Christmas in Pictures

The kiddos opening their first Christmas present a few days early, from the Tiltons

. 

Auntie Carrie helping Kaylie open her present (they were pillow pets, so fun!)

. 

Opening their Christmas Eve presents. . .

 .

Me and my girl (please excuse the laundry in the background)

 .

Their very own Disney Bedtime Storybooks :)

 .

Christmas morning - Matthew got Toothless the Dragon (from How to Train Your Dragon) - he named him Fanciful though (after a story Grandpa tells to him)

 .

Christmas Morning

 .

Hello Kitty!

 .

Opening fun :)

 .

"Look what I got!" 

 .

Christmas w/ Josh's Family

 .

Kaylie & Uncle David

 .

Re-Christmas w/ Chrissie's Family - Uncle Greg & Auntie Kristen were in town!

 .

Our little Christmas Fam (Kaylie got a bit warm in her Christmas PJs)

 .

The day after playing with one of her new toys, "baking" cookies :)

.

Happy Birthday Jesus!

Hotel Del and a Christmas Lamb!

Ok, so the holiday season is getting to me - in a good way, not a bad way, but that means I haven't set time aside to post to the blog, and almost a whole week has gone by! So here we go - highlights from this week. 

Wednesday the kiddos and I went with my parents and grandma down to the Hotel Del in Coronado. The kids had never been down there and it has been several years for me - it is always decorated so beautifully, and they have a giant gorgeous tree in the lobby. There is ice skating down there too, but unfortunately it was shut down the day we visited as they were setting it up for some TV special or something. That would have been fun to see, but oh well. The kids LOVED the Dr. Seuss statues that were "visiting" the Del. 

.

Posing with the Cat in the Hat

 .

Green Eggs and Ham - Matthew's fave book to "read" to us right now :)

.

Love this pic of Gigi with the kiddos. 

 .

4 Generations :)

 .

Love their Christmas tree - wonder how long it takes to decorate?! 

And I love how Kaylie is running out of the pic - she would not stand still!

.

Kaylie & "Bam-pah" 

That brings us to today, Matthew's first Christmas "play".  It was fun watching all the little preschoolers in their little costumes singing a song together, hand motions, costumes - it was cute. One of the kids who played a shepherd used his shepherd stick as a machine gun and shot at the audience for most of the performance, ha. Matthew just sat and stared mostly, but he was still so cute :)

.

Our little lamb

.

So proud!

Christmas on Knob Hill

There is an amazingly lit up house in San Marcos on Knob Hill - we've made it there every year since Matthew was born, it's become a tradition of ours. And the past few years we've been there when Santa was there! This year Matthew was excited to see Santa. He sat on his lap and told him he wanted a dragon and a car - a big car, not a toy car, lol :) If you haven't seen it yet, go check it out :)

.

Family Santa Pic

.

So happy to see Santa (well, Matthew was anyway, ha)

.

Part of the yard all lit up and animated.

.

We went with Heather, Jake & Drew - so fun :)

.

Heather & The Boys!

Queen Califia's Magical Circle

Imagination :)

 I love watching Kaylie play.  I love sneaking up and standing just out of her view while she's chatting away to her dolls or stuffed animals. It's so cute :) Once today I walked up to Matthew's door as she was on his bed reading books to herself (with the same inflections Matthew uses to read those same books) - she was very animated. Then I caught her with a little video in her crib playing (she likes to get in there and play every once in awhile). Here are a couple little videos of cuteness :)
.

.

Just a few Christmas-y pics :)

They love the snowman at Grandma & Grandpa's house :)

.

.

Trimming the tree :)

.

Oh Christmas Tree

This year we took the kids out with us to pick a Christmas tree (we've always arranged to do it on our own in the past) - what fun! First we went to a big Christmas tree lot, the traditional kind, with lights and rows upon rows of trees. It was pretty cold out, but still fun. Matthew and Kaylie loved running up and down the rows of trees (Matthew even found a few girls to run around with). We didn't end up getting a tree there (a little pricey for us) so we packed the kids up and headed to Home Depot. By the time we got there it was too dark to really see anything, so we packed them up again and called it a night. The next day we went to a nursery with a nice selection and chose a beautiful 5-6ft Noble Fir. So three tree lots later we got our tree 0 It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas :)

.

The lit (but yet to be decorated) Christmas tree. 

.

Searching for a tree. . .

.

Having fun :)

The best of today. . .

A few things.

First off, we sat down to dinner, got ready to eat and I asked who wanted to pray tonight.  As soon as we're holding hands Kaylie bows her head, closes her eyes, speaks a bit of gibberish, then looks up smiling ear to ear and drops hands. I was speechless, I smiled ear to ear too, my precious little girl is already praying over her food at 21 months old! We just in the past year really got Matthew to be involved in the dinner prayer, so I love seeing Kaylie catch on so early. Not sure if I heard her say Amen tonight, that is usually the part she repeats, but regardless it blessed my heart :)

Second, also at the dinner table, we start singing Jingle Bells - Matthew cuts me off and says something along the lines of "listen to me sing it" - "Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle all the way - Oh Miss Fun and Mr. Ride on a one horse open sleigh" :) How cool, Miss Fun and Mr. Ride get to go on a one horse open sleigh! I love hearing what little ears hear :)

I love my kids. They brighten my world :)

Let it snow!

Precious Moments

First of all, I LOVE walking in to this :)

.

Just another fun November day in Sunny So Cal :)

.

Rock Climbing Stud

.

Kaylie decoration our Charlie Brown Christmas Tree

.

What  can I say, I think she's just so stinkin' adorable :)

.

And a cute video to boot :)

Ice Cream

One of Matthew's new favorite foods is tomato soup - random, but he really loves it. So tonight, after 3 good helpings of tomato soup, he was rewarded with a small bowl of one of his other favorite foods, ice cream. I had taken kaylie down from the table a little while before, so she was off playing - I start clearing the table from dinner while Matthew is eating his ice cream when I hear "Here you go kaylie, you can have some ice cream" and he's feeding it to her - his beloved ice cream and he's sharing it with her, bite after bite. The photo doesn't do it justice - after every bite she would come show us her bite and smile at how yummy it was, and Matthew was just sitting in his chair smiling, happy to be eating ice cream, happy to be sharing with his sister. It's moments like these that I am so thankful for the treasure God has blessed me with. Moments like these that make it all worthwhile, that the crazy moments/hours/days/weeks that happen are temporary, that we have such beautiful kids who love each other. More and more every day I see them growing closer, and it makes me so happy :) I had a great relationship with my brother growing up, still have a good relationship with him, and I pray so much that my kids grow up as friends :) I know that's a lot to get out of a little bowl of ice cream, but it really brightened my day :)

.

They make me smile :)

Deck the Halls!

Spent the day decorating and listening to Christmas music.  All we need is a Christmas tree and we'll be set.  Bring on the season!

.

Could you imagine. . .

Triplets? lol, neither can I (Photo courtesy my Dad, aka Grandpa, aka Bampa :)

.

.

I can, however, imagine a nice walk on the beach to see a beautiful sunset with my kiddos, dad and cousin before enjoying another delicious Thanksgiving meal :)

.