Georgia

We haven't seen my crazy cousins in a whole year, so it was time to plug in the mobile movie players and drive up to refreshing winter weather in Georgia!  Sweet Keeley turned 4 on the day after Christmas,

and I was thrilled to help her celebrate!

Ryan wasn't sure what was going on, but he's always up for a party.

He got to see his adorable cousin buddy, Brady.

 

The boys are at an age where they don't really play together, but their acknowledgement of each other with blank-faced stares was a great sign for fun times in the future.

It was nice to catch up with Mawmaw.  She didn't mind the chaos of kids all around her. 

 

 Jack Jack was the highlight of the trip.  Marmee let us help feed him, Poppy reluctantly let us play with him inside the house, in the basement. 

 

Joli and Jakob drove to the beach in Florida the next day, so we squeezed in as much fun as possible into one night.  Raow!

 Poppy took our annual girls picture on the stairs.  Look how big we are getting!  Now I understand why my Mom has a picture-taking obsession, it runs in the family!

Mom can't stop laughing at Joli's spicy personality.

Sadly, our play date plans were thrown out when Keeley and her family got hit with the stomach bug (no fair on her birthday!).  We managed to dodge the germs, but they got to Marmee.  We still had some quality time, and left more excited than ever for our next visit with them! 

Christmas

This year we celebrated our first Christmas at home.

We're still working out what we want our family traditions to be.

So we started with the Christmas Eve program and family service at church.  I got to be a sheep in the Nativity Scene!

Next year, when I'm 5, I get to be an angel.  They get to do a special dance that celebrates Jesus's birthday.

All of the rehearsals were fun, we sang about Joseph, Mary, baby Jesus, and the angels and shepherds.

Ryan wasn't too impressed with my acting debut.  Mom says I am a natural:  Christmas Program Rehearsal.

Then, when it was finally time for the real service when everyone was invited to come to the altar to take pictures, I was totally over it.  To be honest, every kid in the church was totally over it.  Sitting still for 30 minutes at 5:00 in the afternoon doesn't quite work for the 4 and under set.  

I think it was just fatigue from all the fun we had during the day decorating Murmel's gingerbread house.

Ryan couldn't participate because all the candy was a wicked choking hazard, so he got chocolate pudding as a consolation.  He seemed okay with that.

It was a pretty awesome day, capped off with baking cookies for Santa and putting out carrots for Rudolph!

Santa

Rocking Ryan

Watch out Channing Tatum- our little man showed potential while waiting to see Santa:  Rocking Ryan

Murmel

 Our Elf came back!  Murmel keeps an eye on us during the day, then flies to the North Pole at night to report to Santa.  Ryan doesn't know that it's a big deal yet... 

But I have a special bond with Murmel.

 My favorite thing about having Murmel back in the house is waking up in the mornings to find what mischief he got into overnight!

December

It's tricky getting into the holiday spirit when it's 80 degrees every day.  We're working on the Christmas program for church and baking treats for our teachers, so we've been too busy to take many pictures lately.  Here are some favorites from Mom's phone.

 

We love chocolate!

 Little Man loves his hoodie and gets mad if we take it off.

Sweet Moxie wants to be cuddled next to Mom every minute of every day.

 Hide and Seek!

Good Night Socks

Ryan loves his bedtime books.  He refuses to sit in Mom's lap anymore, demanding his own big boy spot next to her on the rocking chair where he can hold his water while they read.

He likes Goodnight Moon, especially when it says "Three little bears sitting on chairs".  He points to the bears and yells at them to "SHET!". He is also obsessed with socks, so he points out "NIGHT NIGHT SOCKS!" every time they show up in the pictures. 

Ryan goes to bed earlier than me, so I get an hour with Mom and Dad all to myself.

We do very important things like watching Christmas movies, working on homework, and practicing reading my early reader books.