A long overdue Christmas re-cap

Well then. Turns out I didn't blog pretty much the whole month of December, which is precisely why this post will be a re-cap of the whole holiday season! HA! I can honestly say that this year, I think we succeeded in slowing down a bit. We skipped breakfast with Santa, a few day trips for Seth to hunt, and all other sorts of holiday "stuff." We did do Christmas Candylane at Hersheypark (which the kids loved, but it was FREEZING so we didn't last too long). The season was, all in all, really nice and memorable. 

We went to Bass Pro Shops for photos with Santa (the above is a photo of a photo). Carter LOVED it but Addison would have absolutely nothing of it. We do not have a photo to show for it because as soon as she got on Santa's lap, she lost it and sucker punched his glasses right off his face. He was thrilled. 

Seth's parents came to our house mid-December to celebrate Christmas since we would all be attending a wedding in north NJ when we were in right after Christmas. The kids loved the impromtu gifts when they woke up in the morning! Oma and Opa got each of them a toboggan as well, which worked  perfectly because it was snowing while they were here! 

Opa was a good sport and did crafts with the kids! 

I decided that while his parents were in, we'd have a bunch of people over to celebrate Seth's 31st birthday. My parents and brother were able to come as well, but due to the horrible weather, Michelle, Jason and the kids couldn't make it. Understandable, of course. We had dinner and yummy cake and ice cream! 

The next weekend, we headed up to Michelle and Jason's for a Christmas party and cookie exchange and then the next day for the Cook Christmas. Ironically enough, I have zero pictures of these events, so you'll have to trust me on that one! :) 

Then as we always do, we headed to my parents for Christmas eve day. The kids were WIRED--understandably so when they saw this in the basement! Let's just say five grandkids under age five is a lot of energy!

The "fab 5"

(I didn't take too many pictures this day either--TOO MUCH COMMOTION!) :) 

After lunch and presents, we visited Maw-Maw and Papa Ray's for more presents and dinner before the service at church. We PJ'd the kids up and headed home around 8:30. Thankfully, they fell asleep in the car and transferred beautifully inside so Santa was able to get to work. 

In the morning, Carter casually walked out into the living room, seemingly forgetting what day it was. I was, of course, waiting with the camera and it was cute. He dropped to his knees so excited and stated that he would just sit here and wait for Addison to get up. It was cute, but the patience only lasted about fifteen minutes. :) 

Sissy sees the presents. 

They were excited, but Addison really didn't even care about opening the presents. She preferred them unwrapped, so Carter was HAPPY to help with that. They were blessed little kids, that's for sure.

We had yummy egg casserole for breakfast and just hung out and relaxed. The kids took their normal naps and then we headed to Haucks for dinner and games. All in all, it was SUCH a fun holiday season this year. Life with two toddlers is chaotic for sure, but boy is it fun at Christmas! 

I LOVED having so much time off work with Seth and the kids and, unlike last year, they were SO good this year. Addison got her standard double ear infection (exact repeat of last year) but we dealt with it. And the kids even blessed us with sleeping in--most days, they slept til about 7:45, which is HUUUGE for them. It was so awesome!

I hope your Christmases were blessed as well! Ready to kick off 2014 and see what the year brings for us. Happy New Year! 

These are a few of their favorite things...

In the spirit of the (predictably awful) Sound of Music Live on TV a few nights ago, and in copying my brother-in-law's sister, I thought I'd do a little "our kids' favorite things." :) 

Favorite Book
Carter - Bang! Boom! Roar! (A super cute dinosaur, construction book)
Addison - Little Hands Love and Little Feet Love (a book with all different textures)

Favorite Food
Carter - right now, it's probably a tie between yogurt, french toast, and hot dogs. His all-time favorite food is french toast though. 
Addison - she is super, super picky right now and won't eat most meats, but she will eat basically any snack food as well as yogurt and corn. 

Favorite Movie
Carter - Planes or Cars (he talks about his "Planes" birthday party--in May, mind you, every single day)
Addison - she won't still for .2 seconds, so no movies yet! 

Favorite Toy
Carter- pretty much any matchbox cars, his matchbox car garage, and a snap together race track
Addison - the Melissa & Doug pegboard puzzle 

Favorite Word
Carter - Mommy (not kidding. All. Day. Long.)
Addison - Da-eeeee 

Favorite Song
Carter - Twinkle, Twinkle, The Doxology, Jesus Loves Me 
Addison - anything you sing her :) 

Favorite Show
Carter - Jake and the Neverland Pirates, Henry Hugglemonster, Handy Manny
Addison - none yet. 

Favorite Time to Wake Up
Carter - anywhere between 5:30 and 6:30
Addison - on school days, I have to wake her up; on other days, usually between 7 and 7:45

Favorite Snack
Carter - pretzels, "trail mix" (a homemade mix I make of raisins, cheerios, and mini marshmallows), or squeezie applesauce
Addison - literally loves all snacks, but especially loves goldfish, pretzels, trail mix, and squeezie applesauce

They are literally growing up SO stinkin' fast. The holiday season has been lively and fun. Carter talks about Santa quite often and has a hard time coming to grips with the fact that daddy's birthday actually comes first! I'm certain we're in for a lively Christmas morning--and a pretty early one, too! 

It's the holiday season...

Every year at this time, I find myself at a loss for words. Not that there's not a TON going on, because there is. Always. I think it's because I find myself wanting to save any "spare time" over the holidays and relish in them as much as I can. But, because I want to look back at my blog (which I have printed out in a hardcover book at the end of each year) and remember all the fun things we did as a family, I need to keep up! :) 

This was take one of the kids' photos for the Christmas card. Not a huge fan--the sun was too far set and they just didn't turn out the way that I wanted. Plus, it was FREEZING this day.

We had JUST arrived to Aunt Polly and Uncle Dirk's house for Thanksgiving and they were woken up when we arrived. I had them dressed in their finest, so we had to do it right then, and they just weren't really having it. I'm not sure if I have the energy to try for a third time, and am toying with the idea of not even doing a Christmas card this year (it sort of pains me to even say it!).

The kids had so much fun at Thanksgiving. They were the only kids so they soaked up the attention big time. And both were OUT COLD within minutes of being on the road to head home.

The night before Thanksgiving we went to see Santa at Bass Pro Shops. It was free and really pretty. We have a non-digital file of Carter with Santa that is just precious, but Addison freaked out (that's putting it mildly, if I'm being honest). She knocked his glasses right off his face! Hysterical. (Does it make me a bad mom if I think crying Santa pics are precious?) :)

Both kids are full-on hyper right now. The holidays have them in a buzz-like state at all times. It's cute yet tiring. Ha! Carter is into making messes for no reason and we're working with him on the concept of respect for other people's hard work. So, we've introduced a cleaning chart in which he can earn stickers for cleaning up his toys without complaining before he moves on to another activity. We'll see how that works. Twenty stickers earns him a small toy. Oh, and he's also into his birthday right now (not until May 6). He talks about his birthday ALL THE TIME and has already declared that he's having a "Dusty Crophopper" (Planes) themed party. He tells everyone he meets about this and that he'll be 4 on his birthday. Bless their hearts, everyone thinks it's coming up soon.

Addison is a teething machine and is, thankfully, still a sleeping machine as well. Carter is doing great too but went through a phase of getting up super early after daylight savings time. We are getting back to a more reasonable 6:30/7:00 a.m. and hoping we can continue to work later.

This is my favorite time of the year and the kids' holiday energy is palpable and super sweet. The innocence and excitement is so intense! :)