Christmas Time Part 3: Grandpa's House

On Thursday, we all headed to Grandpa's house for another Christmas!

Kira got a balance bike for Christmas, and Uncle Jay wanted Addie to try it out.

And then Kira had a go at it. Super impressed with both of them!

Of course I had fun (attempting) to capture those smiles!

And there were plenty to go around!

John was down for a nap, but the little girls came out and everyone decided sitting on our trailer hitch would be fun! Poor Anne Perry couldn't make any other facial expression besides what you see because when i folded her hat up so she could see, it made it tighter than i thought! You can see Audrey Kate just took hers off!

And everyone came in and crashed before lunch and present time.

We opened the kids presents in a furry of paper and toys and fun in an effort to get everyone down for naps...all except Addie! So she played with Ms. Gail...

...and put a puzzle together with Aunt Laura.

While the big kids (us!) opened presents with Grandpa and Ms. Gail! (and drank coffee and posed for my new lens!)

But my favorite picture of the entire time we were there was of Grandpa. He gave me a new lens: 85mm f/1.8, and I had to try it out!

Thanks for a great time and wonderful Christmas Grandpa and Ms. Gail!

Our time was a little shorter that day because we had a big party that night...more to come!

Mud Bath

I was ridiculously blessed this Christmas to get a few new lenses. And so in an effort to learn them, I pulled out the 85mm f/1.8 and 200mm f/2.8 and took Finn outside during nap/rest time.

While he's actually doing fairly well in his obedience training, Addie's ability to follow directions is still far superior to his! So I let her get up from her rest time a little early to play outside let me take pictures of her!

And did she ever put on a show!

It's rained here for almost 2 days straight. I mean rain like monsoon rained.

Rain boots on, she carefully walked through the puddles curiously investigating what they held.

Errrr...that is until I had the bright idea of what awesome pictures we could make if she JUMPED in the puddles!

And I think it's safe to say that we both had a blast!

And then she and finn got a real bath!

Christmas Time Part 2: Gramma's House

Our plan was to head to Augusta first thing Tuesday morning; but after a doctors visit on Monday and ear infections and fever viruses, we didn't leave until much later. It made for a rough start (2.5 hours) of the trip, but second half was full of quiet sleeping little girls.

We finally arrived; and after a quick visit (and dinner for mommy and daddy) with Grandpa, Ms. Gail, Uncle Dennis, Aunt Laura, Annemarie, and Timmy, we headed to Gramma's and put the little girls to bed! We woke up the next morning to Christmas at Gramma's: delicious breakfast, fun presents, and lots of laughter and playing with cousins.

Baby John got the cutest peek-a-boo bear, but the 4 girls loved it as much or more as him!

They were also pretty excited about opening presents!

Kira, John, Uncle Jay and Aunt Millie gave Addie some of Kira's favorites books: Little Bear; and we all had fun reading them! But Kira leaning on Uncle Jay (holding Little Bear) has got to be one of my favorite pictures!

After presents and lunch while baby John ate...

everyone else went on a walk.

(i'm pretty sure this turned out to be one of my favorite pictures as well)

and ended up back in Gramma and Papa Al's backyard where the girls went around...

and around...

and around...

and around

the brick bordered flower bed. I paid special attention to try to get some pictures of sweet Kira for Gramma's and Grandpa's frames!

And what's a visit with cousins without a cousin bath? Poor Anne Perry had spiked a 102 fever that she held for most of the afternoon and night, so she had to skip the cousin bath and get one on her own later. :(

It was a fun-filled day!

We finally put the girls to bed to get ready for Christmas at Grandpa's the next day!

Christmas Time Part 1: Home

One thing Paul and I decided when Addie was born was that we would, if at all possible, be at home Christmas Eve and always Christmas day. We've been fortunate to always wake up (sometimes earlier than preferable) in our own beds on Christmas morning.

This year, my aunt (aka Nana) was able to come a few days before Christmas for a visit. We all loved having her here, but I think the girls might have enjoyed it most of all!

Papa Ray and Mama Pat invited us to spend some time with them in the country at the ranch on Christmas Eve. It was a beautiful night, and the girls loved spending time outside with everyone!

Christmas Eve is traditionally an open most of the presents time for us, so we came home a little early and opened some presents.

I think Anne Perry liked her backpack!

All the girls loved the little girls ride on horses. Some were just more serious about them than others!

And before we knew it, it was bedtime. Everyone jumped in their Christmas pjs, and i acted all crazy (as you can see from Anne Perry and Addie's reactions) in an attempt to get a picture next to the tree. Two days later, we found out Audrey Kate had a double ear infection. It explains a lot about her not-so-cheerful self in the pictures below and otherwise lack of pictures of her altogether because she was constantly in my arms! :(

Everyone headed to bed except mommy and daddy. We got everything together for the girls Christmas morning, our breakfast and breakfast for our neighborhood firemen.

Needless to say...it was a late night.

Addie woke up first Christmas morning (surprise surprise) to find her special gifts. Next year, I'm thinking they will all only get stockings because the stocking contents (for Addie at least) were the biggest hit initially!

Or maybe we'll just get them all a bag of M&Ms and some blue candy canes and call it a Christmas!

Really though, Addie loved her scooter and the little girls haven't gone a day without playing with their dolls and strollers (which i never got a picture of). All three of them love Addie's doll house!

we had a very relaxing christmas day complete with our traditional breakfast casserole brunch and staying in pjs most of the day! i'll have to admit, pretty perfect in every way!

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday