All Together Now

Granmommy and Grandaddy (the Lawrence grandparents) got all the girls matching dresses for Christmas so they wore them to church today. We actually got a photo of all the girls in matching clothes at least looking in the direction of the camera and somewhat grinning. Not bad for four girls under the age of five.

The Lawrence Cousins

Kevin's family is all here staying with us this week. The girls are finally getting to spend some time with their cousin Jade and meet Baby Lilly for the first time. They are having a blast with a house full of little girls to play with. This was the best of many attempts to get the four Lawrence grandchildren in a photo.

This is the girls getting to meet Lilly for the first time last night.

This is a scary thought, Londyn driving Jade around in the princess car.

The girls posing with some of their toys on the porch. The day after Christmas the weather was a ridiculous 75 degrees, so the girls got to spend some time playing outside.

Santa Was Here

I didn't actually mean for this picture of me to be first, but for some reason, they are uploading in reverse order. I was too lazy to delete them all and redo it. This picture of me is for Kevin. He was really worried that he wasn't going to get credit for this "gift". I was supposed to get the iphone for my birthday, and it's a long story, but that didn't work out. Anyway, I did get it for Christmas, and I am very appreciative! THANK YOU KEVIN! (You will receive full credit for this gift.) One of Skylar's favorite gifts was this cupcake machine. If you ask me, it's quite worthless, but it made her happy and that's all that matters.

This is Londyn with her alarm clock so she will always be on time.

Skylar opened her gifts fairly slow, admiring each one. She stopped after each gift and posed for a photo and made sure it was on video. Londyn on the other hand, ripped through each of her presents barely even looking at them, wondering why she didn't have very many. They were both ecstatic about their gifts this year and the idea of Santa Claus. They were able to spend the rest of the day at home playing with each other and enjoying all of their new toys. Most of Kevin's family arrived later that evening, and his brother, wife and baby will be here tonight. We'll have a house full for a few days, but we're glad everyone is able to be together to enjoy the holidays.

Skylar who usuallly sleeps in came to my room at 4:24AM making us aware that Santa had come and she was ready to open presents. We of course made her go back to bed and wait for a few more hours. I have to say she is EXACTLY like me. I was always up early at some ridiculous hour on Christmas unable to wait for everyone else to get up before opening presents.

Christmas Eve Will Find You

You may be wondering how many photos one family can take posing in front of their Christmas tree. It's probably getting a little old. However, it's Christmas Eve, and we are here celebrating alone, so what else is a little family of four to do other than photograph themselves in front of the tree? We had our first round of Christmas last weekend with my family, but came home yesterday so we can be here for Santa's visit. Kevin's family will also be arriving tomorrow to celebrate with us over the next week or so. We had pizza for dinner, and then the girls got to open a present from us, and a present from each other. They are beyond excited about presents this year. We ended the evening by drinking hot chocolate and watching Miracle on 34th Street which happens to be one of my favorite Christmas movies. Fortunately, that was the gift the girls received from us tonight. Our goofy attempt at a family photo.

As the girls picked out presents for each other, they of course selected something they wanted for themselves. They were just couldn't wait to get home, wrap each others present, and exchange gifts with each other. They also couldn't wait to get their hands on the gift they gave. They did a nice job of sharing, but it was pretty comical how they wanted to give, but really wanted what they gave. (I'm not sure this paragraph makes a lot of sense, but I'm sure you get the idea.)

Well it's off to bed, Santa is on his way!

Sunday Morning

As I'm sure most of your kids did as well, the girls wore their Christmas dresses to church Sunday morning. We, of course, had to take a few snapshots. It was a little difficult, because when we go to my mom's house the girls usually stay up too late and get to sleep in. They stayed up late Saturday night, but there was no sleeping in on Sunday. I literally dressed Skylar in bed and carried her to the tree for the photos. Mom and two of her grandgirls.

Mom and dad with all the grandgirls.

You can't really tell much about the dresses in the photos, but they are ivory sweater dresses with a fur collar and a few gold sequins in the front. Their favorite part of the outfit was their gold glittery shoes they got to wear with them. Thanks Grandma Del for the dresses. I just realized you didn't even get to see them wear them.

Have a wonderful Christmas Eve!

It's Almost Here...

And almost gone. I always have a hard time believing that Christmas is already here. I mean we build up so much anticipation, and then one day it's Christmas and it has all come to an end for that year. With that being said, there is officially one day until Christmas, and at this point, 12:46 AM on Dec. 24th I guess, I am ready (for the most part). I finished my last bit of shopping at about midnight tonight. I refuse to shop tomorrow. I however did not buy any food for holiday meals because at both Target and Wal-Mart they were out of the first three items I attempted, so I just gave up. I really wish someone would have told me there may not be food available two days before Christmas. For some reason, my common sense just didn't kick in on this one. I expected the popular toys of the season to be missing from the shelves, but the no food thing was a real shocker. No crescent rolls, no cream cheese, no marshmallows. I'll send Kevin tomorrow to all the other stores in the area. He is much more patient than I. One of the reasons I wait to shop for gifts until the last minute is that I'm horrible about keeping gifts a secret. I get so excited about the gifts, I can hardly wait to give them. I am so excited for Christmas morning. I can't wait to see the girls faces light up when they see the presents under the tree. I would almost say the excitement is equal to when I was a kid and a receiver of the Santa presents. If you knew me when I was a kid, you know that's pretty excited. I believed in Santa until I was like 15! The girls really didn't have any major requests this year. They just kept saying "Santa knows what we want." He'll just surprise us. They're pretty easy to please at this point in their lives, so that makes shopping for them that much more fun. The only consistent request I got was that of a "real" hippopatamus from Londyn. I used to think that song was cute, never thinking it would encourage my child to actually expect one for Christmas.

Family Photos

A while back, I came across a girl I went to school with on facebook and noticed some of her photographs. I was very impressed with her work. I emailed to ask her about her pricing, and she said she didn't charge, that she was trying to build her portfolio. What great news! I asked her if she would be interested in taking a big family picture while we would all be at home celebrating Christmas. She took off work to take the photos for us, and did a great job! I can't thank her enough. She was so nice, and had some great ideas. I am always looking for great photographers, so I was very excited that she was available, and I plan to have her take more in the future. When I started thinking about it, I realized I hadn't seen her for about 13 years or so. She was two years ahead of me in school, and I don't think I had seen her since she graduated. It was great to visit with her again, it's amazing how in some ways 13 years seems so long ago, but in some ways it's like yesterday. Anyway, here are a few of my favorites from the session. (If you are on facebook, I know you've probably already seen these. Sorry for the repeat.)

"You'll Shoot Your Eye Out, Kid."

As our Christmas gift exchange came to an end, and we were photographing everyone with their prized gift (yes,I know that's dorky.), we noticed a bit of a resemblence here. Do you see it?

Fa La La La La...........

Yesterday we celebrated our first of several Christmases. I once again apologize for the excessive pictures. I love them, take millions, and struggle to narrow them down. Anyway, we celebrated with my immediate family as well as with the Holt side of the family. It was a very exciting evening full of fun and laughter............. for most of us. This is the Christmas Cardinal that provided some entertainment for the evening. We were all sitting around playing games, and this bird flew in the back door as someone opened it. It headed straight for the garland on the mantel. We were all up chasing it around, as if we had a plan in place for this sort of situation. It ended up in the Christmas tree. Kevin and Talon were chasing it around with boxes. I'm not sure what their game plan was, but they we putting forth their best effort. My dad ended up grabbing it out of the tree and releasing it back outside. What a lovely surprise. Beautiful and entertaining, what more could one expect from a holiday gathering?

A little Chinese checkers.

An intense game of boggle. There were a few heated moments, but I think we were all getting along by the time the evening had ended.

This is my cousin Heather and her fiance Talon that shared Christmas with us this year. Congratulations on the engagement by the way!

We of course couldn't leave out this little doll. I'm sure Anastyn didn't know much about what was going on, but she still appeared to be having a great time. She got to eat paper and experiment with new bows in her hair.

Alexis and the girls cuddling before the gift opening ceremony.

All of us girls in our aprons made by my mother of course. I am so thrilled to finally have one of my own!

While my girls were staying with my parents after Thanksgiving, they apparently spent a great deal of time playing office, computing, and talking on the phone. Most of which involved them stealing my mom's glasses. So, one of the gifts my mom got this year was a box that included a calculator, glasses, and a few other things that I can't remember right now. It was a big hit. They both love their "glasses". Skylar is especially proud that she looks so much older.

That's the end for now with much more to come. I just can't say enough about how much fun I have and how great it is to be together with our family. I usually laugh until I cry, reminisce about old times, play games, get upset about something, but ALWAYS have a great time. There is just such a wonderful, peaceful feeling when we are all together just hanging out and it gets better every year as there are more kids to enjoy and an added family member or two. Once again, I hope you and yours are or will be enjoying your Christmas celebrations with your families. I just love this time of year!

My Little Stars

My little stars, quite literally, Londyn anyway. Tuesday afternoon despite the icy conditions, the girls had their school play. It was quite short, but there's just something about watching your kids perform, however small the part, that just warms your heart. I get teary eyed at nearly any perfomance involving kids, even if they aren't my own. It's sort of pathetic really. It's just one of those things that makes me genuinely happy. Londyn was a star and sang some carols. (She hates the star head thing, it is apparently pretty uncomfortable, but isn't she an adorable little star?)

Skylar played the part of Mary in the actual play. She took her role very seriously. She always wanted to make sure she was at practice and she talked about it frequently. It's funny to me that she likes being on stage because she is extremely shy, but she LOVES it. The interesting thing is that she was very concerned about practice and getting it all right, but she didn't even have any lines, she just had to know where and when to go on the stage. She made a wonderful Mary if I may say so. She was very proud of herself and very anxious for us to see her perform.

And, of course, the mommy and girls pic after the performance. Londyn is obviously a little distracted by something.

What Did We Do Before the Internet?

Ok, so Kevin decided to "upgrade" our phone, tv and computer services for a better deal which resulted in no internet for three days, and still no phone service. Great upgrade! Anyway, this really shouldn't be that big of a deal, but I was home all day due to ice and couldn't do anything on the computer. I was beside myself. It's ridiculous that I was in such a tizzy, but I just couldn't stand it. I needed to blog about the play the girls were in, compulsively check facebook, and my email. Not that there is ever anything life altering on there, but you know what I mean, you know you do it too:) But, thankfully the internet is currently working. No wireless, but at least I can connect. Therefore, I will now blog about the play......

Kids Say.......

Yes, this is my fourth post today. How pathetic. I can stay up late tonight because I'm off AGAIN tomorrow! What else is there to do? Perhaps I should prepare for bunco that I'm hosting at my house tomorrow night. No, blogging is a much better option, right? Anyway, I just wanted to post a few things that Skylar has said and done lately that have cracked me up, and I didn't want to forget them.

"When I sing it's like a piano in my mouth."- I gathered by a few questions that this means she thinks she can sing well, hmmm. I hope that works out for her.

The other night she was adamant about quitting dance. She didn't want to have anything to do with it. I was ready to pull her out to avoid the recital fees and several months tuition if she really didn't want to do it. After several attempts at discovering the reason, I found that she wanted to quit because she is not allowed to wear panties in the recital in MAY! This has apparently been bothering her for like 2 years, and I guess she just couldn't take it anymore. I assured her if that was the real problem that she could wear panties to the next recital. Problem solved. Now, she loves it and wants to be in the Nutcracker. Go figure.

She currently refuses to take her backpack to school because it is a small backpack, and she doesn't like me to fold the papers to make them fit. No papers are allowed to be folded. Mind you, we're talking about a daily sheet that tells what she ate and if she slept. I try to keep her "masterpieces" of art in mint condition.

I was driving through McD's today to get my daily dose of Diet Dr. Pepper, and Skylar asks me why I don't ever like to drink anything healthy. I assured her that I do, and she got quite firm in saying that I ALWAYS drink soda and soda is unhealthy. I had nothing. She was completely accurate in her accusation. I've never smoked, never drank, but my daughter is after me about my soda addiction. I don't stand a chance.

Cookies, Cocoa, and Christmas Stories

I had today off due to ice, but the girls went to school anyway. They have a play tomorrow, and Skylar felt she needed to be there to practice. However, I did pick them up early and make them some hot cocoa and let them eat some cookies. I love making homeade hot chocolate at this time of year. Add a little whipped topping, and I can't think of anything better. I also enjoyed the girls reading me their versions of a couple of our Christmas books before bed. We have quite the selection of Christmas books, so we try to read some every evening between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Tonight was slightly different in that they wanted to read the story, and I was just to listen. My sister buys them a Christmas book every year, and I know it is something they will always treasure as one day they can read the same stories to their kids. Christmas stories never grow old.

Not So Small Group

We got together last night with our small group at church that has actually grown into quite a large group. Rather than meeting at someone's house, we decided to go ice skating and then out for pizza. It didn't quite work out as planned, but it worked out. The skating rink was closed due to warm weather and high winds. Of course, by the time we left the pizza place, it was about 20 degrees. Anyway, there are about 14 kids in the group, and they can get pretty wild when they all get together, but thankfully we had the back room of Joe Momma's Pizza, so it didn't really seem to bother anyone. All of the kids are relatively close in age, so they all get along well. It's been so nice to have a small group to get together with and to know that you have a support group and that the kids will grow up around a lot of christian friends. The kids

The girls

The guys-none of which are interested in a guy picture

We love all of you, and are thankful that you are in our lives and the lives of our kiddos.

Elf Yourself

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

All Things Christmas

This is the one and only weekend since before Thanksgiving that we will be home before Christmas, so we are trying to squeeze everything Christmasy into two days. (For some reason now when I load my photos, they upload opposite from how I wanted them to, but I'm sure you can figure them out.) We started this morning with a visit to Santa. The girls were not exactly thrilled. They were pretty shy, and didn't tell him a thing they wanted. They are going with the theory that Santa already knows and will take care of it. I guess that's not so bad considering Santa is done shopping. At least there were no surprise gifts that he wasn't able to get. We then went to The Children's Nutcracker. One of my students was performing, and I thought the girls would enjoy it. They did, and now want to be in the Nutcracker. They don't understand that they can't even try until next Christmas. And we closed our busy day with my absolute favorite Christmas activity, cookie baking. We get dress up in our Christmas aprons, blast the Christmas music and roll out the sugar cookies. This has turned into a tradition, and every year is so much fun. The girls dance a little, Skylar gets very serious about her cookies, and Londyn just tries to sneak a piece of dough every chance she gets. Every year, these are some of my favorite pictures. I hope you are all enjoying this holiday season!

The Cookie Baking

The Nutcracker

Me and Skylar excitedly waiting for the show to start.

This is the best I could get at the Nutcracker since you can't take photos during the performance.

Around the House

These girls LOVE their daddy, and as we were watching some old home videos, I was once again reminded of what a great dad he is.

This mommy LOVES these girls!

A Visit to Santa

The not so excited Santa photo.