Rewind to Christmas Eve

I wanted to rewind a little and post about Christmas Eve.  Remember that this is our "online scrapbook", so I need to use this opportunity to remind myself about the little things of our holiday weekend.

Auntie Karen and Uncle Tom were here for Christmas Eve.  We had "appetizer night" and the kids opened gifts from them and had a little time to play.  Unfortunately, there was a little incident regarding cups that resulted in multiple-meltdown, but all in all, it was still a good time.

The kids were excited about their new pretend food (Melissa & Doug Food Groups and the Melissa & Doug Wooden Sandwich-Making Set) which they love.  We have enjoyed hearing them "making lunch" for each other, feeding their baby dolls, etc.  They also gave the girls the Melissa & Doug Abby & Emma Deluxe Magnetic Dress-Up (and we gave Clark Melissa & Doug Joey Magnetic Dress-Up later so that he has his own version).  Kendall had to try on her new dress (see photo below) but we convinced her to leave the warmer clothes underneath.  Oh, and they also got new Dwink juice box holders (see photos of Clark and Kendall trying them out).

Emma practicing her signing earlier in the day looking all cute and Christmas-y.

Clark playing a little Christmas tune on the piano while we began opening gifts.

"He knows if you've been bad or good....."

Daddy was trying to get the kids to pose with Mommy and Kendall jumped in front with baby doll and told baby to "say cheese". 

Just before putting them down for bed, we did prepare a snack for Santa and his reindeer (see pictures yesterday) and that was the first thing Emma asked about on Christmas morning.  It's funny that reindeer teeth can cut straight lines in their carrots. **wink-wink**  But Santa seemed to enjoy the milk and cookies.

That's all for Christmas eve.  I will do some more catch-up in the next day or two to cover Christmas day and today (SNOW!!!).

Happy Clean Sheet Sunday!

Merry Christmas to You and Yours!

Preparing a snack plate for Santa and his reindeer.

The snack plate that we made to help Santa and his reindeer get all of their work done on Christmas Eve.

I decided to go ahead and throw a few pictures up (from last night) and wish everyone a Merry Christmas.  I will have many more pictures and stories to share about our Christmas, but plan to take the rest of the day to  enjoy with the family.
We wish you many blessings on this wonderful Christmas day!  If you can, try to live it from a child's point of view - with all of the wonder, excitement and fun that a day can bring!

Anxious and Grateful- A Daddy Post

I don't have to remind anyone what day it is today. I am so excited for what is unfolding to be the best Christmas ever. Before Kim and I were even expecting our kids, we had conversations about how amazing it would be to see the look of wonder and joy on the faces of our children on Christmas morning. There are few things better than seeing your kids experience pure joy.  To see it just makes your heart soar to places you thought it could never reach. I am hoping for a great day tomorrow with visions of my little sugar plums being kind and sharing and loving. I even asked Santa for a day of good little listeners and super good eaters. If I wind up getting the opposite, it's okay. I know that I still have something that was dreamed and prayed about for a long time by Kim and I. We have a family that will continue to make wonderful memories every day, for the rest of our lives. When talking about my children with my Dad he often says "Son, it only gets better.". I totally believe him.

The pics for today truly reflect my mood. Merry Christmas everyone and God Bless.-Daddy

Fun, Fun, Fun!

Mommy is a little tired tonight so I, Daddy, bring you our daily blog post this evening. I made it home tonight after work in time for baths and snack. We have been doing a new step in the baths now that seems to make for some neater hair for the girls but might also be helping with colds. Using a hair dryer. I remember growing up and there being an emphasis from my mom on not having wet hair in the winter. She always said it was the way to catch a cold. The kids have been (knock,knock) pretty healthy for the season so far. We have also been giving them fruity, chewy vitamins in the mornings also. I think with the hair dryer/fruity vitamin chews combo and being pretty careful about where we spend our time away from home, we might be able to keep the winter colds to a minimum. Believe me, I know kids are gonna get sick. I would be fooling myself if I thought otherwise. Our effort is too keep them from staying sick all winter. Here's some pics from today. And remember, he's made his list and he's checking it twice.

Where's Clarky?

Here I am!

Wordless Wednesday: Amidst the Christmas Craziness

Aunt Marsha's Christmas Haul

The boys came over and had pizza with the kids for dinner.  Aunt Marsha and Poo Pa were busy making Hawaiian sweet bread (yyyuuummmmmyyyyyy!!!!) at his house and she came over later bearing gifts.  The kids still really don't know too much about the gift-receiving concept, but they were excited that they each had a gift bag and some other goodies to unwrap. 
The girls each got their own Groovy Girl - Fayla Fairy is Kendall's and MacKenna Mermaid is Emma's.  Each doll also has another wardrobe option.  I know that Aunt Marsha had just a little fun on this one since she hasn't been able to buy dolls for her two boys. ; )  Boys are all fun and cuteness, but you can't get them mani's and pedi's and you don't usually buy them dolls, so she's been pretty excited about the girlie opportunities.
Meanwhile, Clark was busy opening his cool Thomas the Tank Engine Deluxe Water Tower.  Of course, the girls were as interested in this new toy as he was and all three had to get in on the action! 
The Nashville relatives also gave the kids some cute Christmas puzzles, stickers, crayons and drawing pads.  Clark's art pad actually is a spiral-bound book that has a cover picture drawn by Marshall.  It is super-cute. 
They had a lot of fun playing and goofing off with their cousins and Aunt Marsha tonight before bathtime.  We are so glad that they had time to visit us in Knoxville for a few days this week!