It's great to be home...

Here are the twins right after we got home.

They were visible relieved to be home and everyone slept better in their own beds!!

Thanks for the cute bibs, Granny!
I'm such a big girl!!!
Cutest little lady on the block!!

Christmas with Granny and Grandad

We spent Christmas day and a few days after with my (Shannon's) family in Raleigh.

I was pleasantly surprised to find my Granny waiting there when we arrived.

This is the first time she has ever spent Christmas in the South and I was extremely shocked and ridiculously happy that she came down (even if it was colder than she expected). Outside of my immediate family there is no one I enjoy seeing more than her. She has so many attributes of strength, courage and faithfulness that I admire. She always made the holidays a magical experience for me growing up and I am so thrilled my kids were able to spend this holiday with her. Here are a few shots of our time there.. hope you enjoy.

Livy is crawling and pulling up on everything. Her she is pulling up on my parents bar stool.

Man is she cute.

John, Ethan and my Granny.

Ethan and my mom making an "easy" Christmas craft. The nativity set was not as simple as the box claimed, and even though Mary looked a lot like the flying nun Ethan still liked it.

Olivia sporting all of Aunt Jackie's Mardi Gras beads

My stubborn sister who refused to have her picture taken!

Christmas morning.

Olivia trying on Aunt Jackie's pearl necklace. Frankly, Liv does not need jewelry to be cute!!!




Grandad and Isaac checking everything out.

Even though these shots did not turn out to well- I thought they were too cute (especially of Isaac) to leave out. here are the babies enjoying Christmas breakfast.

Merry Christmas at Grandma and Grandaddy Hoots

We spent Christmas Eve day with John's parents.

Ethan had a blast running around their house, activating the singing Christmas Tree,

refusing to eat because of sheer excitement, and of course opening presents. John's parents and the kids. A couple of months ago I would have said this photo was not very good, since none of the kids are looking at the camera. However, trying to take pictures of three kids has worn me down, and now I think any photo where no one is crying is a good one!!

Ethan trying out his new safety goggles to go with his new tool set.

Thanks Grandma and Grandaddy.

Livy was quite hard to contain this year. She can really crawl fast now and would dart at any unattended paper and then stuff it in her mouth!

Ethan off to work with his new tools.

Christmas at Home

We opened presents at home Christmas Eve morning. This year was especially fun with three kids!! I had the twins in cute Christmas jammies, but of course they were wet by morning!

Here are a few shots of us at home.

Ethan opens his most anticipated gift- the VeggieTales Pirate Ship. With the pirate craze lately, it is difficult to keep your pre-schooler from becoming obsessed with the world of pirating. We were thrilled to see that VeggieTales had put out an "innocent" pirate ship... free of skull and crossbones, weapons, or death. The ship is a promo for their new movie coming out- stay tuned I am sure Ethan will talk your ear off about it.

A Little Christmas Cheer

For the last five years we have hosted a Christmas Party and tried to invite all our friends.

This year we decided that a big party would be too challenging so we decided to host a Small Group Christmas Party instead. Well, lets just say it is difficult for us to keep it small! We started out with five couples, then decided to invite a few couples from our "extended" small group, then a few more from church (everyone that came goes to our church).

So, like a lot of things in life it ended up much larger than we intended.

But, we had a blast, and it was so fun to have a bunch of young couples from our church over. We are going to have to continue to have an annual Grace Christmas Party.

yum! I could eat like this everyday.

We played the White Elephant game...

congrats to the owner of Kate Spade bag and the proud owner of a stylish head light!

(Two of the most sought after items)

TThanks to everyone that came and helped out. If you absolutely hate your picture on here- just email me and I will take it off. Sorry I did not ask permission.

And, yes our kids slept through the whole thing. They all went to bed at 6 with benedryl and we never heard a peep out of them!! Imagine that!

Second Attempt at a Cute Christmas Photo

Here is our second attempt at a cute Christmas card. I had no idea how difficult it would be to get three kids to look at the camera, smile, and sit still all at the same time. i think it might be easier to draw a picture of them!! So here are a few more that did not make it.. but the kids still look cute if I do say so!


Livy in her doorway jumper after the fact. Now she is all smiles and charm!