Christmas 2011

We had a wonderful and relaxing Christmas this year. The girls got entirely WAY too many presetns, but they were not complaining. I will leave most of my commentary up to the captions with the pictures. Enjoy

MC at her Christmas program

Loving her some Daddy time

The night before we left for Wisconsin we had a neighborhood movie night in our backyard. We showed the polar express and it was a blast.....planning to do it every year!! Here is the screen all set up!

Here are the girls getting their chairs all ready

....and the friends

MC getting her 1st lesson in vacuuming from her cousin Brady

Love how much she looks up to her older cousin

Can you feel the love

The capes were hand me downs and we LOVE them, the girls think it is so silly that there are no arms

On our way to Christmas eve service---thank goodness we found the camera

IN their sweet coats that Mema got them from Cracker Barrel

Best family shot we could get

What a hunk

Never a dull moment with Uncle Ditty in the house

She loves to say cheese for the camera

With Grandma Mary

Daddy's little girls

Putting the cookies out for Santa

So MC is pretty scared of Santa---she made it clear to him, while Daddy was holding her, that he did not need to come into the house, he could just leave the presents at the door and mommy would bring them in. so here we are leaving his cookies on the front porch

Ditty and Auntie Ellen

Just hanging with my Daddy

Why do we buy presents again?? THe box would have been plenty

Opening for what felt like HOURS

Mary in her glory===Oprah, coffee, and foot massager

Our gifts from Uncle Ditty ---go pack go---that is a bit hard to write today, the playoff loss is still a bit raw

Loving the ponies

And everyone is blessed with a Milwaukee Brewer Stuffed Sausage, compliments of Uncle Ditty

Brother and Sister rivalry at its best

Head lamps for everyone

Fun in the new wagon that Pappa Denny got...not sure how many times he told us the deal he got on it, but I am pretty sure we will hear about it again

Pappa Denny playing on his new tablet

...not for long though

Maggie hanging with Grandma and laughing lots

MC and Uncle Ditty

So every other week the girls get to go on a date with Daddy and they love it. When we were home in Wisconsin, MC suggested that Uncle Ditty take her on a "Uncle Ditty Date"---ditty was all over that, he made her wear her special coat, they went to the bakery and he was just hoping the whole time she did not get cold feet. He promised to have her back to us by 10----am that is:) It was a special morning, she ate her doughnut and came back with a cookie and a cupcake, apparently Ditty did not get the memo that it is ok to tell MC NO!!

Watching a little cat in the hat before bedtime

Carrying some more loot as we begin the celebration with the Mustaine's

Check out my cute little dress up skirt

Trying on Auntie Trista's beach hat

Dessert on the couch with mema and granddad

A sunny but chilly day for a walk in FL

So Maggie's Godmother was just recently accepted to UW-L....and here is Maggie sporting a sweatshirt in full support of Big Maggie...we are so excited for her and can't wait for her to be an EAGLE

Spaghetti for dinner!!

SO I was putting Maggie to bed one night and MC ususally watches Blues Clues while I am doing this. I walked out to this the other night---when asked what she was doing she told me that she just wanted a few chips....as long as she thinks corn flakes are chips, i have no problem with this

Not sure the picture does justice to how dried out the tree actually was...we put it up the weekend after thanksgiving and took it down on January 9th...WAY OVERDUE

You may think I am showing you a picture of a new runner I got for X-mas---NOPE, those are the needles from our tree, just from carrying out the front door

Playing dress up with Leighton

2 short videos

I realized how valuable my blog is to me personally a few weeks back when I lost all the pictures of Maggie's 1st birthday!!! Low and behold though, I had them on the blog and was able to download them back to my iphoto library. All that to say----I want to start saving a few more things on the blog that I do not want to lose, just in case. So these 2 video's are more for me. The 1st one I think, may not be able to win, but I do think could qualify for America's Funniest Home videos. I like to call it white Beyonce and her dancer!! Pay close attention to Maggie's moves as MC sings....note that this is a song I made up to sing when we are getting ready for bath's. Beyonce totally stole it from me!!

The 2nd one is something MC has been working on. She LOVES to memorize and LOVES her Bible. I did not make her hold it, she insisted on it....I have to admit the whole production does make my heart happy. Just love this sweet girl. Enjoy and I hope to post some X-mas pictures tomorrow, just been trying to get back into the swing of things!

Some quick pics

Here are some pictures we have taken recently of the girls. Included is Thanksgiving, MC's X-mas program and some random ones just hanging around the house and in the backyard...now that the weather is cooling off a bit we are enjoying our big back yard and feel quite spoiled to have it all to ourselves!! We enjoyed so much having our good friends the Chiens visit for Thanksgiving----MC and Stephen get along great. We have also had the privlege of watching our good friend Harper this past week. The girls love having a little baby around and mommy doesn't mind either. On another note, there is quite interesting picture of me included. I came down with a horrible eye infection earlier this week and could not stand light in the slightest....Chris actuallky could not even go to work and had to put a black sheet over our window that was already covered with blinds. Luckily we got in with a Dr. and I am doing a lot better now, just stuck in my glasses for a bit. Enjoy and hope to keep you up to speed during the Christmas season, we are headed to Wisconsin in 4 days!!! Cannot wait, hoping for some snow and a VERY white X-mas, we'll see!

I had been looking for a tree for the girls play room and this one was generously given to us by a friend of our Auntie Trista---pre-lit and everything. I think we will keep the ornaments off of it and probably just decorate it with tinsel tonight!! We love to rock with the kids at night and have it on back there

This is my new favorite thing----my good friend Emily found this play house on the side of the road...after some scrubbing and a handy dandy power washer you would think it was new---the Girls LOVE it----they esp love to play peek a boo with me

MC with Harper---not sure harper likes us as much as we like her

There is her sweet smile

...and this is how i find her most days

Me in my get-up====this excludes the heavy sweater I had over my head to keep the bright light out

Mems's b-day

Getting ready for the cold weather

MC as a shepherd

With her class

Reading with Mema

Loving on each other in front of the X-mas tree

My homemade turkey decorations

The girls with Stephen===can you tell he is in Heaven

We just love him

Loving on our Auntie Trista

Hanging in the backyard

Stephen trying to make a move

This is how we roll----brining the Turkey in our own creative way

MC and Stephen doing some "work"

Talk about diligence

MC's thanksgiving day program

Hanging on the chairs out in the backyard

Can you tell she is my daughter

Can you resist those pony's

yup---that is a turkey leg hat...you know you want one LEAVER

MC's new smile---she thinks this is soooo funny