Kevin and Alison

Let's call these first couple "What? My mom has a camera? Where? I don't see a camera!" ~~~ This is an out-take for obvious reasons :) ~~~ And, quite possibly the worst and most funny of the Christmas season:

Joy to the World ! the Lord has come: let Earth receive her King ! Let every heart prepare Him room and heaven and nature sing He rules the earth with truth and grace, and makes the nations prove the glories of his righteousness and wonders of his love Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

This post is a 'shout-out' to my friend Christine. Here she is next to me (in the tan sweater) at a friend's wedding in 2007 - I thought it would be fun to post an old picture.....actually, this is one of the latest pictures I have of her and me! I have seen her since 2007 :) She came to meet Chloe...but I didn't take any pictures of her with me.... Anyway, this post is about how Christmas arrives at our house every year in a box that's from Christine & her husband....It's with great joy that I open the packaging to see what baked goods have come. and this year? It's our family in gingerbread form .....could it get any better? oh, it just did..... and don't ask whether any of this is still around, or if I ate it all. :) Thank you Christine & Justin for bringing Christmas to our house :) Maybe we can get together for a 2012 photo :)

Like most malls around America, our local mall has a train ride set-up next to the "visit with Santa" display. Chloe was watching the train very closely and I asked, "Would you like to ride the train?" Her answer "Yes." I almost cried while she went around because she seemed so BIG to me - no crying, not worried about where she was going. SO HAPPY to be riding the train. So we took her back the next day :) This time, Daddy and the camera came along. And if the look on her face doesn't say 'pure happiness', I don't know what does!

Kevin went on the hunt for the perfect tree on his own this year ~ and was back to our house in less than 15 minutes :) He did an excellent job finding a great tree....so maybe it could become a tradition! :) The lights are up! (and Chloe is a blur, like normal, always moving) I took some pictures of a few ornaments on our tree- here are a couple of my favorites. These are all my ornaments from when I was younger. Our completed tree! I love sitting with only the tree lights on after the girls go to bed - so peaceful and quiet :)

Just a few recent favorites of my two favorite girls: April the cheeks are taking over all smiles for Daddy after bathtime can't get much sweeter! there is a tooth in there! :) Chloe we asked her to pose :) actually smiling and looking at the camera! talking on the phone with Daddy at lunchtime she really wanted to wear this hat the other day! i think she's a cutie :)

Can't wait for their whole outfits to be 'revealed'....but here's a sneak peak of some pretty cute little red shoes!

Chloe calls this "buy", but it's a game where she sets up a store on my sewing chair and then brings her cart in to 'buy' everything. I think her favorite part it putting it all in the plastic bag :) This game is played with a variety of items.....I'm not sure if this is a grocery store, a shoe store, or a home-goods place :) Can't forget the alphabet letters! :)

It's hard to take pictures during holidays....but I have a few that will help show what we did for Thanksgiving this year: Thanksgiving Football (thanks to Bill for planning!) in which I won an award for being Most Enthusiastic. Thinking back to my college flag-football days when I was once called for unnecessary roughness, I think I'm moving in a good direction ;) April's first Thanksgiving! I packed green-beans, squash, and pears for her to eat....which isn't quite the same as green-bean casserole, sweet potatoes, and apple pie but I don't think she minded! The day after Thanksgiving we headed to my mom's house. My sister, mom, and I made candy (with some help from Chloe) and the guys practiced shooting clay-pigeons. They were gone for a really long time and we had 3 adults vs. 3 kids (two and under!) at home, but we somehow managed to have our most successful year of candy-making without them ;) Chloe couldn't keep out of the powdered sugar. She was ...