First Christmas

We are in the midst of our first Christmas. We've had our morning breakfast and bottle and opened some presents. The babies are all napping right now (an amazing thing - and WHY AM I NOT SLEEPING?!?!?!). They went down at different times, so I'm sort of expecting Clark to wake up at any time.

Santa came to visit the babies around lunchtime! What a treat - and a surprise (for Mommy and Daddy also). We got pics with Santa and the kids seemed to be just fine with their funny bearded visitor. Thanks Santa for taking the time out of your busy Christmas to stop by to see us!

We decided to put away their "old" toys (for now) to allow room for the new ones that have been arriving. Mrs. W came by with some really fun "Little People" toys that they really enjoyed. Of course, they were having fun with the wrapping paper, boxes and tissue paper too. Unfortunately, since everything ends up in the mouth, all of that fun was short-lived, but it was fun watching them really get excited about playing with tissue paper. Aunt Marsha and cousins David and Marshall were here the other day and dropped off a few gifts. The clothes are adorable! Aunt Karen and Uncle Tom, Nana and Tommy and Stephanie were also here delivering gifts. We haven't even begun to play with everything, but it will be a fun afternoon and weekend while we discover all of the new things we have. We will have a visit with Grandpa and Uncle Stevie and Uncle Albert in a few hours also. Hopefully, we can squeeze in a walk in the choo choo wagon because it's almost 60 degrees outside and beautiful!

Kendall has been sick with a stomach bug, so I just haven't been able to get anything posted here lately. I've been trying to keep the others from getting it, which required a lot of scrubbing and washing of toys. She is finally back to "normal" for the most part. It was so sad to see her out-of-sorts like she was. I kept commenting on how she was a totally different child, so we are glad she's feeling more like herself. She is still busy talking and standing up and crawling. She's lost a little weight, but I'm sure we'll get her caught back up soon.

Emma has really had a personality change in the last few weeks. She is just such a blast to play with and so interactive. But she is also able to take time to herself to look at books or play with toys. Her hair is getting much thicker and she is still working on more teeth. She is standing up and much more daring about moving around the baby super-zone. She's able to get back down (something Kendall doesn't do often) and go about her business without waiting for help. She loves to clap and still seems to really love music.

Clark is getting bigger everyday. He is crawling and trying to stand up more (with the help of the play zone walls). He loves to play with the toys - especially those that make noise. Another favorite trick is to throw everything down. It's loud and destructive and he seems to get a kick out of that. He is a little harder to handle at night as he seems to be waking up more and being pretty upset, but we haven't really figured out the problem there yet. He is also chatting more but we are still working on a "mama" or "dada".

We hope you all are enjoying your Christmas and we wish you many blessings in 2009!