My 1,000th Post (-:

OKAY I apologize right now that this blog is so lame. For goodness sakes, I’ve never been so behind. I chalk it up to super late game nights (1am is standard bedtime around here) and the fact that my sister Katelyn is always trying to convince me not to work on the blog late at night because then she feels like she has to work on hers. Ha.

MONDAY was our travel day. It went well, all things considering. First thing to consider is we left the house at 5AM, and all three children thought it was morning. Nobody fell back to sleep. (-: So we made peace with it and ate donuts and started up with the Boz video (it was pitch dark).

Here is the drive summary, broken down in statistics:

3 = times the girls booed on the potty

2 = times we cleaned out the potty

3 = times we stopped

1 = time we stopped and all got out of the car (Jonathan was the only one to get out the other two times)

24 = approx. number of donut holes we consumed on the drive

3 = number of movies the girls watched (an all-time high)

100% = amount of time Calla was awake during the trip

3 = number of awesome naps Jay took

1 hour = amount of time Kelsey napped

2 = number of Happy Meals Jonathan ordered the girls to eat at lunch (he actually did it accidentially and the girls were so thrilled – they’ve never had their own Happy Meals! Ha. They each ate exactly half a hamburger and about five French fries.)

We pulled into Elverson at 5:31, which is remarkable because Jonathan had predicted twelve hours before that we’d arrive at 5:30. Not bad!

below: Jay-bird on the drive

below: Calla on her "iPad"

below: Kelsey on Daddy's actual iPad

Mom, Dad, Uncle Caleb, Aunt Corinne and Aunt Kimberly were all there to greet us! Yay! It was so exciting to see everybody. They couldn’t believe how much Jay had grown, and how much improved Kelsey’s talking is. We ate dinner and then Grandma and Grandpa came over to hang with the girls for a half hour before I put them down at 7pm for bed. They were so tired after being up so long! I still can’t believe Calla didn’t drift off to sleep (even I had a 20-minute power nap!).

below: Pops got a train running around the Christmas tree! Yay; the grandkids were transfixed! Kelsey loves trains. Even Jay's little head would follow the train going around and round.

below: Sissy and Jay watching the train. She wanted to hold him.

TUESDAY morning we hung out waiting for Uncle David, Katelyn and Haley to arrive! They were traveling from Atlanta and had stopped in Virginia at a hotel overnight.

We were so excited to see them! We had such a great afternoon Tuesday catching up and comparing babies. It is so fun having babies with sisters; I will always feel sad that Calla and Kelsey are the lone cousins on both sides (in terms of having cousins exactly their age). It least they are both girls and have each other. (-: (I always had cousins exactly my age and we grew up super close.)

below: Corinne painted Kelsey's fingernails on Tuesday afternoon. Corinne's nails are always top-notch and it did not go unnoticed by Kelsey.

below: Pops and Jay

below: Cousin Haley arrives! She is 10 months old and weighs over a pound less than Jay. It's good he's a boy or else he'd just look like a big lug.

below: Clark arrives! Kelly and Clark came over Tuesday afternoon.

Tuesday evening we celebrated Katelyn’s birthday. Mimi made a big birthday dinner and invited Josh, Kelly and Clark and Jon and Kimmi. We were all together for the first time since Thanksgiving (and the time before that being Christmas of 2010). Katelyn’s birthday was back on December 20^th but she had been in Mexico over Christmas and so it was nice to have a second celebration.

After dinner, we put the kids to bed and brought out the games. It seems to be the trend around here.

below: Jon was holding Jay and Kelsey so I quick took a photo so we'd have something for Jon's birthday tribute in September. lol

below: The three cousins side-by side...

Haley the smallest, Clark the biggest, Jay in the middle (-:

Our Christmas

CHRISTMAS Day was such a neat first Christmas in our house. It started out pretty relaxing (for me). Jay and I slept in, while Daddy gave the girls a bath. (Random, I know, but what else are you supposed to do while waiting for Mommy to wake up on Christmas morning? Ha) We got up and I put our French Toast in the oven, got some things in order, and were soon gathered around the tree to remember. Growing up I always felt like Christmas Day was so magical – my mom always had music playing, candles lit, yummy breakfast smells in the air, everything was so perfect as we walked down the steps. I’m not sure if it’s because I am still juggling a baby (“uh, can somebody entertain Jay while I throw breakfast together?”) or if it’s our lack of a staircase (ha!), but it just didn’t feel so magical! I need to work on that. (-:

Anyway, Daddy read the Christmas story to everybody.

Then the gift-opening commenced! Calla and Kelsey are such fun ages; they are still too young to have very many expectations (they shouted out with glee as they opened toothbrushes haha) but they are old enough to get caught up in the excitement of opening a present.

below: a boy gift for Jay:

 below: Kelsey received some little horses and decided to gallop them on Jay's chest...

below: This is the chest I was painting until 2:30am Christmas morning...

below: Calla has been more interested in months/days of the week, so I got her a calendar and a few other educational type toys (telling time, etc.):

After we opened presents, we gathered around the breakfast table. I kept it simple; I served Calla’s favorite (Pillsbury cinnamon rolls!) and pecan French Toast. I had new Santa Claus cups and plates for the girls which they were very pleased with. Jay watched from his exersaucer. Next year he’ll be right there in the thick of things.

After breakfast we ended up leaving the dishes on the table and quickly got ready for church. Jonathan got all the children dressed while I showered and got ready. We drove into church with ten minutes to spare!

It was so special to go to church on Christmas morning! I wish I could do it every year. It was so meaningful to sing songs about Jesus’ birth on His brithday. And I think it was special for Calla and Kelsey too; the Sunday school classes were decorated with streamers and balloons and the teachers had birthday hats for all the kids. They went over the Christmas story and did a Christmas angel craft and sang happy birthday and ate birthday cake. Calla was so excited about Jesus’ birthday.

Jay actually fell asleep in Daddy’s arms during the worship portion of the service, and slept until the service was nearly ended. I took him to nursery for the last fifteen or so minutes and when I picked him up the nursery worker (a man) had Jay belly laughing! Haha. It was so cute. He’s the first person to get Jay to laugh who is not Jonathan or I.

below: our friends, the Clousings, were there at the same time and took this photo of us in the church lobby ha:

After church we came home and fed the girls lunch. Jonathan cleaned up the breakfast dishes while I changed and gathered our things for Mema and Opa’s house. We drove back to their house at around 2 or so I think. Mema hosted another Christmas dinner….this time the aunts and uncles were all gone (celebrating with their in-laws) but Poppi and his wife, Jeanne, and Carole and Sarge and cousins Stephanie and Caleb came over to celebrate. We also had a couple hours with Uncle Ben before he had to drive back to college. Carole brought lasagna and Barb served beef tenderloin and various sides; all the food was so delicious!

(below: the girls opening their stockings before we left for Mema's):

Christmas Day was very low-key and relaxing. Jay took a good nap; the girls played nicely with their Christmas gifts (they opened books from Carole and also their triple stroller from Mommy and daddy); and the adults sat around and talked.

below: the girls helping Poppi open his present. They had made an ornament for him at a pottery place in Glen Ellyn called "On A Whim." This was our special surprise Christmas outing I mentioned earlier.

below: Cousin Caleb and baby Jay. Caleb loves babies! I remember him holding Calla...

below: The girls opened their triple stroller at Mema and Opa's. It was a hit!

(Calla is wearing a princess dress-up she received from Mema.)

We stayed until 6pm or so…Calla got SO tired! I’ve never seen her so overtired. I think it was from her 10:45 Christmas-Eve bedtime! (Speaking of, I could not believe she didn’t fall asleep on the car-ride to Mema’s). And since she hadn’t slept in on Christmas morning, the lack of sleep came back to bite her and it was U-G-L-Y. Lots of uncontrolled crying! Mema and Opa helped us make a swift exit!

We arrived back in Wheaton at around 7:30 and all the kids were sleeping. Jonathan brought them inside and the rest of the evening was spent pretty un-Christmasy. We packed up, packed up the car (well Jonathan did!), put gifts away and de-ornamented the tree. (-: I always feel sad taking ornaments down from the tree. There's no reason to keep the tree up though if we are going out of town.

We went to bed relatively early (11?) because we wanted to get an early start on our drive the next day. All in all, it was a very Merry Christmas.

Christmas Eve

**Christmas Eve 2011**

CHRISTMAS Eve was a wonderful day. But "first we work and then we play" (my Pop-Pop used to say that) so we were busy in the morning organizing the house, doing laundry for our trip, and running a last-minute errand (Jonathan). I sensed I was running short on time, so Jonathan saved the day by making the sweet potato casserole. Yay! He is pretty impressive in the kitchen considering he is usually confined to the grill. It was a big help.

We timed our drive to Mema and Opa's house to coincide with Jay and Kelsey's naps. We went shortly after lunch, and Jay fell asleep right away but Kelsey was not buying it. She stayed awake the entire hour (I couldn't believe it!) and so I ended up just putting her to bed once we got there because I knew it was going to be a late night.

below: Uncle Kurt and Jay watching football before dinner!

 We relaxed and watched some football (Calla and Kelsey played with toys; I attempted to teach Calla ping pong although we didn't get very far!) for a couple hours. Opa and Mema thought it would be nice to spread out the kids' gifts some (there were many!) so the girls and Braxton opened some before dinner and some after. Jay was sleeping during the first phase of gift opening but we didn't tell him he missed it. haha.

below: jewelry boxes from Mema and Opa.

 Yay! Princess pillows and matching sleeping bags. These were a big hit!

 below: Kelsey got a guitar and some matching glasses. She loved rocking the glasses.

One of Calla's big gifts was a V-Tech Reader which she calls her "iPad" haha. It is really cute; it reads aloud to her and has some games on there and coloring. She figured it out right away and has had it close to her side ever since! Sissy of course was very interested in it.

 below: See sissy?

 Sissy wondering how she can get her hands on it!

Mema made a big turkey dinner with all the fixings and we ate at around 5:30. Jay woke up right before dinner was served; he did not want to miss his first Christmas dinner! Jonathan and I took turns holding him while we ate. He seemed pleased to be there. (-:

below: Calla is singing Christmas carols for everyone, regardless if they wanted to listen or not. haha

After dinner was the second round of presents! Jaybird was awake and ready this time! He received some really fun gifts from Mema and Opa, including some boy gifts!

We also squeezed in a Christmas photo shoot.

First up, Mema and Opa with my littles...

 below: Then all the cousins!

below: Uncle Ben wtih the kiddos. Kelsey loved having Jay on her lap! Calla looks odd because she had just applied some lipgloss and it seems she may have missed.

below: Kurt and Courtney with the kiddos

 Another one with Mema and Opa. Calla is letting Jay chew on her arm and Kelsey is being silly:

 below: Kelsey opening a shopping cart!

below: She was really excited about it!

 Calla and Kelsey sitting with Ben with their new Wisconsin #1 jerseys on!

 Jay and Mema hanging out together....

I wish I could have gotten pictures of all the gifts! Aunt Courtney and Kurt got Calla and Kelsey and Jay all sneakers that matched a pair that Kurt got Jonathan (he had picked Jonathan in the gift exchange). They are so cute! Jonathan's and Jay's are black and red and the girls look the same but theirs are black and pink. I need to get a picture of them all wearing the shoes!

Aunt Alicia and Uncle Stephen got the girls some adorable dresses and Jay a cute little outfit. That was so sweet; I definitely could use some boy clothes! Jay will look so cute.

By the time the gift opening for the children was winding down, the girls were getting really tired! We had planned for them to sleep a little while we were there so we could stay late, so Jonathan and I took the three kids up to a spare bedroom. I put Jay down in the pack and play and we tucked the girls into the bed....where they lay awake for a loooong time! In retrospect I wish I would have just set up a movie for them in the basement or something; I had hoped to allow some quiet time for the adults to exchange gifts and visit without having children around but unfortunately that never happened!

Kelsey did fall asleep, so we were 1-3. Jay had fallen asleep but woke up because the girls got noisy, and Calla lay in bed for a while before finally coming downstairs to see what all the adults were up to. Since Kelsey does provide 75% of the noise level between my children, it did help that she fell asleep! Little love.

But anyway, we all exchanged our "secret Santa" gifts and Mema and Opa gave gifts to all the couples and Ben! Jonathan and I received a new iPad to share and it has been so much fun playing with it the past 48 or so hours! Although I must say that Jonathan has had it the majority of those hours haha. I am going to have to wrestle it away from him at some point!

We stayed and talked for a bit after gifts until we eventually carried the sleeping (Jay and Kelsey) kids to the car. Calla didn't end up falling asleep until 10:45pm as we drove home! Christmas is just so exciting! It was such a fun day!

RIGHT now we are in Pennsylvania, where we've traveled for New Year's, and so after a long day in the car I'm going to have to post about Christmas tomorrow.

~Night~

Merry Christmas!

IT is 11 o'clock on Christmas day and Jay is awake and hungry. So I am multi-tasking (typing this on my phone and feeding him) because I do not think I will get to the laptop tonight. I stayed up way too late last night because I was painting a chest for the girls (plus I was too excited to sleep - I snuck into bed at 2:30am) and tonight I am paying for the late night!

But the good news is we are traveling to Pennsylvania and I will have a 12 hour trip with which to bring this blog up to date. That is, when I am not busy handing kids crayons, singing with motions, reading books, and holding toys in front of Jay. Actually now that he holds onto toys my trip may be a little less cramp-in-my-arm. Ha

The car is packed so all that's left is going to sleep! I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas! We had a fantastic two days with Jonathan's family, and also some meaningful family time just the five of us this morning and at church.

- Have a good night! -

Christmas Eve Eve

THURSDAY morning I decided to take the kids to the sports center, since Jenny said the childcare was doing some cool Christmas crafts this week. Ha! Some go to the gym to work out; we go for crafts. Actually, I would have worked out - but by the time we got out the door, Jay had been awake for an hour so I really wanted to be home within 45 minutes so he could take his morning nap. So I had to pick between a workout or a nice long shower in the locker room and the shower won. Besides, why work out now? Where would that leave me as far as coming up with a New Year's Resolution?

Calla was pretty disappointed that she couldn't stay longer (she had three crafts to show for it though!) so I told her we could go again today (Friday). Jay did really well in there; it's nice he's too young for separation anxiety and I can hand him off to whomever I please. We will just enjoy that while it lasts.

Well Thursday we got home and worked on getting ready for Christmas, although what exactly we did is sort of escaping me now. How lame. We did wrap a lot of presents (obviously not Calla and Kelsey's).

At lunchtime I was busy emptying the dishwasher so I made up a "picnic" and had the girls eat on the floor. Christmas preparations really bring the weirdness out in me. I wanted them to stay by Jay so he could watch them. ha

Thursday afternoon I cleaned the house. Christmas cleaning, if you will. I purposefully did not wash the hardwood though because our babysitter Stefani was coming to babysit and had contacted me in advance about bringing a gingerbread house-making kit. What a cutie!

I told the girls all day that Stefani was bringing a surprise. They were very excited. Jonathan got home first though, and we ate dinner. Then Jonathan gave the girls a bath while I put Jay to sleep. They were still in the bath when Jay woke up. So strange! He seemed ready to hang out though which was just as well because I had already determined I was going to bring him to small group. I did not want Stefani juggling two girls, a baby AND a gingerbread house! ha

Stefani arrived and brought the girls pink Santa hats which they thought were the coolest thing. We gave her a small gift as well. When Jonathan and I said goodbye to leave for small group, the girls barely looked up. They were very excited...

I told Stefani she could take some pics with my camera so she did!

below: apparently Kelsey has no problem looking right at the camera and saying "cheese!" when the baby-sitter is behind the lens...

 a Santa hat:

 niiice:

 Kelsey saying "cheese!"

 I was really impressed Stefani figured out how to use the timer on our camera because I have no clue:

 The gingerbread house! Stef was bummed because she said when she took it out of the box the roof was cracked, but I told her my girls don't really understand what a gingerbread house is anyway and she said it was true = they didn't notice...

 A three-walled ginger bread house:

Meanwhile, Jay behaved himself at small group.  It was nice to get together with our group right before Christmas. Ironically in the book we are studying ("Doctrine" by Mark Driscoll), the chapter for this week was about the Incarnation. Perfect timing! We also talked about what Christmas traditions we've started with our kids. It was neat to get some ideas.

We arrived back home and thank goodness the girls were sleeping. Stefani told me she likes to lay with them at bedtime so they fall asleep fast (!) haha and I'm like "whatever works!" (as long as they don't want me to do the same thing! - they havent asked.) Stef said Calla whispered in her ear while they were laying in the dark, "I was the flower girl in my parents' wedding and I got a big rash and couldn't walk and everybody had to hold me."

Ha! We had to clear that up for Stefani...Calla was supposed to be the flower girl in Aunt Kim's wedding and got a rash! That was so fascinating to me that she was thinking about that (she was 2 at the time!) as she lay in the dark in the middle of December. What a goofball.

TODAY, Christmas Eve Eve, we woke up and headed back to the sports center! Yay! This time Calla squeezed five crafts in. I also ran ten miles. Ha just kidding. I took a long shower. And chatted with other people who were getting ready (although they had actually exercised beforehand - odd really). I spied on Jenny doing a Zumba class. It looks like fun. I want to try it once Jay is old enough that I can be there for an hour and a half. (Hour for the class = half hour for kid drop off/pick up and drive to/from).

I timed our time there around Santa Claus - he was visiting the gym at 10 so I picked up the kids and we were one of the first in line. It was PERFECT. They encouraged parents to bring cameras (they also a digital one on hand if we had forgotten) and they also gave out candy canes.

below: Calla telling Santa "I want a rolling suitcase that is also a backpack." Hmmmm.

 below: smiling with Santa. Santa's face is pretty hidden (-: I thought the elves were a nice touch. (They were childcare workers and I heard one little boy saying "Hey! You work here! You are just wearing a costume!" The worker said back, "Nope, I'm an elf.")

 below: Santa did not ask Kelsey what she wanted for Christmas, and I don't think she would have answered. She didn't know who she was more bothered by - Santa, or the clown (you can't see her) sitting on the other side of Santa who was handing out the candy canes.

We stuck around for ten or so minutes because they had this fella here providing some live music:

We left once Kelsey's cup of water spilled all over her chair. Oops. Usually the time for a quick exit.

Anyway, once we got home Jay took a (short) nap and the girls and I worked on our agenda for the day: laundry so we can pack (we are packing tomorrow), gift tags for our gifts (which Calla refers to as "our Christmas craft"), and cooking our fifth (fifth!) batch of sugar cookies.

below: the girls helping roll out dough for the sugar cookies.

Jay ended up taking a long afternoon nap....in fact, Kelsey squeezed two full hours in there as well. Calla helped me with more wrapping; it is pretty amazing how long it takes to wrap gifts. I enjoy it and Calla was a big help with the tape.

Jonathan had a half-day of work, so after running to the mall (the mall! can you imagine? today? = he said the traffic getting into the mall was horrendous but the actual mall wasn't too bad) he came home. At 4:30, we all watched Uncle Ben's basketball game. Well, I caught as much as I could. (The girls and I were just finishing up Christmas cookie decorating.)

Jon, Jonathan's friend from work, came over for part of the game. The girls decided to pull out all the stops - they kept attempting cartwheels right in front of the TV to capture Jon's attention (and admiration). He good-naturedly acted impressed.

Jay slept through most of the game...
(sister putting his pajamas on..."babies helping babies" I say, although not to Calla's face):

 below: aaaand once again...still decorating cookies over here. it never gets old. (even for their mother.)

After Uncle Ben's game (they won), we prepared our family Christmas dinner. I think this would be a nice tradition each year. I bought the girls new Christmas plates and they were so excited about them. I meant to save them for Christmas but I can barely stand to keep all the gifts wrapped (I just feel like shouting "It's Christmas!!" and bringing them all out for the girls to open in the middle of December 23rd haha). The girls received them as part of their Advent calendar (they receive a small gift each day - usually the gifts have been random stuff like my leftover body lotion, a couple hershey kisses, some old stickers I found, etc.).

Anyway, for dinner Jonathan grilled steaks and they were delicious! I made that rice pilaf recipe thing and we had broccoli and crossiants. All the girls' favorite foods (except for shrimp; I had planned on getting shrimp and forgot. boo):

Yay! Two more days until Christmas!

 Thank you Kelsey for refusing to smile or look happy

 She was too distracted by her food (it was almost 6:45! yikes)

 Jay from his lookout:

 Jonathan set up the timer and we tried for a family pic. Kelsey is always so cooperative.

 A little better (plus we needed Jay in it!):

I was going to serve a "birthday cake" for Jesus but we will do that Christmas. In lieu of dessert, Daddy gave the girls baths. Yeah, rough trade-off. But not so rough when you can walk to the back bathroom in your robes:

After bathtime the kids went to bed and Santa and his elves (Daddy and I) got busy. I finished all my wrapping and gift tags. Jonathan's lone job was to assemble a stroller the girls are receiving, but alas all he had to do was pull it out of the box - it was already assembled. Haha. Lucky break!

But its past 1am which is my Christmas curfew so I better get to bed! Merry Christmas Eve=Eve!