A BIG Day!

On Saturday Carter turned 4 months old! It was a big day bc he got to meet more people on Daddy's side of the family. He got to meet his Aunt Kirsti and Uncle Neil and cousins Alex and Eleni! We are so glad they made the trip down to celebrate Christmas with us!

Carter's lastest tricks:
*He plays and grabs things now! (see the giraffes on his bouncey seat?)
*He has discovered his hands and loves to look at them and chew on them!
*He has been sleeping longer in the nights over the past month and usually goes to bed around 8 and wakes at 4 to eat and then 7:30...sometimes he even skips the 4am feeding! (Now that I typed that he'll change!)
*He is very ticklish and always has a smile for you!
We are so grateful for our little guy!

PaPa's Family Christmas!

PaPa's family came to us this year! It was so nice to see everyone and hang out! Mallory enjoyed playing "Hide Abby Cadabby" with everyone (especially Ellie!) We had good food and conversation before heading over to our house...they had never seen our place before. Then MiMi, PaPa, and Aunt Laura came over for a wii tournament that went into the night!

Christmas 08

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Mallory and Carter woke up at normal times on Christmas morning...I think next year we will be getting up a bit earlier bc now Mallory knows what happens! :) She stared over the balcony at the presents bewildered when she woke up! After finding the baby Jesus and putting him in the stable we enjoyed opening presents...It was neat how she opened each one and wanted to play with it. (Another thing that I think will not happen again next yr!) Carter enjoyed his first Christmas too and was awake to look at all his goodies! (Mallory slept through her 1st Christmas, but was only 5 wks old!) It was so nice to share the morning with Grandma and Grandpa before they headed over to see what Abby and Thomas got...and we headed to celebrate with my family. Mallory was so funny when she looked at the plate that Santa had left with no cookies..."Cookies gone! Milk gone!"

Christmas Eve...

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We had a fabulous Christmas Eve with both sides of the family! We started out in the morning on an "ear piercing adventure" with Cousin Abby. She was so brave! Mallory couldn't wait to play at the playground at the mall afterwards. Then we headed over to the Graham house for our traditional meal and to church for our candlelight service. It was so fun to come back home and get ready for Santa. Maggie loved checking out the chimney with us...she went right on inside! Mallory was excited to put out the cookies and milk for Santa...although she was a bit confused and tried to feed the little Santa that Grandma and Grandpa brought...it was funny! :)

New Friend...

Grandma and Grandpa are here! And they brought a new friend with them! Mallory loves it! She wanted to read all of her Christmas books to Santa...but first she got the baby Jesus out of the stable and tried to put it in Santa's hand...it was cute! ...Can't believe tomorrow is Christmas Eve!!!!

Monkey Madness!

Aunt Laura read TONS of books when she got here so I could jump in the shower....

Mallory and Carter love playing with the Santa MiMi fought for at her "White Elephant" party at church...

Aunt Laura was excited to make Monkey Bread for the first time with the kiddos this Christmas....She and MiMi headed over to our house midmorning today...We haven't made this together since we were kids... (I think Mike and I made it with Casey and Brian when we were dating though and had a similar mishap!) We had a nice lunch together and then when it was time to begin Mallory decided that she wanted to read instead...She wouldn't even come back in the kitchen to see what we were up to....We thought she would love shaking the bags...Ohhhhh the "best laid plans..." Below is a pic of her after over 30 mins of indep reading time...see the "Mt. Bookmore" that she created?!?!

As it was cooking we realized that since the pan was 2 pieces the yummy butter/sugar icing was dripping through and causing the house to fill with smoke...So we opened the doors and we spent a little time bundled up under blankets as we enjoyed the brisk winter air...It wouldn't have been as fun if it had all gone according to plan...We laughed a lot....And look at the finished product! Good stuff! :)

MiMi's Bakery!

This takes some MAJOR concentration!

MiMi and Mallory were working hard baking cookies for the rest of us after dinner tonight! This was Mallory's first time using a cookie cutter....she loved all the cool shapes and could hardly wait for the dough to be rolled out each time before using them....We also watched some Christmas movies from our childhood that Laura had found and bought for us...Now our kids will grow up with them too! Yay! Mallory loved the music and got everyone clapping (even PaPa!)...What fun memories!...

Look! Look! Look!

The Fam all bundled up...can't even see poor Carter's face!

I had tears in my eyes as Mallory pointed to things and was so excited! "Look! Look! Look!" she kept saying....It was so neat to hear Mike talk to her about what was happening and who everyone was....she didn't want to wear her mittens (of course!) and kept putting her hands into the top of Daddy's jacket...so sweet!

"Burr-ito Boy" all bundled up....snug as a bug in a rizzzzzzzzz ug! And Carol and Amina below...

We went to the "Miracle of Christmas" at the zoo last night for the first time....it was so great! We will def be making this a tradition for our family...they read and acted out the story with animals, music, and a host of characters in costume...it was freezing, but totally packed with people hearing about the King who came to live "among us."

Coast to Coast!

The girls had fun meeting each other and playing when they woke up Sunday morning...

We had such a good time just "chill-laxing" with the kiddos all day....

Mallory loved listening to Mr. Doug read and playing Hide Baby Jesus with him!

Our friends flew cross country for Christmas and stopped by our house for a visit on their way to Grandmas! It was so neat for our kids to meet each other and play! We got to spend 2 evenings with them and a full day! Carol (the mom) was one of my college roommates and we had lots of time to chat and catch up as our little ones went through all the toys! And we watched lots of Christmas movies! Mike made numerous yummy meals and a batch of cookies for the gang! (It was the first time our husbands met as well!) We were sad to see them go, but so grateful for our time with them...we wish they didn't live so far away!!!!

She's Hitched!

We had so much fun at our "kid neighbor's" wedding on Saturday night...we grew up together, but she was younger than us. Can't believe she is married! When she danced with her dad the whole place fell apart...such an incredible song! (I had never heard of it before, but can't wait to find it on itunes!...something about an angel in her daddy's arms...not a dry eye in the place!) PaPa even got onto the dance floor for the "Dollar Dance" with the bride! I didn't have my camera on me at the time, but Susan's boyfriend got a pic that I hope he sends my way soon and I'll be sure to post it! :) Congrats Tiffany!!!

CHRISTmas....

So hard to find a "balance" during such an exciting time of year! Santa is everywhere and is so much fun...and there are elements of his nature that point kids to the fact that "God is good and God is for us" and there are only about 5+ good "Santa yrs" for kids (ages about 2-8), but we want to make sure our kids know the true "reason for the season." We got this idea from our friend Ginny....We are incorporating one of Mallory's favorite games with "seek and ye shall find"...with the game Hide and Seek baby Jesus...(More like Hide and Peek in her case) and we've been hiding baby Jesus around the house in "plain sight." We plan to do this before she opens gifts on Christmas morning before we celebrate His birth with as my sister said, "the biggest B-Day party ever!"

Magic!

I don't want to forget the year that lawn people weren't safe from the Mal Pal! We were out for a walk tonight before dinner and Mallory's "lawn friends" were out too...she said, "I want to hug/I want to kiss Santa!" So off we went to do so! Hope our neighbors don't mind! :) I wish I could have gotten a pic of her face when she was hugging him....pure magic!

Couldn't wait...

Had to go ahead and break out the PJs for Carter too! I love the tradition of getting them on Christmas Eve, but then you can't enjoy them during the season! So I think as long as the kids are young enough to be getting thematic PJs we will give them early...then when they get older and just get new PJs (w/o Christmas patterns) we will give them on Christmas Eve...it's too hard to wait! :)

Our Little Drummer Boy...

When we put Carter in his car seat he looks like a little drummer boy with the way he is constantly "drumming" his arms....par rump pump pum pum! :) (Wish I had space on my camera for a video!)

Tons of Fun!

Carter loves being pulled up into the sitting position now...so fun! And do you see our little "Cinderella" in the background?

Here is a closer shot...Mallory got a cool vacuum from Pepere for Christmas! I am so excited about it bc I hope it will help with her "vacuum phobia"! She loves it! She also got a stuffed monkey that talks! Carter is getting diapers from Pepere this Christmas....but before we know it he will be picking out fun toys too!!! :)

Pepere and Mallory peruse her new Christmas coloring book from MiMi...

A dance party broke out to the Christmas music after our meal!

We have been having so much fun with Pepere! Today we ran tons of errands in the morning (It's so nice to have the extra hands!!! I can get a lot more done!) and then tonight we had a yummy dinner and MiMi and PaPa came over to visit! :)

New Traditions!

Since things are getting tighter and tighter around here we aren't going to make our annual Christmas trip to the beach....So we had to come up with a new tradition! (And we had heard of people doing this.) Tonight we got the kids all dressed in their "Kiss-mas" (as Mal would say) PJs before dinner....fed Mallory and then jumped in the car to look for festive lights! Mallory loves her new PJs Aunt Susan! We had to break them out early bc she doesn't have any other holiday ones...they are her PJs that she will open on Christmas Eve to wear to bed...but we fig this yr she wouldn't mind getting them early! :) And Carter is sporting one we got as a pass down...We can hold off on his Aunt Susan one til the 24th!

Daddy hopped out for a photo op with his little girl at one of the houses....

And guess who slept through the whole thing? Mallory was really into it though and we were gone a whole hour! :) The blow up Santas/reindeer/snowmen were the big draw for her!

This morning began with Pepere and "Cafe Morin" for breakfast...then Pepere headed over to the other Morins for the day and to spend the night. Mallory has been missing him today! And I went to tea with my Book Club for lunch...so fun!!!! (New tradition!?!?!?) Daddy and the kiddos had fun at home! Then tonight after the lights and the kids where in bed Mike and I had dinner and a movie! Yay for the holidays! :)

Pepere is Here!!!!

Carter meets his Pepere for the first time...and they are even dressed alike! :)

Building trains with the cousins...Mallory was very sad when they left for the evening...

We are loving having Pepere here for a visit on his journey south for the holidays! Mallory can't get enough of him..."Pepere watch/I want Pepere to see/I want Pepere to sit..." He is very gracious to listen to her constant chatter and play along...He got here yesterday around 4 (making awesome time despite the monsoon-like weather) and then the other Morin Crew came over for dinner and hung out...Today has been lots of fun with the kiddos...and included some good swing time this afternoon! :) We love our Pepere!

"Santa is Nice!"

Eating and playing with her MickeyD Happy Meal in line...

She loved the reindeer and "writing" Santa a letter while she waited...

Mallory has been talking all about Santa and how nice he is and was so excited to see him. When we were ordering her lunch she was talking all about sitting on his lap. Well for a little girl who takes 30 mins to warm up to people she sees weekly she didn't have enough time to get comfortable with Santa and the pic shows that! And Carter fell asleep in his carseat while we were waiting and didn't even wake up when Daddy took him out and put him on Santa...it was too funny! But as soon as we got off the stage Mallory said, "Santa!!! Santa is nice!" So at least she isn't scarred...but by the look of the pic you would think so! :) We thought she would have reacted that way last yr as well...but didn't...click here for pics.

Such a fun family day though! Mike took off work to join us and is now working in the yard while Mallory naps and Carter enjoys some alone time w/ Mommy....here he is smiling during "tummy time" just now....