Thomas' 3rd Birthday!

We love our new fireman hats!

the girls had so much fun exploring

We love firetrucks!!


Look at my hat!!

Best Friend Cousins

Could I be any cuter????!!!!

The eldest cousins being silly

Playing in the balloons

Nana and the adorable baby Alex

Juju is telling me that her mommy is hiding from the balloons

Nana tried really hard to get a good picture of the

grandkids...as you can see, my kids would NOT cooperate!

We had a great time celebrating Thomas' 3rd birthday this year at the fire station! The kids loved getting to explore the huge firetrucks. The firemen at the Monroe fire station were so nice and patient with all 10 kids and then we went to Thomas' house for cake and ice cream. Uncle Tommy had blown up a ton of balloons for the kids to throw and play with, and all the kids loved it!

Christmas Day!!

Bradley working with his new tool bench
Rachel and one of her new barbies

Both kids liked opening presents this year!

Mommy relaxing with two heavy

children lounging with her!

time for a little wrestling!

Are we supposed to sit or stand on these animals??

Rachel and the new special doll that Aunt Linda sent...

she loves it!

Santa's loot...he brought some great toys!!

Our Christmas was so much fun! From the moment the kids woke up, we played, ate, rested and played some more!The kids got way too much toys from Santa and even from mommy and daddy. But, both kids LOVED their stuff and immediately started playing with everything. Rachel said, "oh my gosh, it's what I've always wanted!" Then she said, "mommy, did you tell Santa to put that on my list??!!" Her enthusiasm and excitement was so precious and sweet. She makes giving gifts so much fun because she's so appreciative and grateful for them. Both kids liked each other's presents alot too. Bradley wouldn't stop playing with the Barbie castle and pushing the button that made lovely distorted music start. And, Rachel did a fair share of drilling and hammering on the new toolbench. I remember enjoying playing with my sibling's toys and really enjoying the "girl" and "boy" toys. How cool that they get the best of both worlds, like we did!!

Cookies for Santa...

After our fun, busy, day it was time to come home and set out cookies and milk for Santa. Rachel picked out which cookies were just for Santa and the kids both decided to eat just one before bed.

Christmas Eve at Gege and Papa's

The coolest dinosaur ever!

Rachel opening her huge bear


Riding on her bear

Trying out the cool dinosaur!

Enjoying watching the helicopter take off

The beautiful cake we made to celebrate Jesus' birth

For some reason, Bradley didn't like it

when we sang "Happy Birthday" to Jesus

Both kids enjoying their huge animals!

Papa got some serious exercise when he decided

to push the kids around on their animals

Well, thank goodness, Bradley took a nap on the way to our Gege and Papa's and slept on Nick once we arrived. He just needed a little pick-up. When he woke up, he chugged down some coke, opened some presents and seemed to be in great spirits! The kids were super spoiled with presents galore and we had tons of yummy food that Gege prepared. Both kids got large, sturdy animals that they can sit on to watch tv or play with. Bradley's remote control dinosaur is really cool and can do so many realistic things. Both kids love it even though neither really wants it to touch them when it's moving. Rachel was thrilled to get the "Pee Pee in the Potty" doll that she had seen on commercials for months. And, Rachel and Bradley LOVED watching daddy play with his remote control helicopter that Gege gave him this year. They could hardly contain themselves when it flew around the room and crashed into the floor. We had a great evening with Gege, Papa and Stacy and Randy. We gave the kids baths and then loaded our car and headed home for bedtime. What a fun day!!

Christmas Eve at Nana and Pop's

me and mom
me and gram

We're having so much fun opening presents! :)

helping Gramma open her calendar

Fun at the playground!

Pop, Nana, Rachel and "cooperative" Bradley

Our precious family!

We are lucky that we get to see both sets of Grandparents in one day since they only live 30 minutes apart! We spent the morning with nana, pop and gramma. We had a delicious brunch and then opened presents and went outside to see pop's new goats. We didn't get a good look at them since they're not used to people yet, so they were more like a white streak in the woods. The kids burned off some energy playing on the always cool playground. Then we came back in and rested for a bit before heading to our next destination. We all got some really great presents and have really enjoyed playing with them now, even though some of us (Bradley) didn't act like we liked anything when we were opening them!

T'was the night before Christmas Eve...

Rachel's little piggy and Bradley's little puppy

...and Mommy convinced Daddy to let the kids open just one present! They both got a fur-real friend pig and dog that moves and makes animal noises when they're petted. Both kids loved them! I knew the kids would get so much from grandparents, Santa and mom and dad, that I thought it would be nice for them to get just one present early to enjoy without competition! They had a blast feeding their animals and petting them for one evening!!

Ready and Waiting

We're home today and ready to celebrate Christmas with our families! We baked cookies this morning for Santa. And, we made a cake and cupcakes to celebrate Jesus' birth. Both kids were really into it and SO helpful in decorating them all. Each cookie and cupcake has about 500 sprinkles on it. I think Bradley and Rachel's philosophy is: "More is Better" when it comes to sprinkles. The kids are so excited about opening presents and seeing their grandparents tomorrow. They are just such precious, loving, sweet kids and I feel so very grateful to be their mommy and have the privilege of sharing all these fun times with them!

Merry Christmas!!

**The above picture was from a couple of weeks ago when we had a Christmas party for Deborah's side of the family in their barn. It was a great location and the kids had a blast...especially playing in the clean stall with all the fresh shavings!

**UPDATE: Everyone is feeling so much better! Bradley still has alot of congestion, but both kids seem to have gotten rid of the nasty infection and just have minor colds now! Thank goodness!!