Christmas Photoshoot

In traditional fashion, I did a photo shoot of the twins under the Christmas tree this year, just like I did with Macyn back in 2009. I wrapped up a box, added a bow, and took some pictures of the girls!

Family Birthday Party!

Since we have just a smidge more going on this year, we asked Macyn what she wanted to do for her birthday, and she chose Pizza Ranch. I am a-okay with that, instead of hosting everyone! We had lunch along with some birthday cake and gift opening. It was a nice get together. For the first year, I didn't make Macyn's birthday cake - I had the bakery do it. I wasn't for sure how it would turn out since they weren't even sure they could make a Sofia the First cake. Once I saw it for the first time it was completely awesome and Macyn loved it! Sure, it was more expensive than a home made cake, but the $17 price tag sure beats me trying to create one myself and mess up the kitchen all while watching three kids!

Gift opening

Macyn received some pretty good gifts. Items included: puzzles, tattoos, movies, clothes, purses, doll blankets, a Barbie set & Palace Pet from Mom & Dad, and Don't Spill the Beans game. After gift opening we sang Happy Birthday and Macyn blew out her candle and she served us her cake!

 

Happy Birthday, Macyn! Love you!

Five Christmases

Starting the Saturday before Christmas, we had five of them in four days. Here is how they went:

Saturday: My extended family at the Pizza Ranch. This is the only time of the year we get together, so it was super fun to see my cousins and their kids! It was the first time I have meet two of them, and my cousin and their adorable daughter came all the way back from South Carolina. It was a fun time to watch all the kids play and interact with each other.

Sunday: DH's immediate family - time was spent eating supper, opening presents, and playing with all the new stuff. Macyn received some Minnie Mouse play sets, a little people castle, a Cinderella carriage, and a puzzle.

Monday: Christmas Eve spent with my family. We decided to have a late afternoon/early supper around 3:00 so we could all be home at a good time. I was feeling quite nauseous and got a little sick right  before we left. I decided to at least try and go to Christmas and felt okay the rest of the day and kept all my food down. DH & I got this fun yard game - Big Birdie Golf. I also received some maternity clothes and a flat wallet. Macyn got a play doh set, clothes, Baby Alive, crayons, a Barbie, and a Minnie Mouse. Fortunately, I started feeling better before church so we decided to go. We ended up sitting in the front row so that was quite the experience!

Tuesday: Christmas morning was spent with our family opening presents. We didn't go too overboard this year since we knew the Grandparents would set her up pretty well. She received an easel from Ikea, color wonder pages, fingernail polish set with a nail dryer, some some from bath and body (yes we have a girly girl) and a "baby that takes a bath."

 There is a funny story about this "baby that takes a bath." We decided to go Christmas shopping way back in November and we had all the gifts in the back of our SUV. We went to pick up Macyn and didn't even think to hide the presents in the back. So what does she do? She looks behind the seat and exclaims "A BABY THAT TAKES A BATH!" So I explained to her that we did get her the baby for Christmas, but she has to wait until then to open it. A couple of weeks had passed and I decided to ask her what she wanted for Christmas. This is how it went:
Me: Macyn, what do you want for Christmas?
Macyn: A baby that takes a bath - it's in the car.

DH bought me some touch screen gloves, some handi bac, and a Snoogle - the seriously best pillow ever, whether you are preggers or not! Even Macyn liked it and she proceeded to use it all morning while watching the parade.

I bought DH a new Vikings polo, a grill spatula, movies, and Battleship.

Tuesday Lunch: Lunch time was spent on Josh's extended family. We also had another one of DH's extended family Christmas at night, but we were so Christmas'd out that we decided to pass. We did visit his Grandpa before the meal, so at least we got to see him on Christmas.

Tuesday Night: We decided to head out and drive around a check out the Christmas lights in Maurice. Macyn LOVED it. She made comments of, "That's pretty awesome." "That's really cool" but my favorite one was when she saw a whole bunch of toy soldiers lined up and said, "There's the marching band!"

Unfortunately, in the night Macyn got the stomach flu so she had an extra day at home after Christmas. Fortunately, it wasn't a severe case of the flu, so she was pretty much back to normal after one day at home.

Our Christmas weekend was super busy, but it is always nice visiting and seeing our families.

Homemade Presents

Macyn came home from daycare today with this - a CD case with a "Happy Mother's Day" piece of paper on the outside. I asked her, "What did you make?!" and she responded, "You can take it to work, Mommy!" Why, yes, Macyn....I do belive I will take it to work. Here is what was on the inside:

Her hand print and a picture of her. All I can say is, I LOVE her home made gift! Makes my heart melt and how proud she was to give it to me!

My Valentine

This year we decided to go easy on Valentine's day gifts. DH and I each bought each other a card, and we went out to lunch. It was a pretty nice time, and I was happy with the simplicity of our day. We did decide to get Macyn a little something for Valentine's Day. She was pretty excited to open her present!

 

We bought her a stow in go Color Wonder studio set. It is a coloring book with markers that only works on the paper. It also clips on the outside of the box to hold it on car rides, etc. You can also put other items inside the box. It has already came in pretty handy! It is a little hard for her to get the marker lids off, but this is a nice, clean, and contained activity for her :)

New Years Day

New Years Day was spent having one more Christmas on my Mom's side. Its a pretty big get together, since my Grandpa remarried after my grandma died. So we have all my step grandma's kids, and their kids, plus all of our aunts and uncles and cousins. There are getting to be quite a few babies around now - Macyn is the oldest at 2 years 2 months, and the youngest was 4 days old! 5 great grand kids 2 and under  always makes for an interesting time. Because of all the excitement, Macyn skipped on her nap, and you can see how tired she is by the look on her face opening presents:

Sleepy kid opening presents

Macyn received a new baby doll that laughs and cries - along with some accessories! My grandma also made a baby blanket for her new baby. She loves that doll and plays mommy for hours at a time. We even have to bring her along on road trips, and sometimes to daycare.

After we got home, Macyn crashed....completely. She didn't even wake up when we would sit her up or take off her coat. Thankfully the dog woke her up after 45 minutes of napping around 5:30 (bad idea when you try to get the kid to bed on time). Fortunately, it only took an hour and she slept for 12 hours...tired kiddo. 

We had a great day with family, again! I like how the Christmases are spread out so we aren't so Christmas'd out by the 26th.

Macyn with her baby and her Minnie Mouse chair

Christmas Day

Christmas morning with her new Minnie Mouse chair

We spent Christmas day doing what else - celebrating the birth of Jesus! Just ask Macyn. We tell her its Christmas and she says, "Jesus birthday?!" We started out by going to church in the morning with just us three. For lunch time it was time to head over for Josh's Grandma's side Christmas. It was nice to see all the relatives again since we had to miss out on Thanksgiving this year. Christmas night was spent at my in-laws, opening presents and having a meal. I made roast in the crock pot and the in laws provided the sides. Shortly after that it was time to open presents!

Patiently waiting for presents

Macyn's new pink elephant chair!

Her new little people doll house

We had a good time celebrating Christmas. Macyn got another chair, doll house, pajamas, and mega bloks. We received a filter for our Keurig, so we can brew our own coffee instead of using Kcups all the time. Its also more cost effective this way as well. I also received and ice cream sandwich maker and Josh got a new shaver. I just love Christmas and I am sad it is over....but I guess we have another one New Year's Day, so it's not completely over yet ;)

Christmas Eve

Our Christmas Eve was spent with my parents. We attended the church where I grew up, along with the entire family. It doesn't happen very often that all of us are able to get together, so it was a great way to celebrate Christmas.

After church we took some pictures, and ate a delicious home cooked meal. It consisted of ham, cheesy potatoes, green bean casserole, and corn with noodles. Corn with noodles is my new favorite - I could seriously eat it for my meal and be completely satisfied. Its seriously that good. After our meal we opened up presents. Macyn was good about waiting her turn, and it was fun to see Caden open his presents by himself. There were some interesting gifts given this year, for example, I received a Charlie Brown Christmas Tree...literally. My sisters received footie pajamas (from me), and my Dad got a leg lamp from A Christmas Story. It was a great time with lots of laughter and love. Here are some pictures from the night.

Kids in their matching shirts

Macyn's pride and joy this year is her Minnie Mouse chair from Grandpa and Grandma. Its super soft and completely adorable. She also received a new outfit, boots and shirt from Aunt Brooke, and a tent with a tunnel from Aunt Brandi. She loves the tent too - I'm not in love with how much space it takes up, so it got demoted to the basement...where she plays in it daily :)

I couldn't have been happier with our family Christmas - it was such a good time getting together!

A Little Family Christmas

 Friday night Macyn was starting to feel pretty close to back to normal, for the most part. (You will notice her swollen, crooked smile, but she IS feeling better even though it may not look it!) We decided since we had a different Christmas every night for the next couple of days, we would do our own family one tonight. We had a “gourmet” meal of slow cooker egg bake (super easy and yummy!) and chocolate chip pancakes. After Macyn devoured her pancake, we opened presents....or Macyn opened ALL our presents ;)

We let her open the remaining gift from the “doctors.” She opened a doctors kit, appropriately. For some reason she likes to try the shot on her mommy. She is fascinated by the stethescope as well. We also bought her practical things, like socks, Dora bubble bath, and ponytail holders/clips. She also received No More Monkeys Jumping on the Bed book, Candyland I picked up on black Friday, a Minnie mouse figurine where you can change her outfits, and Minnie Mouse bedding that I also picked up on Black Friday. We also found a 3 piece set of mini appliances - a toaster that "works," a coffee machine that actually drips water, and a stand mixer that mixes. She loves all her things, except Candyland – she doesn’t quite understand the concept yet, but we let her play with the pawns on the board.

Macyn with all her presents

DH opened up the 3 BluRay movies he picked out and bought himself. He also got a Vikings travel coffee cup and some Kahlua coffee K-cups.

Josh bought me a chain for my journey diamond necklace (or should I say, shipping cost – gotta love lifetime warranty!) I also received a new blow dryer and a coffee mug, where you can design your own on the computer, print it out, and personalize your mug. It’s pretty cool!

 We had a nice little Christmas with our family of three, 4 if you count the dog. He received a new retractable leash that has a part to put doo doo bags in it. Pretty spiffy, Buddy.

Doctor Present

During our stay in the hospital, we had the opportunity to pick out a present from a room where people have donated (including a truckload of toys from Mattel!) toys, games, books, and other gifts. We chose the Little People Camping Set, and the Fisher Price Doctor Kit. Some lady also donated all her holiday bears to the Children's hospital for the kids, so we brought one of those home, too. They also had a wrapping station where we could wrap the presents. It was nice to get a break and lighten the mood a little bit to pick out something and wrap it for Macyn. When we got home she kept asking about the, "present from the doctor!" so we let her open the camping set. She LOVES it! Its pretty cool - the camper actually folds up like a pop up camper, and it comes with chairs, a fire, sleeping bags, cooler, car, and even a fishing pole. It is now one of her favorite toys to play with. We are thankful for the generosity of people donating to the Children's hospital. It really did lighten the mood and its nice to see people helping out families and the kids who do have to spend Christmas at the hospital.