We hope your Christmas was as beautiful and blessed as ours was this year! The holiday season sure has become much more magical with our two girls!

This was our Christmas card and I got a lot of flack for not including our first baby, Truman. I just want to clarify that he IS in this picture! If you look right under my arm you can see his little chocolate head. That was as good as we could get with two small children and a dog to work around!

We had to move things around this year due to play areas and a toddler who was pretty taken with a certain Christmas tree with precious breakable ornaments that her parents collected over the years. We put the tree up in the dining room and then roped it off with a little baby cage. We also added some lighted porch trees this year - it turned out pretty nicely if I do say so myself.

We spent our Christmas in Texas this year with my parents and sister, Allison and her family. First stop was a visit to Santa Claus - he just so happened to be visiting a mall nearby! Evelyn was pretty excited to see the big guy and didn't mind waiting in line for 30 minutes.

Her happy, care-free attitude soon shifted to sheer terror when she actually had to sit in Santa's lap. Little Aurelia, on the other hand, didn't mind one bit. I thought it was pretty neat that Santa traded in his snow boots for some cowboy boots while he stopped in Texas - probably cooler on his feet.

After the photo shoot we wandered around the mall for a bit to stretch our legs. Look at my cute little family.

After Christmas Eve mass we all headed back up to my parents house for a slumber party. The Martin kids got a letter from Santa telling them he knew they would be up at Poppa and Gram's house and not to forget their stockings! That Santa...he knows everything!

We attempted to take a few pictures to capture all the kids in their Christmas outfits and this is what we got:

Not too bad considering how hard it is to motivate 5 kids to smile at the same time!

The next morning to woke up to this adorable little Christmas baby.

I found Poppa feeding Kara and Evelyn some Christmas raspberries for breakfast!

All my loves Christmas morning.

Me and my girls.

Allison and her lover, Bill.

Poppa, Gram and little Aurelia.

Both Kara and Evelyn got shopping carts from Santa! The LOVED them!

Enjoying some Christmas breakfast casserole and monkey bread!

All dressed up and no place to go...Evelyn borrowed some of her cousin's new Princess shoes - they certainly were a hit!

Mom pulled the breakfast casserole out of the oven and it had bubbled up to resemble something very familiar looking...

Mommy's pretty little present.

After all the monkey bread, casserole and other tasty treats the girls were in need of a bath so we threw them both into Gram's tub...

...with BUBBLES!

They were so cute Gram had to take a few pictures with her new iPhone and then email them out..all while feeding Aurelia her bottle. What determination!

Can you blame her? I mean really - look at this cuteness!

Allison and I decided to tackle a puzzle Christmas day while the little ones slept and my mom slaved over our Christmas feast - thanks again Mom!

Aurelia was pretty impressed with how quickly we finished! What a happy little baby.

Evelyn LOVES the camera. All you have to do is ask her to smile and this is what you get:

My good friend Molly, who I have known since Jr. High, spent Christmas with her boyfriend, Kris, and his family in Texas and we were able to see her twice! We spent a great night battling it out Wii-style at Kris' folks' place while my parents watched ALL 5 grandkids so Allison, Bill, Jason and I could have an adult night out. It was awesome! Then Molly, Kris and his family all came over to my parents' house to see the girls.

Molly just loves the girls and I have to say...she has great taste! Evelyn had grown so much since the last time Molly saw her and this was the first time she met little Aurelia.

Molly also has great taste in men! Kris is a great guy who loves my friend - and as you can see...he's not too bad to look at either! Way to go Molly! :)

After our guests left Evelyn dug into some pretzel crisps...yummy.

We had a few more slumber parties with the Martin cousins before we headed home - Evelyn and Kara were too cute together. I snapped this picture during one of our dance parties! Those girls sure do love to dance!

Once we got home Evelyn found the present Santa left her - a new chair just her size! This and Wiggles on the TV are a definite winning combination!

Last night Evelyn started to run a fever and just wanted to be held. Daddy put on Jungle Book and sat down to watch it with the girls and next thing we knew they were both out - precious little babies.

And surprise of all surprises! Guess what we woke up to this morning! Our own little winter wonderland!

Not exactly the snow we remember back home in Alaska - but exciting nonetheless!


We are now deep into project "Bedroom Switcheroo!" We're moving the guest room up into the office, Evelyn into the back bedroom and then Aurelia into the nursery! This is quite the undertaking but I'm documenting the whole process with pictures and will post the big reveal once it's finished...but it might be awhile so don't hold your breath!

Chat at ya'll soon!