Sing with me now

Bringing you some Christmas cheer... two of the three (soon to be four) hooligans. Put your hands together for: Hunter & Bailey!!! *This one's for you Grandma! ;)

Merry Christmas!

We hope everyone had as joyous a holiday as we did! The old adage is true: it IS so much better to give than to receive! I can't even begin to explain the excitement I felt in proxy for my kids this year.. I may have been more excited than they were! :)... okay, maybe it was a tie... Either way, it certainly made for a GREAT Christmas morning!!!

And what's even better is that for the 2nd time in our 5 1/2 years of marriage I was actually able to surprise Brandon! (A combination of him being nosy and be being a lousy liar I guess..) Enjoy the slide show - hopefully it brings you at least a fraction of the happiness it brought us! ;) MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Bribery

Why is it that children never want to perform when the camera is on? I mean, don't they realize we NEED these precious moments in our permanent databases?! My mind can only remember so much on its own!

Well, here's proof to all my distant, more than 24 hrs drive away, family (that's pretty much everyone these days) that Landon is in fact walking! He was happy until he realized with every step forward he took, I took one back... what kind of sick game is this mom?! *You (or at least your wife), will thank me for it someday bud. ;)

Take two.. BRIBERY! And although he isn't completely thrilled that the game isn't yet over, he at least finishes his part of it. Good job Landon!!! :)

*Truth be told, he took his first steps in November, but he is still more than content to get around by speed-crawling! It's about a 50/50 mix as of yet.

Seeing Angels

Today was our big preschool nativity production! Bailey was the angel, and Hunter was supposed to be a shepherd (after he took one look at all the people, and decided he preferred to be a member of the audience... next year maybe!).
The kids did a GREAT job! Bailey's line was "Then Joseph took sweet Mary, and to the stable went. They used the straw to make a bed, it was heaven sent.". I had a proud mommy moment when she said it without needing any encouragement! *sniff ;)

And even though we did it with 1/2 the class size I'm used to, they really pulled it off! Great things happen when you've got a GREAT group of kids!!! ..and Bailey did make a very "natural" angel! ;)

Sugar High

It takes a lot.. no really, a LOT of sugar to make me sick. So, exactly how much cookie dough did I consume thus far today? Lets just say, "enough". Enough to satisfy both mom and baby (who has been somersaulting with excess energy for about 2 hours now!).

Bailey and Hunter were quite the little helpers today, never leaving my side. Of course I'd like to think it's because they love me, but maybe it had a small something to do with the free reign of goodies that came along with the job - don't judge, it's Christmas!! ;)
Bailey was the most intent "sprinkler" I've ever seen! Good job honey! :)

As dad and Landon tried to rest in the other room, mom may have given the thumbs up to tackle dad amid their sugar high... ;)

We visited with Santa on Thursday as part of our preschool field trip. He was probably the best Santa I've ever seen... must be a grandpa!

And of course the kids got to play in the first snow yesterday, despite the 14 degree temperature outside!

Parents on Ice

This past Tuesday at Bailey's skating class, parents were invited on the ice for the last 30minutes. Bailey was SOOO excited to show me her new moves, and I was excited to test my new Christmas skates early - thanks Bailey, I LOVE them! :) She kept reminding me not to fall because I would hurt Peyton (I wonder where she got that idea... Brandon??). It was comical to see the roles reverse as she "mothered" me! It's a good thing there were no incidents because she probably would have taken responsibility for it.. or put me in time out indefinitely! ;) It was a LOT of fun even though I am quite rusty - has it really been 6 years since I did this last?! Shameful...