cute.  And just so you don't think my kids are constantly playing on them, they really don't.  This weekend was the most I have ever seen Chandler play on his Leapster.  We like having it for travel and he plays occasionally at home for quiet time.  He goes through stages but it isn't something I have to tell him to stop playing because he's been playing all day or anything. 

I forgot to mention during the day we celebrated Emery's birthday by going to a jumping place.  I had wanted to bring them uptown and do Discovery Place and lunch with Steve but Steve wasn't available for lunch (he was interviewing a replacement for his employee that left a few months ago.  Maybe when they hire this person he will be home more so I forgive him) so we scratched that and just went to a bounce place. (I wanted to do something Emery wanted to do but when you ask her she just says I don't know to everything so I couldn't get much from her.)  The kids loved it.  Getting there wasn't so great.  I was tired and in a bad mood and the kids were annoying me and not helping or getting dressed and I was wanting to get going and I lost it and yelled at them a lot and had some very bad parenting moments.  Chandler said he hated me and I was just so mad and annoyed by everything.  But we finally got there and the kids ended up having a great time and they were well behaved and so was I.

Emery is the best little girl ever.  She has the cutest little voice and when she gets excited she is l.o.u.d.  (the other day she was over at the neighbors and was talking excitedly about something and the neighbor girl turned to me laughing and said, "wow, Emery talks loud!".)  She is tiny and cute and I just love her beautiful blue eyes and big cheesy smile.  She has the best laugh.  She is so motherly and caring and takes care of everyone.  She helps me out whenever I ask.  She gives the best tight monkey hugs.  She LOVES chocolate milk (sometimes I think that is all she lives on).  She loves me to play baby dolls with her (it involves changing all the babies diapers (pretending they are poopy and oh so stinky), feeding them, then lining them all up to sleep and covering them with a blanket).  She adds "actually" to most sentences.  She also calls Beckett "babe" a lot.  It is so cute sounding.  And when she wants everyone's attention she says, "hey, look at me guys!".  But don't draw attention to her, she will break down and cry.  She is very sensitive and fragile as I have to remind Steve of that often.  She is such a happy funny girl.  Yesterday she climbed out of her crib for the very first time.  She and Chandler are now sharing a room and so nap time has been hard for her because she wants Chandler in there too.  I think all this time she has believed that Chandler was taking a nap too.  So she threw a fit and climbed out screaming crying.  When I went to put her back she was kicking and screaming and said, "I'm just going to climb back out of my crib!".  She is a feisty little girl when she wants to be.  She only had to be put back 3 times and she hasn't climbed out since.  mmmm.....I just love our little girl- she's my favorite.  I am constantly telling Steve I don't think she could get any cuter.  I just want to hold her tight and not let her go.  

Happy Birthday Sweet Emery!!  We love you so much!!

 

CHRISTMAS

So Christmas Eve we waited all day for the fire truck to come through our neighborhood with Santa.  It never came.  He must have been too busy this year.  The kids played with Grandma and Grandpa and I prepped food for dinner the next day.  In the evening we decorated some cookies so we had some to leave for Santa. Then the Christmas Eve festivities took place.

First up was opening little presents that I had the kids pick out for each other.  They gave Beckett a squishy caterpillar.

Chandler picked out a pink squishy ball and a glow-in-the-dark wand for Emery and Emery got Chandler a little wooden robot that you can stretch it's arms and legs and head.  (He's already broken the head off.)

We got to open our ornament from Steve's mom and then the kids opened new jammies from Grandma.

Then it was time for The Night Before Christmas reading.  We let Grandpa do the honors of reading it.  After that we wrote Santa a letter and picked out his cookies, a carrot for the reindeer, and some yummy egg nog.  

Oh, I almost forgot to tell about the funniest/saddest moment of the evening.  The kids were tracking Santa on Grandma's iPad and she said he had finished in Italy and was making his way across the ocean to us.  Emery literally freaked out and started sobbing and looking terrified and kept saying, "put me to bed, I have to go to bed right now".  The poor girl was so worried that Santa was on his way and she wasn't in bed yet.  It took a while for me to calm her down.  Then I brought her upstairs to brush her teeth and she was still kind of sniffing and stuff and she said, "put me in my bed and shut the door so Santa can't come in".  I've never seen the kids go to bed so well.     

The stockings were filled and the presents wrapped (thank you for the helping hands of G&G) and I finally got to bed by midnight.  You don't have to know that after the presents were wrapped, I may or may not have made matching bow-ties and a hair bow for the kids to wear to church the next morning:)  You also don't need to know that Steve and I may or may not have fought the entire night because he made comments about there being too many presents and that set me off.  And I'm sure he was annoyed by me too because I wouldn't drop it.  He usually gets in that mood at the end of each year as he does his final Quicken reports showing our finances for the year.  Oh how I love that conversation with him :)

Christmas morning came.  Chandler was so cute and excited.  I actually came downstairs with him a little past 6 when he got up and I got cinnamon rolls rolled out for breakfast while listening to him jabber away with excitement about everything.  Finally Emery woke up and we waited a little longer for Beckett to get up and then the present opening began.

The kids got new bikes and Beckett got a baby swing for the swing-set from Santa.  They got pillow pets from us.  Beckett got two musical baby toys.  Chandler got that great remote control tonka car that flips back and forth (perfect for kids with no sense of how to use electronics (though I realize most kids know how to these days but my kids still don't)).  Apparently we should have gotten Emery one too but she got a Rapunzel doll and dress instead. I have since realized that she really could care less about Princesses.  She loves pink but doesn't really care about Princesses.  The most exciting present of the day.....drum roll please.......a silhouette cameo.....for me from Steve!!!  Okay, I doubt anyone else was excited about it but I sure am.  I still have to figure out how to use it but I did cut a piece of freezer paper and made a shirt for Chandler already.  I don't have any vinyl yet but I have a few projects in mind.  One that even Steve is excited about.

After presents were opened, I attempted to get a picture of the kids in their matching jammies (which I love by the way) but Beckett was not having it.  So we ate yummy cinnamon and orange rolls for breakfast.  The orange rolls were so good and I'm glad I thought of making half of them orange because it was a nice change. And they cooked amazingly without burning because my awesome mother-in-law heard me complaining about my awful cookie sheets and went out and bought me nice light colored new ones.  I love them so much!

Then the kids just rode their bikes in circles around the house.

Emery insisted on being pushed but eventually got the hang of it and started pedaling on her own.

Then it was time to get ready for church.  We had church at 11 so it was the perfect amount of time in the morning to get everything done and get ready for church.  I insisted on taking our family picture in front of the tree.  We do it every year.  Thankfully Steve was repenting from the night before and was on board with it and told the kids they needed to cooperate because mommy wanted her picture taken:)  Though he wouldn't wear the suspenders that I gave him in his stocking:(

 

After church we had a little lunch and put the little kids to bed and then just chilled.

Steve and Chandler played with their Bucky Balls.  Second best present of Christmas.  I got them for Steve and they have been a huge hit.  Apparently most people don't know what they are but I had heard of them and just knew it was something Steve would love.  Come to find out- everyone loves them!  They are a little addicting to play with.  But the name just takes the cake.  How can you go wrong with Bucky Balls, especially when we have a kid named "Bucky" (short for "Bucket")??  I want to buy them for everyone because I just know you would love them!

The days after Christmas have consisted of "Bucky" loving being able to swing now....

The kids loving riding their bikes outside.....  (hello, NC Christmas temps...I'm pretty sure Steve wore shorts on Christmas day)

Buying a little point and shoot camera because my camera is broken (can you tell these last three pictures look different?)...

Emery not wanting to wear the pink princess helmet so she sports Chandler's old flame helmet with a nice bow sticking out....hey, I offered to take the bow off...she wanted it on:)....

Taking down Christmas and packing it away.....

And finally being allowed to go to town on the ginger bread house.  

Our Christmas was great.  It was really fun having Steve's parents here.  I hope we started a trend because it is much cheaper and easier for two people to travel than a whole family.  And it is nice to be in your own home and have your own little family traditions.  I'm so glad they accepted the invite and came to spend Christmas with us.  The kids loved it.  They have been spoiled this year seeing both sets of grandparents 3 times each.  Next year they probably won't be so lucky but who knows...maybe they will.  We are just grateful for the times we are able to see grandparents.  We truly are blessed.