Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Merry Christmas!

On Christmas eve night, we fell asleep in the car on the way home from our great-grandparents house, and were upset in the morning when we realized that we forgot to leave cookies and milk for Santa… Good thing he felt comfortable enough to help himself!

IMG_0236

…and we’re glad he got the energy he needed from our cookies, because he was BUSY at Nannie’s house!

IMG_0231

Our stockings were FULL of goodies… dolls, candy, hairbows & games galore! He knew just what we like!

IMG_0244

IMG_0245 

IMG_0246  IMG_0249

Abby was VERY excited that Santa brought her the Barbie doll she asked for!

IMG_0282

IMG_0284

… and he remembered to bring Emily her doll with a horse! Santa ROCKS!!!

IMG_0285 IMG_0287

IMG_0299

Ben even helped open his own Santa presents!

IMG_0293

Nannie was very excited to open the bowls that we all painted at a pottery place for her to have at her house when we come!

IMG_0256

IMG_0262

IMG_0330

Ben had a good time hanging out with grandpa…

IMG_0258

… and got the coolest construction silverware in his stocking!

IMG_0270

One of the hits this year was matching bean bag chairs for us from Nannie & Grandpa… We LOVE them!

IMG_0303 IMG_0307

IMG_0306 IMG_0308

They make for a perfect reading nook in our room!

IMG_0568

It took Emily a while, but she managed to get through opening all her gifts… she just wanted to stop and play with everything!

IMG_0314

IMG_0317

Our Santa’s Little helper had a great time!

IMG_0321

Mommy tried time and time again, and there was just NO getting good group shots this Christmas…

IMG_0336

IMG_0344

Even Emily tried to get a few shots with her new camera! She likes being just like mommy!

IMG_0437

Aunt Bridget was a trooper, even at 37 weeks pregnant! We can’t wait to celebrate Christmas next year with baby Liam!

IMG_0363

We were very happy celebrating Ben’s first Christmas this year all together!

IMG_0320

IMG_0380

IMG_0384 Fuse (2)

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

IMG_0431

Christmas Eve celebration

This year, we celebrated our family Christmas on Christmas Eve morning, since we were going to be away on Christmas. The night before, mommy & daddy set up all our presents, so we had a big surprise when we came down in the morning! We had so much fun, and once again, we were more excited to give the presents to everyone that we had picked out, than opening our own. In fact, we insisted that mommy got to open the first present, because we were so excited to see her open up her jewelry box! Mommy & Daddy were so proud of us, and said they hope we will always have such wonderful Christmas spirit!

-Abby, Emily & Ben

IMG_1685

IMG_1701

Daddy gave us each our own very special engraved jewelry boxes! Emily must have REALLY loved it, because as soon as she opened the box (which didn’t even have a picture on it), she yelled, “I LOVE IT”!!!!

IMG_1710 IMG_1738

IMG_1714

We’ve had so much fun filling them up with all of our jewelry!

IMG_0576

Mommy gave us each ornaments… Abby got Rapunzel, and Emily got “Relli”!

IMG_1720

Emily couldn’t wait to get hers on the tree!

IMG_1726

Ben was surprisingly good at opening presents! Who knew a 4 month old could help so much?!?!?

IMG_1727

Daddy was so excited for him to open up his very first train that he will add onto each year!

IMG_1732 IMG_0032

I think Ben was pretty excited too Smile

IMG_1735

IMG_0035

Emily loves her very own Tag reader… especially since she can now read princess books all by herself!

IMG_1744

We all loved Ben’s special Binky that Emily gave him…

IMG_1760

Grandpa Hawk & Grandma Nancy bought us an AWESOME dollhouse, and we were SO excited to put it together…

IMG_1768

… we had to wait until after Christmas, but it was worth the wait! We love it!

IMG_0588

Ben loved his tool belt that Abby picked out completely on her own…

IMG_1777

As always, there was lots of Christmas spirit, as we did great sharing all of our stuff with each other…

IMG_1706

… and were very generous with the “thank you’s” and hugs!

IMG_1749

IMG_1788

Here’s a video of our morning together!

On Christmas Eve night, we got all dressed up and headed out to Long Island to celebrate with Grandpa’s family… of course, not without trying to get a family picture with mommy’s new camera. We were NOT into that idea, as you can tell!

IMG_0085a

Unfortunately, Dancey-Dancey couldn’t be with us this Christmas since she wasn’t feeling well, but we had a good time with Pop-Pop and playing with all the young cousins! Our family sure is growing!

IMG_0098

IMG_0138

We even got to meet Daddy’s cousin’s baby, who was born only 4 days after Ben!

IMG_0116

Our mom’s and dad’s tried REALLY hard to get a good picture of the great-grandkids together, but as you can imagine, it didn’t work out so well…

IMG_0151

IMG_0153

IMG_0165

Can you guess who came to see us on Christmas Eve?!?!?! SANTA!!!!!! And he even brought us some presents!!!!

IMG_0169

IMG_0171

IMG_0180

Emily LOVED her princess doll from Dancey-Dancey & Pop-Pop…

IMG_0192 IMG_0204

… and Ben loved his build-a-bear fireman!

IMG_0186

IMG_0201

Before leaving to get a good night’s sleep before Christmas morning, we got to have some of mommy’s homemade cookies for dessert! The melting snowman cookies were out favorite!

IMG_0226 IMG_0227

This was all mommy was wishing for on Christmas Eve…

IMG_0996

… and she got her wish Smile

Abby's last high school homecoming

Abby enjoyed her last high school homecoming dance with her friends, and it was extra special since it had to double as her senior prom sinc...