This Makes Me Nervous...

Lauren is always asking to take pictures with my camera. She's very careful, but it still makes me nervous when she's holding that big camera!


Her set-up. See her models? ;)

Here's her picture. They're little FurReal Frenzy pets she got for Christmas. Very cute.

And another picture of her artwork. She made all these, except the Baby Jesus at the top, Caroline made at Sunday School.

Later I took the little girls outside because they were wearing their matching clothes. Had to get pictures of that (of course). Caroline likes having the big kids home to play with.

They both wanted to wear boots. Lauren wanted to bring her stick horse out to play, but I told her no. It was very wet out there from all the rain we've had! Their little car had a puddle of water in the seat, and a bigger puddle in the trunk.

She was too cute traipsing around the yard.

She had to watch the bug in the bowl, again, full of rainwater. And then she had to watch Lauren hit the baseball from her tee. The tee being our apple tree!! Good thing it's just a wiffle ball. Austin set this up first--easier than pitching to himself... Though I have to say it also makes me a little nervous. No more apple tree tees after another couple months!

And then we went in, as it was cold and time for naps.

Christmas

Brian had Christmas Eve off. I did a ton of work that day, making food for the next day. He did a lot too--cleaning here and there and entertaining the kids! We went to the 4:30 candlelight Christmas Eve service at church. We were running only about 5 minutes late, but it was packed inside! Brian got some chairs from the back for us, and other later-arrivals, to sit on. It was a beautiful service. I think my favorite part was hearing Lauren singing the Christmas carols with all her heart. So sweet!

Afterwards we drove around for an hour or so, looking at Christmas lights. Austin was starving (or so he said), and the rest of us were getting hungry too. Back home we went to take some pictures (they had a snack first!), and then eat dinner. Here's Brian and the girls, and my boy and me.


Cuties by the fireplace.

Family pictures...Brian had us do one goofy one before we were done. Ha!

The kids ran the Christmas train a little. We all watched A Christmas Carol, the old one, with Allistair Sims. Except Lauren and Caroline got bored and danced around. They made their own excitement, but then the rest of us couldn't hear the movie, so they had to stop. ;) They colored quietly the rest of the time. The kids set out milk and cookies for Santa, and carrots for the reindeer, before bed. And wouldn't you know--he ate them all? And the reindeer left carrot ends on our front lawn! Messy, messy reindeer... ;)

Bailey under our tree earlier in the day, and our big tree before I went to bed that night. Actually, I finally went to bed about 2 am, Christmas morning! I was up late wrapping presents.

Christmas morning...

Surveying the situation...

We opened stockings first.

Lauren was thrilled with her nail polish. She was so excited: "I got big-kid presents this year!"

More stocking loot

Our firstborn, ever the organizer. Just like her firstborn parents. Hee hee... Look at her lined-up gifts!

Caroline got this Snap-n-Style doll.

Julia gets a kitty calendar every year. She loves cats! Austin was thrilled with his Star Wars book. He'd written it on his wish list for the school book fair. I didn't let the kids buy anything, but went myself one morning to pick up a few books they wanted. This was the last copy left of this character encyclopedia, and the librarian found it hidden behind other books, totally out of place. She said sometimes kids will do that so when they come back later with money, "their" book will still be there. I hope someone else wasn't terribly disappointed...!

Lauren made me this picture ornament at school. Austin and Julia both made similar ones when they were in Kindergarten. Cute!

Lauren got lots of Barbie and horse things. She was so pleased with all her presents, it was really sweet. :)

Her gift for Brian...I think it's a place mat. ? She didn't tell us!

Austin with his gifts. He reeeeeally wanted this Lego set and built it right away Christmas afternoon. He's mostly been reading his Star Wars book and playing with his remote-control helicopter, though! But he rotates, playing with one thing, then another. :)

Lauren was so, so, SO excited to get the Barbie Dream House. She could hardly contain herself, and was jumping around. She said it was her best Christmas ever! :D We assembled it Sunday night, and she's played with it a lot! I told her I always wanted one when I was a little girl and never got one, and I'm going to play with it when she's back at school. Hee hee.

Caroline's pile of goodies. She's having a lot of fun with her Magic-Rise cupcakes. Both she and Lauren play with the laptop and musical book. Caroline calls the computer, "my own computer lab". LOL She and Lauren each got a set of dishes, and I was almost going to return them (before Christmas), but am glad I didn't. Both girls are happy using them! So funny--such a simple thing like cute dishes--but they like them. :)

Julia with her presents. She got several things for Felicity and Elizabeth, her dolls. They are going into the American Girl archives Dec. 31, so Julia had a bunch of their things on her list.

Christmas dinner...I put the turkey in the oven in the afternoon, then went to take a nap! I've been getting into old habits, staying up late, waking up late, and sometimes taking naps, during this vacation. It will be a rude awakening when school starts. ;)

Anyway, the food was sooo good! We had turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, cranberries, green beans, and pumpkin pie and chocolate ribbon pie for dessert. The best part is, we have/had lots of leftovers! The kids like it all too (well, not picky baby, but that is typical.). We lit all the Advent candles, including the tall white one, which represents Jesus. Brian read the last devotion, and then we ate. Lauren got that little stuffed horse for a gift, and named it Queenie. She put that toy food on the table for Queenie's dinner! :)

All I Want for Christmas is My...

...Tooth! ;) We can't say "two front teeth" b/c she only lost one. The new one is already poking through. She's got a different smile now!


Lauren said she's the only one in her class who's lost 3 teeth! It seems a little early to me, compared w/ Julia and Austin. Lauren was brushing her teeth before bed, and the little tooth fell right out.

Four Days Before

Every now and then I think I need to do a day-in-the-life in photos. It only happens 2-3 times a year, b/c it gets overwhelming! Yet I like to look back and see the pictures I most likely wouldn't have taken otherwise.

So December 21, 4 days before Christmas, I thought would be a good day to do this. We've all enjoyed sleeping in. Oh, it's so nice to lounge in our warm, cozy beds much longer than usual. The kids like lounging around in their jammies late into the morning, too. Poor Brian has to get up and go to work. ;)


These two can always find something to play together.

Dressed-up feet. She chose her own shoes. ;)

Every morning I spray Caroline's hair with a little water and spray gel, to scrunch up the curls. Of course she likes to spray too. But she only gets to spray in the bathtub. Sometimes she sneaks off and sprays crazy things, like the folding chairs in the coat closet.

Bailey's such a friendly cat. He will curl up by any of the big kids if they're reading or just laying around.

Bailey is also a very naughty cat. Rarely, but enough times that we know it's intentional, he pees in a few corners of the house. We were about ready to send him to the shelter, but decided to make him go outside instead. He's declawed, so should be inside, but so far he's been ok. Austin put out the little cups of cat food, b/c I've heard cats won't pee where their food is. Grrrr!

The girls and I made cutout cookies.

Lauren took this picture of her art.


They took turns putting in the ingredients.

Austin didn't want to help until we started cutting out the cookies.

Lauren took this picture too. She said, "Oh, Julia looks so cute! Can I take her picture?" Now, Julia is cute, but Lauren has been very eager to take pictures lately, so I wonder if that was an excuse to use the camera?!

Before Caroline's nap, Austin rolled his little sisters up like a burrito.

They were laughing and giggling the whole time!

Then he tried to climb in the burrito too! Julia even joined in for awhile.

Our friends, the girls that walk to school with us in the mornings when their mom teaches, stopped by to give us this plate of cookies and pumpkin bread. Yum!

These two were horsing around, being wild and wrestling, accidently kicking presents, driving me nuts! Lauren told me, Mommy, "You need to put in a movie for us, because we can't stop wrestling!" I sent them outside for 'recess' instead. We've had rain here for 5 days in a row! I think over 8"! Thankfully it was dry for awhile so they could play outside.

Julia was nicely working on a book report the whole time. This is the first year she's had homework over Christmas break.

We decorated the cookies after dinner. Austin's had a cold, and his eyes looked soooo bad! I took him to the dr. today, b/c the eye problem has lasted 3 days. He ended up needing Amoxicillin b/c of his eyes. I told him he was not allowed to touch his eyes when he was frosting cookies!! The few times he did, he caught himself and had to go wash his hands!

We all decorated, except Caroline. She just ate stray sprinkles. Brian made a lot of cute cookies too, but I didn't get his picture. :(

The cookies. :) The kids are so proud of their handiwork! :D