New Ornaments

I couldn't resist snapping this shot of the kids playing puzzles by the tree. Their Grammy and Papa sent them each a new ornament today in the mail (that's exciting stuff you know, getting real mail when you're four and two years old.. ;) They were already just excited about the box, but when they found Star Wars and Princess ornaments inside, they both couldn't wait to put them on the tree. Rachel kept telling us that the pretty Cinderella one was 'MINE' (as in hers) and Noah just thought his was the coolest thing ever. Thanks again Grammy and Papa. They couldn't have been more pleased. =)

Tree Trimming and Gingerbread

Yesterday we all went and picked out our Christmas tree- an 8 footer plus the box and tree stand Doug built a few years ago, makes it seem giant! The kids were so excited to get it and once it was standing in the usual spot in our dining room it really did start to feel more like the Christmas season was upon us. After dinner with some convincing of dear 'ol Dad, we got the lights on and the kids went to town with the candy canes and their ornaments (you know, the ones that won't break! ;) Noah and Rachel were so excited to help decorate the tree. They could hardly wait to get the lights on and start hanging the ornaments. They were both so keyed up we didn't think they would ever go to bed. Sometime around 10 we got finished with the tree and got the Noah tucked into bed (Rachel crashed around 8:30). Noah was so 'into' it this year and you could tell from the way he talked and what he was saying that he was so proud to be helping with the tree. He kept pointing out the different ornaments, especially the ones he made or the ones he felt were his. Doug and I both enjoyed his excitement and happiness.

Tonight we made gingerbread cookies. I mixed up the dough and rolled it out and kids cut out the cookies shapes. After rolling Rachel's out several times, she finally understood that you have to move the cookie cutter between cuts so that you can cut several cookies instead of the same one 50 times. It was cute to watch them have fun rolling the dough and cutting them out. Rachel enjoyed eating hers up after they were iced. Poor Noah wasn't feeling too good tonight and vegged on the couch while watching Frosty the Snowman.

Santa's Helpers

I love playing around each year with pictures of the kids in their Santa hats. Last year Rachel was still so little and a baby yet -
http://heatherhornback.blogspot.com/2006/12/its-beginning-to-feel-lot-like.html
http://heatherhornback.blogspot.com/2006/12/shes-just-so-darn-cute.html
and this year she seems soooo much bigger! Noah looks so much different to me also - look at all those freckles that popped out this summer! The kids love playing around in their hats (Noah asked for his the day after Halloween!) and I can't resist taking shot after shot. Ofcourse, I usually can't resist doing that anyway... ;)

A Visit With Santa

We took Noah and Rachel to see Santa today and Noah did really great telling him what he wanted for Christmas - Star Wars figures and Star Wars Legos... the boy loves Star Wars. =) Target has gotten several new sets in and he has a whole new list for Santa Claus after our trip to Target yesterday. Rachel happily told Santa hello, accepted her candy cane and screamed like crazy when I tried to set her on his lap. You can't really tell, but she was sitting on my lap in the picture and still had the dear in the headlights look on her face... You gotta love Christmas time and scarey Santas...

Good Times

I finally got a chance to sit down and go through all the photos from the holiday weekend and there were so many more I wanted to share-
A few more from the birthday party...

These are actually from the night before her birthday when I was showing her the cake. She was so excited over her Elmo cake. I think David was pretty excited about it too, he kept asking for a bite!

These are from the unveiling of the kitchen right after she woke up on the morning of her birthday. She was so excited to see that kitchen and went straight to cooking!

And some fun ones of the rest of our weekend-

It was great spending time with Amie, John and the kids. We played with the kids, relaxed, ATE CAKE (There were three of them!), ate turkey, watched football, had a birthday party, played at the park, went for a walk, colored, and so much more. It was a blast! We love you guys! Thanks again for sharing the weekend with us. =)

Happy 2nd Birthday Rachel!!!

I cannot believe it has been TWO YEARS since this precious baby girl came into our lives!!!! She had a wonderful birthday with Noah and her cousins Olivia and David to play with and help her celebrate. She started the day by finding a large sheeted object in the middle of the playroom floor and after curiously peeking under it, Noah and Olivia helped her pull the sheet off of her new Kitchen. She played with that kitchen all day long, stopping only to eat, sleep, and open more presents. When the other three kids went outside to play, she was too busy playing kitchen to even look up as they put their coats on... it was amazing how into it she was. Cute stuff. She had a full day with lots of 'Melmo' party excitement. We grilled out burgers and hotdogs and had a good lunch followed up by 'Melmo' cake and icecream. Rachel loves cake... especially 'Melmo' cake... I'm not sure if she was trying to kiss it or eat it. She was a little intimidated by her candles, but once they were blown out and pulled out the cake she immediately grabbed his cheeks and went in for a kiss/bite. Makes a Mommy's heart happy. =) She got lots of fun things for her birthday - Thanks to everyone who thought of her on her special day. We wish you all could have been here to share it with us, and were grateful that Amie, John, Olivia and David got to join in on the fun. It has been an amazing two years - just amazing and we look forward to all the ones to come.