Dec Misc Part 2

Part 2 of our many December iPhone memories  

At my suggestion my parents gave the kids one big gift to share as part of their Christmas. I had been wanting something for outside in hopes that we can spend more time out there. Well Ryan opened the box and let's just say he was not very happy with me when he saw all the pieces...

Several hours in!

James and H were in Greenville to see the Nutcracker so we decided to take A and K to see the Christmas lights.  For some reason they think it is amazing to ride in Ryan's car.  They also LOVED the lights.  "Lights! Mama lights! Balls! More balls! More lights!"  Kate kept saying "We can't touch them."  I think she got that from us saying it so many times in regards to the Christmas tree. 

The hard work was worth it-  we had two very excited boys when they came home. 

One great thing about having several extra kids around is that there is always someone willing to swing with you on the swing 

What is it with boys and sticks? Here was James trying to start a fire...

Poor baby had an ear infection and a bad cough that turned into wheezing, breathing treatments, etc.  We narrowly escaped a visit to the emergency room.  One of our wonderful pediatricians actually made a house call to help us out.   The aftermath of this was a child who lost his mind while on steroids which caused me to lose my mind. Not our greatest week. 

Decorating our Christmas presents for the Grandparents 

We made a trip downtown to see James's gingerbread house on display 

We went for a drive to see the Canterbury lights and I noticed Harrison had gotten really quiet. It's never a good thing to fall asleep at 6:00 at night!  As we say "The beast was unleashed" when I had to wake him up. 

Hot chocolate and Rudolph!  

Quick visit with Daddy while A and K are in speech 

Cookie making time!

A lot of love, effort and sprinkles went into these

We had a quick visit one morning from these two sweeties.  Greer came and we just sat on the couch and watched the kids played and talked. It was wonderful!

James's design for Pappy. To Pappy Love REJHAK (our first initials lol) 

Late night chess game 

While I was at my parents' house I found this picture from a Christmas past. Ryan gave an early gift of coming to Greenville one night early to see a friend and to get some extra sleep after a very long week with Andrew being sick. 

He texted me the next morning- all up and prepared for breakfast by 6:30 a.m. Isn't he amazing? :) 

James has loved his light up chess set 

I was so surprised to find him napping one afternoon (he hasn't napped in forever). I thought to myself "Christmas finally caught up with him.  Well, that afternoon he started throwing up.  By the grace of God no one else in our immediate family caught it but definitely no fun. 

Harrison gave James a pack of glow sticks which he graciously shared

I tried to escape and hide to drink an afternoon cup of coffee when I suddenly heard little feet...

We are close to being done with the pacifier for Andrew. I couldn't believe it when one of his broke in half like this!  We now only have one left and he just uses it at night and we have already told him when it breaks no more pacifier!

We turned A and K around to the front and I worked hard and got all three of these guys across the third row. It was a tight squeeze! New family rule:  until you ride quietly you ride in the back!

Working some more on their fossil digs 

"Horsey daddy horsey!" 

New Year's Eve ice cream sundae celebration.  When we talked about resolutions James said "Mine is to eat more desserts and Andrew's can be to give up his paci.  Harrison's can be to be nice."  Looks like we have an eventful year coming up! 

Dec Misc Part 1

I went a little overboard on pictures this month so I had to split this post.  I'm probably guilty of taking more than I should but our lives are so busy and crazy and I have a very bad memory so I take pictures so I won't forget! 

I love this picture because it shows the real Kate.  She is not a fan of cooperating for pictures so I have a hard time capturing her silly sweet personality.  

This kid and his hair

This shows off Kate's hair cut that Greer did. 

These two- they are my instigators. 

Tree climbing has been a big thing lately.  Believe it or not our daredevil Andrew was scared to do it. 

Dinner with these girls is always a treat

Daddy's girl 

Kate woke up really early into her nap one day and I was super frustrated because I had a lot I needed to get done. As I was holding her I had a moment of clarity where I realized that these days of hearing someone say "rock rock mama" are quickly coming to an end.  One sad (and sometimes wonderful) thing about twins is that they often leave the same stages at the same time so seasons of life are over and done quickly.  #savorthemoments

All moms of young kids- go order the candy cottage! A friend gave me this and it is wonderful! It pops right together and is reusable. You get to have all the fun of decorating the gingerbread house and none of the frustration of putting it together and it doesn't collapse like the normal ones do.  It also easily rinsed off so we can use it every year. 

Finished product!

Jingle Bell Trot at James's school 

The race route under the lights 

We ran into Santa at the race 

"What? Am I really on the nice list???" 

Make your own pizza at lunch that no one ate. At least the process was fun. 

Taste of childhood- Nene's cookie recipe 

We made cookies for some of the special people in our lives to say thank you.  This was James's note for our local police who are at our school every day. 

Harrison's for Mr. Bill (the crossing guard)

First official family movie night with all 6 of us!

Smith Family Christmas.  This year was my mom's turn to host and she did great!

Dirty Santa time 

Thankfully the church where it was at had a great nursery for the kids to play in 

The Cox family came for dinner and Madeline was home from college!

You can never go wrong with Chinese take out and good friends 

Kentucky is too far away!

Sweet Christmas dress on loan from a friend.  Kate loves being dressed up. 

My mom took the boys to the Nutcracker and they talked her into dinner at their favorite place 

What is it with boys and wrestling? All the time!

Meeting Santa at preschool

She insisted on wearing James's shirt for two days straight. Girl has an opinion! 

And also an attitude. This was a fit she threw at Target. I cannot begin to describe how loud she was yelling and screaming. 

After Andrew crawled out of the pack n play at the beach and then started taking his pants off and purposely going to the bathroom on the carpet during nap time he started having to sleep in a sleep suit with the zipper down his back. So far it has worked! 

Date night to a work dinner with Ryan 

Before the dinner we had James and Harrison's Christmas play 

It was super quiet and when James walked in Andrew yelled "Hi James!"

Harrison was absolutely hilarious.  You could hear him singing WAY above everyone else.  Everyone in the audience was cracking up and I seriously cried I was laughing so hard.  

Nana took the kids home and to bed and we got to go out!

It's nice when one of the other doctors has a wife that's a great friend. It makes work functions much more enjoyable! I didn't get a picture but they had door prizes and my number was the very first one called and I won a huge bottle of wine. I never win anything! 

One of many homemade Christmas ornaments from school 

Nana offered for H to go with her for a couple of days and he jumped on it. He can be so difficult at times but he is a delight when he is by himself. 

We get so much art from this preschool. I have a hard time displaying it all. 

Night time stories 

If we didn't have amazon prime I don't know if we could have Christmas. I do almost all my ordering from there

Harrison brought this home and it ended up being our tree topper 

I'm assuming this is Mary, Joseph and Jesus 

Kate was obsessed with the advent calendar. Every day she would say "I need to hold the baby Jesus". 

Game changer. Of course after buying them the boys guilt tripped me into letting them still do "the messy ones" a.k.a the roll out cookie cutters. 

I was inspired to make homemade cinnamon rolls which I have never done. 

So much butter. 

SO good. A friend started making and sharing these with me and they are so delicious I had to learn to do it myself. Well worth the effort and mess. 

Harrison had a great time at Nana's and was thrilled that Margaret and Davis also came with Aunt Whitney.