Merry Christmas!

Santa came! He brought just what everyone asked for. Believe it or not, Jason's favorite gift was a garbage can. He even carried it off to bed with him Christmas night. Courtney loved her pound puppy that Santa brought, her groovey girls and new bitty baby outfits. She (or should I say mom) must have tried on Bitty's new swimsuit a thousand times. Kitty also loved her new toys.

Christmas Eve

With the kids decked out in their Christmas attire, we ventured off to church. Although we were there for over two hours the kids were on pretty good behavior. (Santa hadn't come yet). When Fr. Ryan asked the kids to join him for the homily, Courtney ran down the aisle. Jason didn't want to go at first, but he didn't want his two year old sister to out do him even more. Courtney, unfortunately, ran up and down the aisle the whole time. Jason, on the other hand, sat quietly and even answered one of Fr. Ryan's questions. His answer was Christmas carols. Fr. Ryan was very pleased with his answer as well as the congregation. I can't tell you exactly what the question was since I was too busy corralling Courtney. We were so proud of Jason volunteering to answer!

Karate

Courtney just had to try on Jason's karate Gi. I think it's as big on her as it is on Jason!

Christmas picture

It's always a battle to get the kids to sit for a Christmas picture. Here are some of the pictures that didn't make the cut.

Christmas Cookies

Alright, so it wasn't the picturesque scene that I envisioned. The kids fought over who got which cookie cutter and who got to stand where. Jason just wanted to play with and eat the dough and Courtney tired of the whole thing within a few minutes (there weren't any cookies to eat yet). I still don't understand how the people in the TV commercials are able to make cookies in their "Christmas best" attire. I'm not sure if the cookies, my children or my floor acquired the most flour (my guess is the floor). After about an hour of chaos, we finally had homemade sugar cookies that the kids gobbled up. Maybe next year I'll make two batches and do it at separate times. I'm sure Kevin won't mind the extra cookies.

Look at me!

I just loved this picture and had to share!

Snow!!!!!!

The kids could not wait to get out in the snow today! Courtney had never played in the snow before. She was not thrilled with the white stuff that kept getting in her face but eventually ventured into the snow drifts. She also did not understand why we couldn't play with the sidewalk chalk, bubble machine or golf. I think she may remain our bathing beauty. Jason on the otherhand could not get enough of jumping around in the snow. Even after Mom and Courtney retired to the house, Jason still wanted to throw snowballs. He liked hitting the tree trunk in the front yard. Unfortunately, I think it was a fair match since every time he hit the tree with a snowball, the wind blew all the snow bits in his face!

Congratulations!

Jason did very well on his first report card (even though he won't receive "real grades" for a few years). Grandma and Grandpa bought him his first Webkinz for his hard work. He wanted the bulldog since it's his school's mascot.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Visit to Santa

Santa has arrived! We took the kids to see Santa. See was the operative word since the line to talk to Santa was over 3 hours long. The kids were overjoyed to see Santa transported in via firetruck. He walked right passed us on his way to his chair. Grandpa was pleased to met Mr. Moose. The night finished off with a show of fireworks. As you can see by Courtney's expression, she was quite skeptical about the whole experience.