Our VERY Merry Christmas 2009

Time, that's what I needed the most and I couldn't seem to find any of it before Christmas but now that its behind me I think I see more "time" heading my way.

We had a fantastic Christmas in our house. The BIG Santa present was a beautiful playset for our backyard. Jon worked night after night building it and finished the night before Christmas Eve. Luckily, I was able to distract the kids when pulling in and out of the garage so they didn't see it during the week. I really wanted the "magic" of Santa on Christmas morning and the kids got just that. Unfortunately, because of the snow the day before the kids couldn't really play much on it but I know it will be the best money spent for our 3 kids when the weather warms up a bit.

Some of the favorite presents from Christmas (they really love it all but here are a few to mention):

Both Paige and Aiden LOVE the Zhu Zhu pets with all of the fun accessories and the SpongeBob Basketball

Paige's favorite would be her Hanna Montana Karaoke System from Santa

Aiden's would be his Batman costume

Harlow's would be (I get to pick it right?) her stunning eden's bouquet outfit, always fabulous Mia Joie shoes and her new baby toys of course

THANK YOU to everyone who sent such wonderful presents (they really do love them all!) and of course the money was greatly appreciated so Jon & I could get the kids more of what they wanted since we were really only getting them the playset at first and then had extra funds to get more toys for the kids.

Christmas day was spent playing with toys and then we went to the movies. I think that will have to be a yearly tradition, the kids had such a great time eating popcorn and ICEE for lunch and it was nice to get out of the house for a bit on Christmas. We saw Alvin and the Chipmunks, such a cute kids movie. When we arrived back home we enjoyed some Honey Baked Ham and the kids played with their toys into the night.

Opening up a present (well it was a few since what they wanted to open was the Zhu Zhu pets Fun House and you need the Hamsters of course to use it) on Christmas Eve

Aiden putting out food for the Reindeer

Paige putting out the cookies we made for Santa

Aiden handling Santa's milk

Aiden's Santa

Harlow's Santa

Paige's Santa

Christmas Morning...heading outside to the back to see if Santa brought a playset...

and HE DID!

They were so excited!

Aiden enjoying the snow

Enjoying the rocker swing

Paige making a snow angel

Now let's open some presents!

Harlow enjoying her new Bumbo seat on her first Christmas

Aiden playing with the Zhu Zhu pets

Paige rocking out with her karaoke system

A White Christmas Eve in Texas

I would have never guessed that we would have a white Christmas Eve here in TX but as weather would have it WE DID! Paige and I had some fun running around outside in it and if she had her way we would have never come back inside. I hope we get at least a few inches on the ground so we can make a snowman later today.

I have really enjoyed all of the beautiful Christmas cards, my favorites are the photo cards where I can see so many of the beautiful faces I love so much. We will be going to dinner tonight at Lawry's Prime Rib. It's a tradition started back when my mom was still alive and I feel her spirit every year we go. After dinner, I will bake some cookies with the kids for Santa and let each child open a present before bed. I can't wait for tomorrow as I am sure you all feel the same.

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas filled with much love, joy and laughter!

Adoring Harlow 4 months

Oh gosh do we just adore Harow, she is seriously the best baby ever and that dimple just melts your heart. I have had a hectic few weeks (still working on that Blog entry) and no matter how busy or bad the day when I look at Harlow I can't help but smile and feel overwhelming joy in my heart.

Harlow rolled over for the first time at a playdate on December 10th, it was so exciting to share this "first" with friends. I grabbed my iPhone and captured it on video, check it out!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zuQFWKQ5S9o

Harlow also enjoyes looking at her hands, putting her toys in her mouth, standing up with assistance and a good sucking of her thumb. I bought her a Bumbo chair for Christmas and have already snuck it out of the closet a few times to let her check it out, she really enjoyes the new view while sitting in it.

I took her to her 4 month pediatrician appointment last week. She now weighs 13 lbs. 8 oz. which puts her at the 50th percentile and she is 25" tall which puts her in the 97th percentile. She is tall and lean, must get that from her daddy.

I really enjoyed this 4 month photo shoot. I only took a handful of pictures and she was glowing so pretty in all of them. During our "photo shoot" I received the CA presents from my sister & brother, one of those presents was a stuffed reindeer from Auntie Jen which Harlow quickly befriended.

Look at my new moves!

My 1st Christmas - 4 months old

BUSY BUSY Holiday FUN

Oops, I realized I never published this for you all to read and I was just about to start on our Christmas Blog...better late than never right?

Gosh sorry it's taken me so long to get another Blog post going but between the holiday fun, Christmas shopping, Christmas card making & preparing them for mailing, laundry, house cleaning and taking care of our 3 beautiful kids life these past few weeks has been hectic to say the least and it hasn't left me a minute to spare.

Last night was a turn for the better though as I finished up some sweet handmade presents for my CA girl friends and finalized the rest of the presents that I need to ship and mail tomorrow, so today I have a few minutes of free time while Aiden naps, Paige plays on Jon's computer, Harlow naps in her swing and a load of laundry is running in the washer.

So, let's play catch up. The house is decorated, we picked out a fabulous 9 ft. Christmas tree and decorated it (ok, well I did most of the decorating after the kids went to bed), we took a beautiful horse carriage ride through Highland Park to see some amazing Christmas lights and the kids saw Santa at a Color-Me-Mine event. Here are some pictures from all of our fun.

I still need to take some pictures of our beautifully decorated tree but here are a couple pictures of our other decorations. We need to get more stocking holders for our new family of 5, I hope to get us either the word SANTA or PEACE from Pottery Barn to use next year.

I realized when looking at this picture that Aiden has moved around some of the people from where I had them.

I noticed Jon had the lights laying on the floor and I couldn't resist getting some pictures of Harlow laying with them

Had to get a close-up of my favorite Mia Joie shoes on her...my newest addiction

Aiden put the first ornament on the tree, of course it was Handy Manny and his Tools

Jon bought this Star Wars ornament a few yeas back and now our littlest Star Wars fan is enjoying it as well

My favorite ornament is this train, it goes around the tracks and makes "choo choo" sounds

Paige putting on the tree topper with the help of her dad. Jon and I received this topper as a wedding gift and have used it on our tree every year since.

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas!!!

Christmas Traditions

Gosh I love the month of December, there is so many fun things to enjoy with family and friends. Today was our Christmas kick-off which included our Elf on the Shelf named Sam making his debut and we started Day 1 of our Advent Calendar. The kids were so excited to start counting down for Christmas.

If you haven't started the Elf on the Shelf tradition you should check it out (you can find them at my favorite store, Hallmark), it really brings out good behavior in kids (always makes for a more quiet month) and is a fun game leading up to Christmas. Paige named our Elf Sam last year and everyday he finds a new place to sit in our house (Jon and I have a good time finding a new place each night). We also enjoy reading the book that the Elf came with and have an additional activity book that I plan on using with Paige this year.

Now let's talk Advent Calendars (we got ours from Pottery Barn Kids but you can also find some cute calendars at Target or on Etsy or better yet you can make your own). I think most assume you put candy in it but actually most of what I put in it is small paper tags with whatever fun thing we are going to do together or if it is an item that won't fit in the pocket on our calendar.

Today we started with new matching Christmas pajamas. Other ideas could include a craft, baking cookies, fun events (ie: visiting Santa, Santa's Village, looking at lights, etc.), small toys, family game night, family movie night, hot chocolate together, gosh I could go on and on with ideas and I am sure you will have plenty of your own come to mind.

Well I still need to get these Christmas decorations out, I promised myself tomorrow it would be done so wish me luck!

Sam