Why is eating puffs so much more fun on the lap of your Sister?

Merry Christmas!

We have had a wonderful Christmas so far! There was a new tradition this year at Mass and I loved started the holiday off with it. During Christmas Eve Mass there was a Christmas pageant with the children. Juliette was an Angel and Tripp was a "Townsman/Prophet." Juliette I knew would love every minute and shine up there. Tripp he was a bit of a different story. I was not sure what to expect. Juliette's friend Sullivan took him under her wing and he did just fine up there. I was sure he would have his hand over his eyes which is his new trademark. It added such a nice touch and we were so happy that the children were part of it. 

...and look who was up bright and early ready to wish us all a Merry Christmas! I should mention that Tripp and Juliette attempted to come down at 1:30 in the morning. Juliette thought she could wake everyone up if she came in and told us Tripp threw up. She even got Tripp to fake cry at the top of the stairs when we both flew out of the bed. Needless to say, no one had gotten sick and the fake ploy to get us up only landed those kiddies back in the bed! They did not re-wake up until 7:30 that morning!

The twins loved chewing on the wrapping paper, tearing the wrapping paper and pulling the ornaments off of the tree!

We were so happy to celebrate with Ul'Nanny too! His presence always makes Christmas even more special to the kids. 

The special gift of the evening was the bow and arrow that had officially been given to Juliette. It was Ul'Nanny's bow when he was a very young boy. Being a boy, he showed up at our neighbor's house during my little friend Lee's birthday party and let all the little girls know that he was going to shoot the ducks waddling around in front of the house. He must have been five and we were turning 6. All of the little girls including me screamed and my poor Mom had to come and get little Danny. It is still a great story among all of us. We took this picture to send to Lee to let her know that the bow is still in the family. 

  

Merry Christmas everyone!

 I hope each of you were able to celebrate with family and friends!

Because we have had basically no Winter yet...

We are doing a whole bunch of this! The kids love riding their bike and scooter and we do love to cruise around. Temperatures literally have been hovering around 80° for the past two weeks. I am not a fan of this kind of weather around Christmas time. I feel like we all need some cold weather as a good break to the heat we have year-round.

Santa makes everyone oh so happy

We took a ride to the James Island County lights. It was actually cool that evening so it did feel like Christmas time. The kids were so excited to see Santa. Tripp this time wanted some batteries and a new guitar... (hmmmm these are new requests) and Juliette wanted a nice new real giraffe (yup, that sounds attainable) - good luck with that Santa!

Juliette was so excited about the holidays, the next evening she and I got her dolls all dressed up for the Christmas festivities! She loves her dolls and loves them even more when they are all ready for parties! In this little girl's world, every day is a holiday!

I try to convince her that her brothers are even more fun to bathe and dress up... wouldn't you think?

"No Mommy I love to dress my dolls up more!" 

Good thing Mommy finds them just precious!

It's never goodbye... just see you soon...

Ms. Adi's Mom who we lovingly call "Abuela" has been here since August. She leaves to go back to Columbia tomorrow. She came with Adi each day so the children all got to know her so well. We will all dearly miss her! We had a special farewell dinner for her.

It's the new Tripp

Here comes the exciting day for Tripp's Christmas performance... last year he was the life of the performance - dancing and singing his little heart out. This year he was a no show... good thing he had some life to him upon entering. I even took Juliette out of school to come and watch him. What did he do? He covered his eyes and face with his hand the whole time. It is the funny age he is at. As we call him "Pouting Paul" you never know how many times a day he pouts. You never know what sets a three year old off. I would say he may be shy but we know better than that.

The big man showed up and there was no problem piping up for that!

The typical "Fuss Pusser" Thomas as Tripp likes to call him (He was trying to use the word Fuss Bucket) was quite happy and amused sitting with Santa. Tyler not SO much! He was thinking who in the world are you?? Tripp told Santa he just needed to hold on to Tyler and go "ho ho ho" and he would stop fussing. 

This was the smile I could get...

"Mommy I want to go to da Waffle House..."

And like a good Southern boy... if we can't make the Waffle House, just shootin my gun will do!

She's still as sweet as they come!

Tyler has discovered the dogs but particularly Gracie! In general, he likes to gently pet her and tries to cover her eyes. She enjoys the attention from him.

His new favorite word is "uh-ho"... He is babbling "uh-ho" as he is covering her face!