christmas 09

I am finally blogging about Christmas, it has been a mad house around here with all the kids home from school! Everyone has been sick with coughs and colds adding to the chaos, I think everyone is finally starting to get better. Overall we had a great Christmas. We are lucky enough to live close enough to both sets of our parents that we were able to see both families on Christmas day. After staying up until 2:00 a.m. on Christmas eve getting everything ready for the kids, I was dreading them waking up at the crack of dawn. Luckily, they didn't wake up until 7:00! I loved seeing how excited the kids got opening each present, and their excitement as they dumped their stockings all their over the floor.

merry christmas

7 years old

I can't believe my oldest child is now seven years old! I couldn't ask for a sweeter seven year old. Dario makes my job as a mother easy because I rarely have to discipline him and he is always willing to help. We had a family party for him at Brian's parents house. We made his favorite food, hamburgers and hot dogs. Dario was in heaven with all the nice presents he received from his aunts, uncles, and grandparents.

christmas tree

Today we finally bought and decorated a Christmas tree. We went out to a Christmas tree farm to pick one out. The kids and Brian inspected each tree until they found the perfect one. The one we picked out didn't seem that big when we saw it out in the open field. However, when we set it up inside our house it turned out to be a monster of a tree for our space. Good thing it will only be up for a week. Unfortunately Aiden was feeling sick so he didn't get to come. The kids decorated the tree tonight, and I will be redecorating it when they are asleep because they put all the ornaments in clumps mostly at the bottom of the tree. Hopefully they don't notice!

gingerbread house

Can you believe Christmas is next week! It really snuck up on me this year. We have been trying to do as many Christmas activities as we can. This week we made gingerbread houses. Each of the kids had their own little house to decorate. Unfortunately the boys ate theirs before I could take a good picture of it.

christmas cookies

One of the many things I love about Christmas time is baking lots of Christmas cookies. Yesterday I made these Key Lime Thumbprint cookies. I found the recipe on Martha Stewart. com which is a great source for delicious Christmas cookie recipes.

first steps

Laila took a couple of steps yesterday! I can't wait until she learns how to walk full time!

snow!

This morning we woke up early to enjoy the last of the snow, before it melted in the sun. It was beautiful while it lasted!