Christmas Day

Wow, almost 2 weeks into the new year and I have yet to post about Christmas! We've been busy!

Christmas morning this year was absolutely magical. It was my favorite one with you, yet. This year on Christmas, you were 5 days shy of being 3 years and 3 months old and you understood the concept and enjoyed the season this year so much more than last year (you were 2 years and 3 mo). The reason it was so magical is bc of the fact that you KNEW Santa had come while you were sleeping and brought your presents! The night before we left him cookies and milk and you said you would go right to sleep so he could come! When you woke up (we had to wake you up at 8:15 bc we had to be at Gramma and Grampa's at 10), you could not wait to run to the living room and see if he ate his snack and brought gifts!! Both of your eyes lit up and you were so cute in your jammies with sleepy eyes and bed head. It was the kind of Christmas morning I had always pictured when I dreamed of having kids. It was crazy that it was finally real! You both tore open your gifts and laughed and squealed with excitement! It was so fun and cute! I can't wait til next year bc I know as you grow older, it well be even more fun and more magical. I think next year we'll have to have the whole morning to ourselves though so we aren't rushed and we can just enjoy the morning and take our time celebrating and being together. It's important to start of own traditions and have our own Christmas mornings but we'll still celebrate with other family after! :)






Then, as we always have, we went over to Gramma and Grampa's to do Christmas with them and your Aunts, Uncles and cousins (although no cousins were there this year when we were). You got more presents and we hung out for a while except Daddy couldn't be there. This year Christmas fell on a Sunday so Daddy had to work (Christmas and Easter are the busiest seasons for Pastors!). We def missed him and I'm glad we snapped a family pic before he left.

You and Daddy looked so handsome!




The as always we went to Nana and Papa's after naps for more presents and Christmas dinner:






It was a great Christmas!

Christmas Eve 2011

On Christmas eve we went ice skating at church before service, it was K&K's first time :)












After service the twins and I came home (obviously being a Pastor, Daddy had to stay a while longer at church) and I made the birthday cake for Jesus! This was our first year doing this and will continue to bea tradition. K&K really got Christmas this year, it was incredible to see how much more they understood and enjoyed it versus last year!! When they were newborns we had multiple talks about what we would do as far as teaching them about Christmas (the whole believing in Santa thing or not) and I really think we found the perfect balance. All season we explained the reason for Christmas was Jesus being born and why we get and give gifts but we also played into the whole Santa Clause thing which was so exciting for them. I can't wait to see how much more they get it as each year passes. So we sang Happy Birthday to Jesus and blew out the candles (probably 4 times because they loved it so much) :) Then we got the cookies and milk ready for Santa and the carrot and celery for the reindeer :) It was such a magical night and brought back the excitement and anticipation I felt when I was a kid, and I was feeling for my kids now. I was so excited for them! It was the best Christmas eve since they were born, hands down. I know next year will be even better!

Christmas fun

This Christmas season went by entirely too fast!!! The fastes year yet since the twins were born. But we did TONS of baking and had a blast all month long! Here is a glimpse into our fun :)
Decorating the tree :)









We went to see the santa train one night!



We had a fun night checking out the lights with friends :)




I love how cozy the house is this time of year! So does my sweetie pie :)


We took them to see Santa for the 3rd year in a row. The first 2 years they were great. They didn't smile but they didn't cry either :) This year, we talked about it all day before we went and both were excited and said they would tell him what they wanted. Well, we got in line and Kaden started crying just at the sight of him! Kaden is my little tender heart and he's very sensitive...he is still petrified of characters at D-Land. So, he was weary of Santa, way more this year than last! It took about 10 min of talking to him to get him to do and then he ended up being so big and brave :) He gave his biggest smile that he knows how and my heart swelled just thinking about how brave he was trying to be!! Such a sweet little guy. Kaleiah wouldn't crack a smile, staying true to form for year 3 :)




We made our first gingerbread houses! They had free reign on how they wanted to do it and they loved it! Such sweet memories made!












We did lots of baking this month you loved helping, so much!!!