12-26-2011

Christmas with the Corys took place the day after Christmas.  Dan's brother, Pete, and his daughter, Ayla, joined us this year which made for a merrier Christmas.

The 3 girls enjoying breakfast together.

 After breakfast, it was time to open presents!  Magnolia passed out a gift to each of the girls to rip into but not before a picture in front of the tree.

 Boothe wore this headband (her crown, pronounced frown) like this almost all day.

 Pete and Ayla unwrapping some gifts.

 Magnolia enjoyed passing out the gifts this year.  I remember when I first joined Dan for Christmas with his family, he was the one passing out the gifts.

 By day 3 of gift opening, Magnolia is a pro.

 Ping-pong break.  They had their own made up game going and came upstairs sweating!

 Dan was playing peek-a-boo with Boothe in the playhouse in the basement and got some really cute pictures.

 The girls love to take bubble baths in Mimi's big tub so what a perfect way to end the day.

 Just the guys...I think Dan was taking the picture or he would be right in there with them.

 My beautiful baby boy.  Three days old in this picture.  I still can't believe how special it was that he arrived right before Christmas and have him with us during all of the celebrations.

 After their bath, the girls sat in front of the fire to dry off and warm up.  Boothe loved it even when she said "the fire is burning my back."

 Boppy with the kids.

That was the end of our Christmas traditions.  This past week Pete and Ayla were here so we visited with them some more, took Henry to his 1 week check up and tried to stay home and keep up with laundry and the business that comes with having 3 kids.  Henry was up a couple ounces from his birth weight at 1 week, 9 lbs. 13 ozs.  Healthy baby and so far such a good baby.  It hasn't been hard going from 2 to 3 kids.  It's just the business that increases.  Seems there is always at least 1 child that needs something all the time.  Next week Dan heads back to work, but the kids and I don't have anywhere to go or any plans so it will be another transition week before we get back into our normal routine the following week.

12-25-2011

Santa visited our house this year and brought the kids a train table.  They were thrilled!  I love watching their faces as they come around the corner into the living room and see what Santa has brought.  I remember the feeling as a child so I know what they are thinking.

 Santa ate all of the reindeer cookies we made for him.  They were delicious!

 The girls dug into their stockings and found that Santa left them not only a train table but some candy, movies and card games.

 Little Henry even got some things in his stocking and Magnolia and Boothe loved showing him his gifts.

 After playing with Santa's gifts for a bit and having some breakfast it was time to dig into all of those presents under the tree.

 The girls got some books...

 and Little People toys...

 and Play-doh tools.

 The last gift they opened was their favorite but I didn't get a very good picture of that one.  I got them a cute little tea set to share.  They have been having tea parties every day and play so nicely together when they do.

I think Dad made out the best this year with his gifts.  He takes good care of us but we take extra good care of him.

 After lunch we headed over to my parent's house for our Christmas celebration with them, my sister and her family, my brother and my aunt Kathy.  We opened gifts and then had a nice dinner together.

 Before everyone went home we set the timer on my camera to get a group shot like we did last year.  We had some new and very new additions to the family.

 My sister, Brooke, her husband, Ryan, and their son, Raife (4.5 months).

 My 3 munchkins.

 The 4 grandkids.  Two boys and two girls now.

 Our family of 5.

 Mom and Dad with their grandkids.

 Mom and Dad with just the boys.

 Being silly.

 My little mommy, Boothe.  Every time Henry cries she comes over and says "It's ok, Henry.  I'm here.  Don't worry."  She melts my heart.

 Gramma Kath with my babies.

 Gramma Kath with just the boys.

 Gramma Kath with all the kids getting sillier....

 and sillier...

 and sillier!

 And finally uncle Ty with all our silly kids.  You can only ask a 4 and 2 year old to smile for so long.  After that you just have to be happy that they stayed in the picture.

We had a wonderful Christmas Day and headed home that night to get enough rest to celebrate Christmas the next day with the Corys.