I'm back...

So I haven't exactly kept up with my blog over the holidays but I have my reasons. My camera was incapacitated through Thanksgiving due to us having left our battery charger in Arkansas and not realizing we needed to charge the camera until one week before Turkey Day and then Amazon didn't come through on the quick delivery option. =( So no pictures from Thanksgiving but I did manage to snap a few precious moments during the Christmas holidays.

We always kick off the Christmas season with a trip to the Christmas Tree Farm with Uncle Matt and Nana. As always we had a lot of fun and Jack was thrilled to get to hang out with his Uncle Matt all day long.

Then came the insanity...shopping, shopping, shopping, taking Christmas card pictures, ordering Christmas cards, writing the Christmas letter, addressing, stamping, stuffing, wrapping, cooking, etc, etc. We did have a lot of fun with the Christmas card and the kids loved getting to jump on Mommy and Daddy's bed.

There were so many adorable, silly, and sometimes plain hilarious pictures but they couldn't all be included in the card but here are some of my favorites.

Jack and Addie love to kiss each other but they want to be the one doing the kissing. When Jack tries to kiss Addie she will giggle and squirm away and when Addie tries to kiss Jack he quickly escapes.

Before Jack's school let out for Christmas break we had his absolutely adorable Christmas program. He was a very handsome reindeer but I didn't get any very good pictures because our seats were so far from the stage. But I managed to take a few after the program.

Addie Grace and Leilei were being silly and performing their own little program on the floor.

Jack and Rylan in their reindeer costumes for their last Christmas program together. Sniff sniff.

Santa came and visited the kids and Jack and Addie had a long list of Christmas wishes to give him.

I wanted to get a picture of both girls in the Christmas wagon but Lorelei wasn't in the posing mood but I think this picture is much better this way!



Then it was Christmas Eve!!! We get up and head next door to my Dad's for breakfast with the family.

Everyone crowds the kitchen and gets to chopping, dicing, mixing, eating, drinking, talking and laughing. It really is as picture perfect as it seems.

Then we take the yearly family picture. I look a little odd but don't judge...I had to run from clear across the room and strike a pose before the camera snapped, then run back, check the picture for closed eyes, reset the camera and do it all over again. I think this picture was actually take three or four so give me a break.

This is typical. I'm in all the video and Levi is in all the still pictures.

After unwrapping all the gifts Jack seemed to have the most fun with Addie's magnetic dress up dolls. Levi wasn't too thrilled with his new interest but I thought it was cute.

Addie Grace posed like the little diva she is but was a little confused over the strange dog toy she used as a phone.



Christmas Eve night is our little family's special time together. We make reindeer snacks, read the Christmas story, watch a Christmas movie, and the kids open the gifts they each bought for the other.

Jack bought Addie a set of dress up play accessories including dangle earrings. I just LOVE this picture! Have you ever seen anything more adorable than Daddy putting giant pink sparkly earrings on his daughter while holding the pink heart mirror? My heart melts a little every time I look at it.

Our glamor girl.

Jack also bought Addie her first Barbie and Ken and pink Jeep. She loved pushing the Jeep around more than playing with the barbies which thrilled Levi.


Then it was CHRISTMAS DAY!!!!! And you can tell from my sweet babies faces and puffy eyes that it was very early when we had to get our day started in order to fit in our very full schedule.

Addie was the most excited about getting pink socks! Poor baby. I've been dressing her in her brother's old socks (featured in the picture) and every time she would ask for pink socks I would tell her to ask Santa. She was so happy Santa came through!!!! But I will say that a couple of days ago she did ask to wear her brother's socks again. She thinks there is something special about wearing his stuff. Kind of cute...as long as it isn't in public. =)

Santa also brought Addie her first stick of mascarra! Don't freak out, it's clear. She is always getting into mine regardless of where I put it so I thought she should have her own and this way when she drops it on the carpet it won't leave a huge black stain.

I didn't get many pictures of Jack because he tore through his Santa gifts as fast as he could, found his DS game and parked it on the chair and didn't move.

Santa gave each kid a candy necklace and Addie LOVED hers! She wouldn't take it out of her mouth! Just see for yourself...

We got dressed and headed to breakfast with the Popes which is a lot of fun because there are a lot of little Popes running around creating quite a bit chaos.

Addie posed in her Madonna headband.

Every year I always manage to get the sweetest picture of Jack and Haley. These two have a bond that amazes me. They love to be with eachother and they just absolutely cherish the other.

These are the bigs of the little Popes. Haley looks beautiful as always. Rylan looks as handsome as ever and Jack...well, he's ummmmm cheesing really hard.

These are our kiddos until my little nephew Ethan gets here. Then there will be one more to the mix. Can't wait!!! (Now Jack looks more swauve and debonair.)

Next we rush to my Mimi's for the best lunch ever. I pretty much forgot about my picture the entire time until before we left and I had my brother snap a quick family pic.

Then we run home to drop off the loads of gifts and get ready to head to Miece and Pops for another Pope Christmas.

We always enjoy this sweet little end to our Christmas day, especially the daddies...

So yes, I had a great Christmas. I hope you did too. I'll try to keep my camera battery charged so I can keep you all updated on this awesome 2011 year!