Huh

Huh. That's what Claire (and sometimes Max) say when they mean "yes". It took me a while to figure that out. I thought she really didn't hear or understand me when I asked her questions. Turns out "huh" is easier for her to say than "yes"! so every time she says "huh", I look at her and say "yes" or "yes mam" while nodding yes. She Is starting to catch on ;)

We finally put all our decorations up and made room for new toys today. I love Christmas decorations, but so glad to have the house back to normal.

A few pics from our day

Swinging on the big kid swings!

Bundled up for our run. It was so cold!

Kelly - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Overload

Max and Claire have been on overload since Christmas eve.  They have been spoiled rotten with Grandparent time and all their wonderful presents.  Christmas morning they woke up around 5:30.  This was one morning I was excited to be up super early.  As a kid, my brother and I would wake up super early (even in our teen years) to see what Santa had brought!
I made sure to leave my camera out so I could capture their first reactions to Santa.  Sadly, I forgot to change the setting so the first picture, which should be the best, is blurry.

Excited is an understatement!  They ran straight for it and stayed on it for a few minutes before noticing other presents!

Grandma and Grandpa got them trikes and Aunt Darcy got them cool helmets to wear.  We are still working on how to ride the trikes!

Justin and I had said we would get each other one gift and not do stockings.  That stinker did a stocking for me and surprised with a second gift to the spa!!  I am beyond excited.  Now I just have to decide what to get done!
After a morning filled with Justin's family we headed over to my parent's house to see my brother and his family.

My mom and dad were so excited to have all grandchildren together (two sets of twins under 2!)

 Their big present from Nanny and Poppy was an art easel!  

We got home late from Mom and Dad's but that didn't stop them from running straight to their new toys!   

 Being silly with their rudolph noses!

Usually I don't want Christmas time to end, but this year, I'm ready to get our decorations up and house clean.  And sometime find a place for all of their new toys!

We are so blessed to have such wonderful families and so thankful to be able to spend the holidays with them.

Too close to two!

It's true.  Max and Claire are less than a month away from their second birthday.  How could that be?  In just one month, my 5.13 lb and 6 lb baby will be two.

 I can't say too much has changed since last month EXCEPT their vocabulary.  Each day I hear a new word or a new sentence come out of their mouth and each time it takes me by surprise.  I love hearing them talk.  They both have the sweetest voices.  (except when they are whining ;) )

Claire still loves to dance and sing.  Her favorite song at school is "brown squirrel".  She knows the dance moves to the song and can sing part of it.  It is one of the cutest things I've seen!  Recently she has been saying "hold me" and has been a mini me.  She copies everything so I have been trying to be on my best behavior.
They both have learned to stall at bedtime. Our one to two songs has turned into four to five songs. Her newest is asking for "Jesus" and she knows I don't turn down "Jesus" songs!  She loves her baby doll and especially loves to take her for a stroll.  She is a nuturer.  At school they say she always makes sure the other kids are ok....especially Max and her boyfriend, Trevor!  Her newest favorite activity is to color and she knows quite a few colors.  Her favorite seems to be purple.

Buds is such a little man.  He can be the sweetest boy around or a terror.  The tantrums have been a little rough lately.  BUT when he is in a good mood, nothing makes me happier!  He gives the best bear hugs and the sweetest kisses.  He loves his sister.  Recently he has been a Daddy's boy!  He wakes up asking for daddy.  He loves trucks.  He also loves to wear Daddy's shoes.  He is a good sleeper. He would sleep Really good if Claire didn't wake him up.  When she wakes up before him, she whines until he wakes up.  His new favorite activity is to play with puzzles.  He is really good at them.  He grabs our hand, takes us to the puzzle and tells us to sit on our ba-ba (bottom) and will do the same puzzle over and over again.

There is no greater joy!  Can't wait to experience Christmas through their eyes!

Christmas Cards

I absolutely love this time of the year.  I love having a mailbox full of Christmas cards.  I swear I have sent out close to 100 cards and as they keep rolling in, I keep seeing people I missed.  I hate that.  It is too late to send more picture cards.  I guess I could go get regular cards?... but those aren't nearly as fun to receive as the photo cards!

Here is our family card for 2012

Routine

Every night we sing songs to Max and Claire before bed.  It is our routine.  We have the same few we sing all the time.  Recently they have been requesting "Happy" meaning, "You are my Sunshine" and ask for "one more" over and over.  They like to stall!  This past week I've been singing "Jesus Loves Me".  Tonight, while I was rocking Claire singing "happy", I started crying.  I couldn't stop thinking about the elementary kids I saw running around on the playground today.  I was hurting.  I hurt.  My heart aches so badly for those families and the Connecticut community.  The tears really started flowing when Claire all the sudden looked up at me and said, "Jesus".
Yes, sweetheart, Jesus Loves You! and I will always sing that to you and hope you always know that Jesus Loves YOU!

"No Ho Ho!"

Saturday we went to our Elks Lodge (I'm the Elk! ha!) to have breakfast and meet Santa.  Claire got dressed up in her new Santa shirt and Buds in his festive overalls.

I couldn't capture a picture together...but not to worry, they will get their wear out of their Christmas outfits!

We got to the breakfast at 8:30 not realizing Santa wouldn't be there until after 9:15.  That's a long time to keep them entertained - especially without high chairs.  

Buds getting nervous when the Big Guy walked in!

we're next!

My plan was to take them up there and have a picture with the three of us, then try to put them on Santa's lap while Justin took the pictures.

What's wrong with this picture?

Where's Santa??

Ha! Just looks like the three of us taking a picture!  Wish Justin would have given me a clue that Santa was not visible!  After this picture I turned around to put both in Santa's lap and, well....

Claire was kicking to hard to let her stay!  Maybe next year?!

After naps we played outside.  I put Claire in this Nike track suit I bought at a consignment sale.  Is it not the best thing you've ever seen?  It cracks me up!

 Look at that face!

 hands on hips!!

Playing ball with Daddy!

Saturday night we had two of our favorite couples over.  We had good food and played Apples to Apples. Love that game.  I never brought the camera out, but did snap this pic of one of my favorite apps: Baked Brie!

Before being baked.... so yummy! especially with apples!

Today we took it easy.  I was doing dishes and Justin said, "Kelly, come quick"... this is how Claire was sitting in the den!

She is quite the character.  Can't get enough of my two babies!

A lot of jumping around in this post.. but tonight Justin and I ran a 5k called, Running of the Balls.  

We had planned to run as a family before it started raining.  My mom came over to watch Max and Claire so we could still go. It was a beautiful run even with the misty rain.  I wish we would have brought the kids bc it wasn't too bad!

Flu blues

Let's talk flu.  Yesterday morning I got a flu shot.  Yesterday afternoon I started getting a horrible stomach ache and by dinner time I had a 101.4 temp.  Not cool.  I felt awful.  Thankfully, my cousin came over to help the kids with dinner then my mom came over and Justin got home.  Justin put the kids to bed and I actually went to sleep before 9.

I feel a lot better today, but still not 100%.  No fever,  just weak stomach.  So my question is.... have any of you gotten sick after getting the flu shot? Or was this just a coincidence?

Favorite Things!

Last night I went to a Favorite Things Party.  Before this invitation, I had never heard of this.  There were eight girls and we were to each bring four of our favorite things.  We capped the price at $6 each. It's kinda hard to find things we love under $6.  One of my favorite things is OPI Red nail polish.  I love red.  I think it looks so classy, especially on shorter,square nails.

We all picked a frame that matched us or our favorite theme then put our fave things behind them.  Our hostess always goes above and beyond to make it a great party, like The Bachelorette party she hosted this past summer!

Then we filled out a favorite thing survey and placed it in someone else's bag.  The hostess started by picking four names out of a jar. (each of our names were put in four times).  The four names received her four favorite things.  Then she read the survey that was in her bag and we had to guess whose it was...then that person drew four names, etc..

This party was so much fun.  I walked away with some great things.

Lip gloss, appetizer, gift card, lip balm and note pads

There was also hair bands (like for workouts), more lip balm, hand cream, and ornaments.

I found this link on Pinterest and it is really close to how our party went down!  AND we saw a few clips from Magic Mike!  A few of us had never seen it, so we went up to their movie room and saw some of the top scenes ;)

Have you ever been to a Favorite Things party? What would your favorite thing be?!

Weekend of Freedom!

After Max and Claire got out of Mother's Morning Out on Friday, we headed to South Carolina to meet my in-laws.  They are wonderful and took them for the weekend.  Although I missed them like crazy, it was awesome!  We went out to two nice dinners, slept in, cleaned the house, wrapped presents and even found a few minutes to relax! RELAX....ahh.. it was so nice.

Date night!

It is so nice knowing I don't have to worry about them while they are gone.  They sent us numerous pics and videos.  Max and Claire LOVE their grandparents.  When I dropped them off, they gave me a big hug, said "bye" and took Grandma and Grandpa's hands!

Back to reality!

Drive by

Max and Claire are really getting into Christmas. They love seeing all the yard decorations, so the past few nights we have been driving through neighborhoods to see the lights. "Oh, wow" and "oh, pretty" come out of their mouths the whole drive.
They also say "more" after every lighted house we pass. In a few weeks we are doing a 5k called, "the running of the balls". It's through a neighborhood that has those lighted balls hanging from the trees. They are going to love it!

And can't resist posting a few cute pics of the kiddos.

How huge does he look?

Kelly - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

World's Famous Cookie

A few weeks ago I was asked by Lindy to do a guest post for her Cookie Time Tuesday. I didn't have to think twice!  Lindy is the author of "Itsy Bitsy Paper".  She is so talented - does everything from stationary, crafts and my favorite, baking!

I decided to go with my Grandfather's famous cookie.  It is delicious.  I love how fluffy and airy they are.

World's Famous Cookie - My Grandfather's recipe Preheat oven to 345* Ingredients 1 1/3 c butter 1 1/2 c sugar 3 eggs 1 tsp baking soda 2 Tbs hot water 3 1/4 c flour 1/2 tsp salt 1 tsp cinnamon 1 1/2 c pecan pieces 1 1/2 c raisins Instructions 1.  Cream sugar and butter 2.  Add eggs one at a time and beat in well 3.  Dissolve baking soda in hot water, then add to mixture 4.  Sift flower with salt and cinnamon and add gradually (I never sift!) 5.  Add pecans and raisins Bake 12-15 minutes.   I found that 12 min 30 seconds was perfect!  You do not want to overcook! Be sure to check out her blog and her shop!