Oh the joys of Christmas morning.

So my Christmas morning went like this-

Got out the camera so I could take a picture of the boys as they walked down the hallway out into the living room. Except much to his brothers dismay my little redhead wouldn't get out of bed. No matter how much we begged. So I took a picture of that instead. Then...

my battery died. Just. Like. That. Not cool for a picture freak like me, lets just say I panicked just a tiny bit. Made the boys stay in their room cause I'm mean like that while my mind raced trying to figure out what to do. I couldn't stand the thought of no Christmas morning pictures on baby girls first Christmas! Then I remembered that my camcorder has a picture setting. The pictures all turned out super grainy...But at least I have pictures...such a relief! Okay so back to Christmas Morning, I let the boys out of the room, and Atty still wouldn't get up so we started with out him. As my other two started pulling banana chips, dried fruit, tangerines, (yes I am that kind of mom) and little toys out of their stockings they stumbled upon a little bit of Chocolate, and the screams of "Candy" got that little stubborn red head out of bed. Finally.
Blurry eyed boys peering into stockings.

So exciting. We spent quite a long time going through stockings and sharing with each other.

While this girl sat with her daddy and looked extremely cute with her chubby little belly hanging out. Doesn't she make a jolly Ms. Claus, ha, ha!

She apparently really liked her stocking. She got her first doll! I have to say that was weird grabbing up a doll for her...still can't wrap my head around the fact that I have a girl!

Atty got an awesome present from his other brother who lives in another State. They have never met and we are hoping to get them together (his brother's adoption was finalized this month, finally) this summer for a camping trip!! When Atty's adoption was finalized this last summer we were calling it Atty's Happy Day, so that's why they made this picture for him. On his brother's adoption day they called it his Happy Day too, I thought that was super cute.

Nee nee (my mom) opened Strawberry's presents...she had fun with that. I found her some cool books, and lots of books for the boys too, we are a big book reading family. Love those books!

Daddy loved the presents that the boys make for him. Gingerbread fridge magnets with their faces in each one...super cute.

All in all it was a wonderful Christmas morning, filled with laughter, book reading, present sharing, and a super yummy breakfast. By the time it was all over, my camera battery was charged up again, go figure...

Building memories

Christmas EveBaby girl in her Christmas pj's.

Us in ours.

Them in theirs.
Watching a Christmas movie together, eating yummy popcorn.

Then out we go in search of Christmas lights.

Nice and warm, we wander the neighborhood together.

Looking for the best of the best, excitement on their little faces.

Then back to our warm house to hang our stockings with care.

...and snuggle a bit before bed.

...and a moment or two for Bubu to practice his skills with the camera. ~Capturing mommy glowing with love for her beautiful family and feeling so Blessed!~

Then we hung up our candy canes...

...and ate one. Which happened to be the most exciting thing of the whole day, because mommy never lets us eat candy after dinner (or ever really). We read lots and lots of Christmas stories, and talked about baby Jesus.

Then it was off to bed for the little ones so that visions of sugar plums (or something like it) could dance through their heads. While mommy set to work doing "secret squirrel stuff".

Stockings well stuffed and off to bed for the last sleepy head. Can hardly wait to see their cute little excited faces in the morning. Feeling very satisfied with the sweet little cozy Christmas we are having. Building memories one family moment at a time.

First people ever!

We love to scribble. Mommy loves it. She loves seeing us color.We use lots of different colors
and there's always some body art involved. Mommy doesn't always love that part.

It's so much fun really! Mommy saves every single one and she says we are amazing.

But my brother Bubu has discovered something different. He just discovered the world of drawing, controlling the pen to make circles and lines and....people! Imagination on paper. It was so exciting. Mommy almost cried. Bubu's first little people. He was so proud of himself, and he should be, it's a whole new world. Mommy says we are all growing up way to fast.

Bubu's very first people drawings. He said it was mommy and daddy. Use your imagination, that's what he did.

Daughter

ILove
You
More

Today

Then

Yesterday

My

Beautiful Daughter.

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(...and less then tomorrow.)

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Every day you amaze me more. You complete us, and I don't know how I made it through life before, missing you. I stare at you and try to memorize your sweet baby self, knowing (as much as a person can know about the future) that you are our last. I try to capture your sweet self, but even a picture doesn't compare to you in real life. I can't capture how absolutely precious you are no matter how hard I try. I know to well how fast this time flies and how memories fade and it brings me to tears. I smell your baby sent and feel your oh so soft skin and I tell myself, keep this dear, appreciate this moment in time because it will be gone in the blink of an eye. Life flies by like always, faster and faster each year. I feel as if I am frantically trying to slow things down but it's like a wagon speeding down a hill out of control the scenery zooming past in a blur. I am left grasping at the air trying to slow the pace. So I go to you and hold you and gazing into you deep blue eyes and let the moment wash over me, willing time to slow down by sheer determination. You and I memorizing each other.

Not sure how I should take this...

"Mommy did you do this when you were a person?"

"Um...do you mean a kid hunny?"

"Yeah, when you were a kid and a person."

Oh, okay then...

Keeping it real

Any one with small children, especially many small children, knows that is near impossible (read, it's never going to happen) to get them all to sit pretty for a group photo. In our case Spike has gone from two to teenager and pulls the attitude card all the time now. He decided he wasn't going to smile, or look in the direction of the camera or even be in the frame. Atty normally won't sit for a picture period, except that I have figured out if I bribe him with holding his sister he cooperates fairly well, or at least sits for the picture. Then there is Bubu who doesn't smile much for pictures anymore...he's like his daddy. He really did try for the first second or so, but that's just all he had in him. In years past I have felt frustrated about the fact that I never ended up with The Perfect picture to send out, but this year I decided to have fun with it. There's no point sweating the small stuff (because if there was I would be sweating all the time and it would be gross) so I just laughed my way through this one instead. It's sort of funny to watch the progression of the pictures, by the end of them you can tell that we are all very much done. This lasted all of a few minutes. Which is why I would never take my family in anywhere to get our pictures taken. It would be a nightmare deep fried inside of another nightmare. Good thing I have an awesome sister I can rope into taking our photo for us. She might possibly be the best "little" sister in the world. And so here for your viewing pleasure is a preview of the fantastic photos my sister captured. *

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...and there you have it. There were even more then this but I figured you've probably had more then enough by now. I picked three of the best of the best to grace the front of our Christmas card this year, and I have to say it's one of my favorites so far. It makes me giggle, and it is truly us, keeping it real.

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Now for a few more pictures of the baby girl. She knows how make a picture shine!

Oh my!

We will end with the photographer and her little Christmas niece. These two brighten up any room. Sweetness all around. Sweetness with a cherry on top, and not one of those nasty cherries, a real one.

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Merry Christmas!

All I want for Christmas

I already have.

Week old Thanksgiving left overs...

So I am WAY behind on posting anything about our awesome Thanksgiving. This year, like the last few years, we spent Turkey day at my "little" brothers girlfriends parents house (did you get that?) they are the BeSt! They have all become family to us and we are so blessed to have them in our lives. The house was filled to the brim with love, cozy and inviting. You always feel at home with them, and in fact we spent the night like we always do and then didn't leave until the next night! I just couldn't peel myself away (their couches are really comfortable). They live right by the town I grew up in so there are always mixed feelings when we go, but worth it all the same. This year there was a twist. This year one of my other brothers came who I hadn't seen in about three years. He is my heart child's biological father. My mom has been so sad that we weren't spending holidays together and that he always had to be excluded before the adoption. So now that the adoption is complete my husband and I felt he was in a good enough place to come for a short visit and be with family. I was a bit apprehensive and really didn't want any drama, but the whole thing actually worked out really well and my mom seemed so happy that is was worth it. My brother hadn't seen Atty since he was only a few months old, so it was heart warming for me that he was able to be around him. It's never been because of a lack of love that they weren't able to raise him. I still have so many emotions swirling around about the whole thing, and questions in my head about how we will deal with future family gatherings as my son gets older and understands more, but for now I am glad we made the choice we did. I'm glad I can share this on here because normally I don't talk about it much. I'm having a hard time knowing how to deal with questions from people about which one of our children is adopted and such, because they are usually asking right in front of him. I don't mind talking about how he became my heart child, and we aren't going to raise him with out sharing bits of the story with him at age appropriate times, I just don't feel comfortable talking about it with others in front of him. I don't want him to feel singled out. But that's for a whole different post. There is always some underlining story behind everyone of our family gatherings, it's never simple. Back to Thanksgiving...it all worked out wonderfully and the food was fantastic...and that's the best part! (Or maybe it's all the love.) Here are some pictures for your viewing pleasure. :) My baby brother and his adorable family. Isn't strawberry's cousin just the cutest?!

Neenee (my mom) and her grand baby strawberry. I like this picture because I caught my mom with a great smile on her face, she doesn't like her picture taken and it's hard to get a good one like this. She has a great smile.

Building towers together.

He tried so hard to climb to the top...

...just like his big brother.

Sliding with daddy. We took the boys to the local park because anyone with three little boys knows that trying to get them to sit around calmly while waiting for food, for hours, just isn't going to work.

Holding hands, safety first! :) We got lots of looks in this little town let me tell you. Most people were just smiling at us as they drove past, it was kind of funny. I guess we do make quite a sight, us and our many small children.

My "baby" sister and her baby niece. Look how strawberry is gazing at her, so adorable!

Love these girls! I waited ten years for a sister and I was a little "mom" to her (still am, ha, ha). I am reminded of her often when I am taking care of my own little girl now. They both mean the world to me.

Hanging out together watching a movie. Had to get a picture of my hubby holding his little daughter.

And we will end this with a beautiful baby girl. So there you go, week old Thanksgiving left overs, and you ate it. Whether you liked it or not is a whole different thing.