Neigh

This has to be one of the funniest gifts the twins have ever received.  I'm not really sure if a unicorn says, "neigh" but that's what we're going with.  Thanks Grandma & Paw Paw!

Sam's Obsession: Legos

Sam has been obsessed with Legos for many years now, but the speed that he can put together a complex ship has me in awe.  

Teamwork

There is nothing better than siblings working together to get a job done.

Baby-a

Grace is quite a talker these days.  So, you can imagine how many times we hear her new ending "i-a" that she adds to the end of every word she speaks.  She started out referring to herself as "Grace-i-a" but it has grown to include most words in the English language.  I cannot wait to see how this progresses.

ICE! at the Gaylord

After a few days of staying inside, we all needed a field trip!  So, we loaded up and headed to the Gaylord where the kids loved seeing the amazing Christmas decorations and tubing down giant ice slides.

We then put on the most beautiful smurf outfits and headed inside a 9 degree tent to checkout Madagascar carved ice sculptures.  It was COLD but the displays were amazing.  

SNOW on Christmas Day

About 15 minutes after my parents packed up and headed home, the snow started to fall.  It continued for the next few hours until we eventually had the most beautiful, snow covered backyard.  We took the group picture quickly as we guessed most of of our Texas blood would not be able to last outside long. The overall group lasted longer than I anticipated because throwing snow balls and running around in the snow outweighed the cold you felt.  After 45 minutes, we quickly went inside and enjoyed hot chocolate by the fire.  I've always wanted a white Christmas and it was a treat to get to finally experience one.

Christmas with the Family

Christmas Eve was such a special time with so many family members in attendance.  We enjoyed Mexican food and lots of laughs.  After baths, the kids changed into their Christmas PJs (thanks Paw Paw for helping stitch together a last minute shirt for Sam).

Then Sam read Twas The Night Before Christmas to the entire family.  What a treat!

After the story, the kids put out carrots for the reindeer and cookies for Santa.

Then everyone went to sleep.  And guess what, we caught Santa AGAIN!

The kids had so much fun tearing open all of their Christmas presents.

Thanks everyone for THE BEST CHRISTMAS EVER!

Christmas Eve Firetruck Excitement

When a neighbor calls the non-emergency line to report what she thinks is the smell of smoke, you sometimes end up with 4 firetrucks and 2 ambulances.  She was a little embarrassed by all of the commotion, but the kids thought it was great!  The firemen were so nice to pose for a few pictures and even invited the kids inside the firetruck.  It probably didn't hurt that Graham had on his matching fireman outfit!

Hut Hut

Sam had his first flag football game this morning.  It was so fun to watch them run plays and score touchdowns.  They ended up losing the game, but you wouldn't know it from their high fives and smiles.  

Holiday Party at Rockenbaugh

Sam had his holiday party with his class (notice all of the girls) today.  The party included a book exchange, decorating cookies and wrapping Mrs. Clardy in toilet paper to make a snowman (she's such a trooper).  What a fun end to the 1st half of the year.

Sam and Mrs. Clardy

Baby Jesus

These adorable pictures were part of Christmas presents that the kids' school helped them make for us.  We were probably suppose to wait until Christmas Day to open the present, but I'm so pleased to have these cute photos to look at now.  At least now I understand why Grace & Graham are obsessed with "wrapping up their babies" in blankets like Baby Jesus.

Christmas Parties at CHCS

Today I had the pleasure of spending lots of time at Chapel Hill Children's School celebrating the holidays with the kids' classmates.  They have enjoyed the first half of the school year and have made some really wonderful friends.  There is so much to be thankful for this holiday season.

Ben with Mrs. Bea and Mrs. Joni

Grace & Graham with Mrs. Leslie & Mrs. Helen 

(btw...the twins had just woken up from their naps when I snapped this)

The Nutcracker!

My Mom and I love the Nutcracker and we've seen it more times than I can count.  So, we couldn't wait to go to the Bass Hall with the boys to start a new holiday Nutcracker tradition.  This year the sets and choreography were new so I was a little nervous about things changing (I like a Nutcracker with the "old school" choreography).  To say we were blown away would be an understatement.  The boys loved every minute (except where they both dozed off briefly towards the end) and skipped around excitedly at the end telling us their favorite parts (for the record, both of their favorite parts was where the Nutcracker and the Rat King battled).  Thanks Mom for joining us!  Such a fun afternoon.