One last milestone for 2012…

We never thought this would happen this year, but Ben continues to impress us everyday with his progress! Way to go little man! We’re so proud of you!

Mommy’s favorite gift…

Thank you Aunt Bridget for giving Mommy her second favorite gift this year… she LOVES my blogging shirt you found! Her favorite gift, though, is that I’m finally starting to take my first steps! The shirt must be magic!!! Merry Christmas everyone!

-Ben

Christmas Fun!

Santa came!!! We woke up at Nannie & Grandpa’s house to see so many wonderful gifts, and we couldn’t wait to run down the stairs and see it all! Christmas morning is always so much fun!

-Abby, Emily & Ben

Emily decided to sleep in, so Ben & I had to hang out in Mommy & Daddy’s bed, waiting in anticipation… We couldn’t wait any longer, so we had to go wake her up- Sorry Em!

We could see all the gifts from the upstairs landing, and were pretty excited!

I was so excited that I ran right past the bike I had asked Santa for! He was very sneaky hiding it behind the chair so we couldn’t see it when we were upstairs!

I found it pretty quickly though, and was VERY excited!

He even left a note for Emily saying that he stopped by our house to pick up her bike for her! He put a bunch of new touches on it to make it super special for her! He shined up the wheels, put on her training wheels, got a new bell, new streamers, a basket and a new LaLaLoppsy helmet for her! She was SO excited!

 

While everyone was busy behind the couches looking at our new bikes, Ben was helping himself to the stockings!

Santa must have known how much we love “Little House on the Prairie” because he brought us the first 3 seasons!

Emily was great at finding every present with her name on it! Preschool is really paying off!

Ben loved his GeoTrax remote control trains and his barking, flipping puppy dog! Santa knew just what he wanted!

He was much better at opening presents this year than he was last Christmas!

I think EVERYONE’S favorite gift from Santa this year was Ben’s remote control trains!

He can even do them by himself!

Daddy was in LEGO heaven!

Emily loved her “Alice in Wonderland” toys from Nannie & Grandpa!

 

Abby can’t wait to start trying to read her new Madeline books!

The best gift from Nannie & Grandpa were the Merida costumes, wigs, bow & arrow sets & movie “Brave”!

Ben loved his car ramp from Nannie & Grandpa too!

We gave Nannie the greatest present of the year! A squatty potty! For those not faint of heart, you can check out a video here:

We thought we were getting it as gag, but it turns out everyone loves it and wants one of their own! Even Emily asked daddy if we can get a squatty potty for our house!

 

When Bridget, Kevin & Liam arrived, Abby finally received the ONE gift she asked for this year… Super Princess Peach for her Nintendo DS! She was pretty excited!

Mommy sent Daddy to the store with us to pick out a special gift for Liam from us, and we came back with the perfect gift: a stuffed Zombie that makes creepy Zombie sounds! Uncle Kevin appreciated it

We had fun celebrating Liam’s first Christmas with him…

Family is what Christmastime is all about, and we are very thankful to have a great one! Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

Here’s a little glimpse into our Christmas celebrations this year!

Christmas Eve Celebrations!

Christmas is finally here and our celebrations have begun! We started our “Family of 5” celebration on Christmas Eve morning, where we exchanged gifts that we had gotten for each other. It was a fun morning together and we loved the family time! Merry Christmas to everyone!

-Abby, Emily & Ben

As always, we woke up early with excitement, so we were a bit groggy when we got started…

… but be rallied quickly!

The first gift of the morning was to Emily from Abby… Abby couldn’t WAIT to give it to her, and her gift didn’t disappoint! Emily LOVED her LaLaLoopsy rollerblades!

Abby was pretty excited to see that Emily had picked out rollerblades for her too!

There was an abundance of homemade ornaments from school this year, and Abby was particularly proud of her photo ornament (too bad mommy didn’t fix her hair a little nicer that morning…)

Daddy gets the girls some kind of jewelry every year to put in their jewelry boxes, and this year Abby got a watch to teach her how to tell time, and Emily got a pretty princess charm bracelet! Thanks Dad!

Ben got his special train from Daddy too! Hopefully someday, he’ll be able to collect a whole working set, just like daddy did when he was a kid!

Daddy’s kiddos: Too bad Emily was in quite a mood…

Abby worked very hard on sewing a special toy for Ben… Great job Abby!

Mommy & Abby made a special version of Monopoly for Daddy called” “Beach-opoly”. She came up with some great stuff, and we can’t wait to play! Abby even helped cut out all of the “Beach Bucks”!

Abby was VERY excited about Grandpa Hawk & Grandma Nancy’s gift!

Emily’s favorite gift of the morning was her “Alice” ornament from Mommy & Daddy!

After present opening, it was time to play with the new loot! Rollerblading proved to be MUCH easier to do on the carpeting!

 

Abby loved checking out Daddy’s new scientific microscope almost as much as Daddy did!

Before leaving for our next celebration in Long Island, it was time to pack up and say goodbye to Pinocchio for another year. He even left a note to say goodbye to us!

We stopped at Dancey-Dancey & Pop-Pop’s house on Christmas Eve night to have dinner with our cousins and have a gift exchange.

 

Can you believe who showed up at their house again this year?!?!? We can’t believe Santa had time in his busy schedule to stop by!

For a little 5 1/2 year old who was CERTAIN that this wasn’t the REAL Santa Clause, her expressions showed that there was a glimmer of belief left in her…

 

Everyone’s reaction was a bit different…

Emily was pretty shocked when Santa asked if everyone had been good this year, and wanted to make sure no one had been out playing on their roof in the rain… It’s a god thing she made it onto the good list!

Santa is cool from a distance, but there were quite a few reservations all around when it actually came down to talking to him!

This gift exchange proved to be quite exciting too with all the LaLaLoopsy loot! Thank you Dancey-Dancey & Pop-Pop!

When we arrived at Nannie & Grandpa’s house late that night, we realized we had to go to bed right away, because Santa was going to have a LONG night ahead of him! Just look at all those stockings!

We had just enough time to put out some milk and cookies for the big guy and get to sleep!

All Mommy’s & Daddy’s ever want for Christmas is a silent night… unfortunately, not ALL nights can be that way!!!