Christmas

We had such a fabulous Christmas!  We missed everyone who wasn’t here, but had a great time with Gigi.  And every year just gets more and more fun with kiddos.  Ellie definitely understood the whole Santa thing and was super excited to see what he left for her.  I was shocked to wake up at 8:15 a.m. and look on the monitor to see Ellie just sitting in bed holding her stocking.  We expected her to tear through all of her stocking gifts the second she saw it, but she waited patiently…and then it was ON!  She and Charlie tore through gifts at an impressive rate.  Damian actually had to hide some gifts behind the couch because they were flying through them so quickly and we caught Charlie, mid-lunch, climbing over the back of the couch to open the rest – cheeky boy!

Gigi and her boys:

Ellie got a scooter and a kitty from Santa:

Daddy’s massage shirt was a big hit:

Charlie wrestled a new toy to the floor and ended up with a big fat lip – poor guy.  Not sure how to explain Ellie’s face. ;-)

Keanan loved all of Gigi’s cuddles:

Our crazy Christmas dinner:

You can’t see the flames on the Christmas pudding, but Gigi’s face is classic.

Unfortunately, the camera spent part of the day on the manual setting, so this picture is out of focus, but not too out of focus to show Keanan’s sweet face:

   

Charlie is so sweet with his new train.  He asks every single time before starting or stopping the train: “Daddy, go?  Daddy, off?”

We didn’t manage a picture with all six of us, but this is pretty close:

My little helper

Charlie loves playing in the kitchen sink.  While I think it’s super sweet that he wants to help and be involved, it’s sort of a pain in the neck because I usually let dirty dishes accumulate until I can do them during naptime and after the kids go to bed, so he’s always got his hands in mucky water and/or on knives.  I finally figured out the solution and we’re both as happy as can be!

Here kitty, kitty

Ellie and Charlie are big into pretending to be cats (or dogs) these days.  Daddy served up some (almond) milk in saucers for them – such a fun daddy!

Charlie on stage

The kiddos had their Christmas program at school last week and I'll post more video and pictures soon, but I just had to share this little gem...

We’ve arrived

Keanan is three months old and although he still has his moments of fussiness, he has reached the super fun stage where just making eye contact with him makes him break into a smile so wide that it looks like a big belly laugh is just around the corner.  He “talks” constantly and he loves his brother and sister – he smiles anytime he sees them, which makes Ellie’s day (she proudly says ‘Hi Keanan, it’s your sissy.  He smiled at me, mom!  He smiled at his sissy!”).  Just in the last week, he has grown/changed so much – he’s started reaching for toys, shaking rattles, etc.  Even the third time around, we’re amazed by these little milestones and convinced that he must be a genius to be able to bat at a toy in such a cute manner.

The photographer dropped the ball on this one, but you can see our smiley boy:

How can he possible be old/big enough to sit in this chair already?!

I can’t decide who he looks like more – he has Charlie’s dimples, Ellie’s cheeks.  I think his eyes are shaped more like Ellie’s and maybe they have a similar nose too?

Sometimes the shirt says it all

This is one of Jackson’s old shirts and it is so perfectly fitting for Charlie right now (it says “This is my time out shirt.  I wear it all day long.”).  He’s just such a stinker!  To say that he’s testing boundaries is an understatement.  His favorite word is “no” (it’s truly his default answer – he says “no” to absolutely everything, and only sometimes changes his answer to “yes”…if he realizes something wonderful is being offered to him and nothing is asked in return), and if you mess up and give him any indication of what you don’t want to do, he’ll immediately do it…twice.  That’s all challenging enough, but the worst part is that he’s really rough with Keanan – he squeezes and shakes his arms way too hard; jabs him in the eyes, mouth, nose, and ears; lays on top of him; etc.  Oh well, I suppose that’s life with a spirited two year old and I’m blessed to be his mommy and to get to be with him every day – can’t imagine someone who wasn’t biologically programmed to not throttle him being in charge of his care on a daily basis!  In the quiet moments between pulling out my hair, I still see my sweet little boy in there…the monstrous two year old just tries to hide him…but I adore him nonetheless!

Terrifyingly hilarious

Keanan's first real laughs...