Christmas with Grammy M, Pops and Uncle Brandon! A few from Aunt Sherri's as well!

 A Christmas Eve gift from Grandma and Pa Pa!

 Carly waiting to open her "Big" gift from Grammy M. and Pops!

Christmas Eve gift from Grandma and Pa Pa!

 Happy Boy! First fishing pole!

 Carly's Easel from Pops and Grammy M.

 Waiting to go to Pops and Grammy M's on Christmas Eve.

 Waiting to open gifts!

 Carly at Aunt Sherri's and Uncle Fred's!

 Snow!

 Tired after a LONG Christmas Eve.

 Opening her Easel!

Happy kid got the big boy bike he has been wanting from Pops and Grammy M.!

      Not sure why my pictures are not staying in order. Kind of frustrating... oh well. Christmas Eve we headed over to Grammy M and Pops house to celebrate Christmas. We got to enjoy a nice lunch and then the kids couldn't wait to open their presents! Carly got a beautiful Easel which is perfect because she loves to draw and Cole got the bike of his 4 year old dreams! It was a nice, relaxing day and I loved watching the kiddos love on their Grammy M and Pops. We headed to JD's Aunt Sherri's and Uncle Fred's for their annual Christmas Eve Party. We did not stay long because we wanted the kiddos to get home and to open their jammies and to have time to read them the Night Before Christmas and to relax as a family before the kids went to bed and the madness of wrapping presents and assembling their big presents! My folks stopped by for a quick second to give the kids a surprise gift. A fishing pole and a doll. It was a fantastic Christmas Eve and the kids were so worn out they went right to sleep.

Christmas with GMA, Marc and Uncle Carl.

 Carly LOVES cats!

 Cole and Uncle Carl goofing around!

 Kiddo's with GMA!

 Being silly at pizza!

 Snuggle time!

 Opening stockings!

We started our Christmas celebrations at JD's moms house. It was Christmas Eve Eve. We planned it so we could stay the whole day and stay over night. We all had a blast. We just hung out all day and enjoyed each others company! We ate, drank, laughed and ate, drank and laughed some more. I am so blessed to have such a wonderful mother in law. The kids adore her and love her! It was the perfect way to start Christmas!

Christmas with Brooklind and Koa!

The kids exchanged gifts with Brooklind and Koa for Christmas. We have been so blessed to have this wonderful family as our neighbors. The kids all love each other and us as adults have become wonderful friends as well. It will be so fun to watch them grow through the years!

Glasses!

If you know Cole, you know he LOVES glasses. I found him the other day wearing these... ha. He found them in a drawer in JD's nightstand. He now has been wearing them for about a month. Pretty smooth for a 4 year old!

Magical!

There is something magical about Christmas at my parents. Maybe because the way my mom has always LOVED Christmas and decorates her home like something out of a Christmas book, or maybe just because it is the home I grew up in and had so many magical Christmas there myself that seeing my children enjoying Christmas the way I did makes it magical to me. What ever it may be, these pictures just grasped how special Christmas at my parents is!

Potty Time!

After almost 5 years of changing diapers, I was ready to be DONE! What a breeze it has been with Carly! She got the hang of it within 2 days. She now only wears a diaper at night! It has been SO nice. WAHOO!

Laughing Carly!

Can't get enough of this kids laugh!

A night away!

JD and I got to have a night away right before Christmas. It was JD's work party that was being held down in Sacramento. My parents said yes to watching the kiddos for us overnight, so away we went for a full 24 hours! We started the day off with picking out new furniture for our downstairs living room, then off to our favorite restaurant in Sac... Cafe Bernardo. However, since we were kidless we ate in the bar (Monkey Bar) and enjoyed some ice cold beer to go with our lunch. We then went to our favorite hotel Hyatt and sat in the spa for a few hours enjoying the rain falling and the calmness of just being together! We got all dressed up and went to the work party, which was nice of course but we were excited to hit up all our old favorite bars and to see some old friends that we had not seen in a long time. I think we managed to make it to at least 6 bars, I might of lost count though along the way :-)! It was a fantastic evening but I could not wait to get home to the babes! Wonder when I will be ready to do 2 nights away from them. It will probably be a while, since a one overnighter is still tough on me!

Carly and Friends!

Carly has started to LOVE to play with other kids and has a few favorite that she sees at playgroup. Brooklind who is our neighbor has become Carly's BFF. Carly will ask me ALL day long if "B" is home and if she can play with "B". It is so neat to watch her begin to form friendships and to be able to keep up with the big kids.

LOVE!

Ohhh, these two MELT me! See the bond growing between the two of them is amazing to watch. Yes, of course they fight (UFC style) but at the end of the day, they love each other. I always wanted to have a boy first, so If I had a girl, her big brother would always be there to protect her. I lucked out!

Back after not blogging for a month.....

First of all, I have not found the time to blog in OVER a month because we have been so busy. So, these are going to be pictures from December. It is nice to be back and I am looking forward to catching up.

This Elf costume that Carly has on was Cole's to begin with. It is funny because Cole wore it at 7 months and STUFFED it. Carly of course 2 in this picture. I never realized what a big baby Cole was until I saw a picture of him in the Elf costume.