Christmas 2009

Christmas 2009 was great to our family! The month of December was a flurry of Christmas activity with Christmas parties, tree lightings and a visit from Nana and Pop. We were lucky enough to have Nana and Pop visit in mid-December to celebrate Christmas with us early this year. The girls had a great time with them and we had a fun Christmas celebration!

We opened presents from our families and each other on Christmas Eve morning. Mikaiya loved "helping" Braenna to open hers! Braenna really got into it after awhile and we couldn't stop her from opening every present she could get her hands on!

We had our Texas Family over for Christmas Eve festivities. We are up to 9 kids now and 10 adults. It was a full house, and a bit on the crazy side! The best part was that it actually snowed! We couldn't believe it, snow...in Texas...on Christmas Eve! It was a lot of fun! Here are Mikaiya and Rylie out in the snow:

And the snow coming down in the backyard:

Apparently it was even a little cold out for the local wildlife. On top of all the people in the house, we had a nice visit from a bird at one point in the night! Just imagine 10 adults trying to chase down a bird while 9 children watch in awe. It was very amusing and one of the more memorable events of the evening!!

We woke up Christmas morning to find that Santa had arrived...and boy was he good to the girls this year! Here they are in their jammies in front of the tree before we opened presents:

And when we looked outside on Christmas morning, we were shocked to see that the snow had actually stuck around for Christmas day! We got a beautiful, white Christmas! It's amazing how you tend to take something like that for granted when it's no longer a given that it snows on Christmas!

We hope that this holiday season was as good to you and your family as it was to ours! I have really tried to relish in the holidays with the kids now, knowing that this time will be gone before we even know it! We had so much fun with the girls, and watching their eyes light up with each gift that the received and gave! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

Here are the rest of our Christmas pics:

http://photos2.walmart.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=2646675002/a=3342801_3342801/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/

Santa Visits Daycare!

On December 18, Santa and Mrs Claus stopped by daycare for a nice visit! The girls got their picture taken with them...this is the picture where Braenna is the most calmed down:

Santa also visited the girls classrooms for group pictures. Braenna didn't cry in this one, but her teacher said the only way they stopped her was by holding her. As you can see, Mikaiya is quite the ham in her class!!

Work Christmas Party

December 5 was our work Christmas party. The girls got right up on Santa's lap and posed for a picture without any tears! We were shocked! Mikaiya even told him exactly what she wanted him to bring her for Christmas this year...a train, a hula hoop and a doll house. Luckily, that's exactly what she's been saying all season, so Santa's got it covered!!

There was a train set up at the party and Mikaiya had a blast watching it go around:

Braenna had a blast dancing around to the Christmas music and Mikaiya made a cookie, cards and several other crafty things. This is always a nice little party and best of all, it's FREE to all employees! What a deal!! And the girls had so much fun!!

City of Murphy Tree Lighting

On December 4 we attended the City of Murphy Christmas Tree Lighting ceremony. It was COLD...well, for TX anyway! It was actually pretty chilly! The girls got all bundled up and we walked down to the City Hall for the festivities.

The girls posed for a picture at Santa's Workshop and apparently someone from the Murphy Messenger (our local paper) took one too and it made it into the paper! Here's my copy:

Santa was there and the line was a little long for Braenna to handle, so we didn't see him. We did get to see his reindeer though!

And after the tree was all lit, the girls posed for a cute picture in front of it for us:

Christmas Pictures

We got our Christmas pictures back on CD last week. Thought I would share them with everyone! It was fun getting them taken, although you can tell from the pictures that a certain toddler was anything but cooperative! Here's the link:

http://photos2.walmart.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=2278689002/a=3342801_3342801/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/

November 2009

What a fun month we had in November! The month started out with a visit from Grammy and Grampa. The girls had a great time and I think Grammy and Grampa did too! We went to the zoo and had awesome weather (for November!). It was like spring out every day. Here are a few pics from the visit:

We had a really nice Thanksgiving with great friends...thanks to the Schwendeman's for hosting us! The girls had a blast! Mikaiya and Rylie are really fun to watch these days...they can entertain each other for hours, which is great for the adults!!

We also put up our Christmas decorations this month. The girls had so much fun putting the ornaments on the tree. It was like a mad dash to see who could get them up the fastest! It was great fun for mommy and daddy too...trying to catch the breakable ones before the 18 month old chucks them at the wood floor because she thinks they're a ball was really a challenge!! It will definitely be a fun memory as the girls grow up. Here are a few pictures of them helping out with the decorating:

Here's the link to the rest of our November pictures: http://photos2.walmart.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=2129060002/a=3342801_3342801/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/