And the stockings were hung...

I've loved having an actual fireplace with a mantle this year for Christmas decorating. We wont be in this house next year so I wanted to take a picture of our Christmas corner. It was perfect. And there is something special about everyone forking over the .42 cents for stamps so I can adorn my entryway with pictures of loved ones.

Mallie this year got her own blankey. All of our kids have matching satin/minky blankets. She's been using Ashton's old blue one for the last few months. And David got her that toy all on his own because he wanted her to have something in her stocking.

Anytime someone asked Ashton what he wanted from Santa he would reply with "Cranky". We rarely followed it up with "the crane" because the confused looks that followed were pretty funny. So, here is Cranky the crane. After he opened it he said, "this is my best Christmas!"

Hannah got a kitchen that we had stored in our garage for over a year now. Someone gave it to us basically brand new for free. She put her milk cup in the play fridge and then sat down and played with her $3 Ikea stacking cups for the next hour and every day since.

And since David's in this picture by default... I should point out his sweet new Texas Rangers hat I got him. We both feel the need to start stocking up on Texas gear before we leave.

And here are the kids in their matching jammies on Christmas Eve. I now understand why my Mom had this tradition and made us all 8 of us wear matching clothes as often as possible. It's pretty darn cute to have your kids running around in the same clothes.

David & I got a new sony cam (a knock off flip) so I hardly took any pictures, only videos. But at the Jacobson house on Christmas Eve we had quite the Nativity with all the cousins. Mary was crying, the angel's halo was on backwards and he kept trying to swing the manger, Joseph got bored holding baby Jesus and dropped him and we got it all on tape.

Don't worry, David & I came home and read Luke 2 a little more reverntly and marveled at how grateful we are for this time of year to celebrate our Savior's birth with family. It was a great Christmas.

No need for an explanation.

David & I crack up everytime we look at this picture.

Musical Bedrooms

Naptime at our house is a little tricky. You should see me trying to explain the madness to anyone who is at our house around 1:30pm. Hannah and Ashton are great nighttime roommates but the naptime just doesn't work. Ashton has quiet time during afternoon naps but will only sleep about half of the time so they have to be separated or he'll keep Hannah up too.

So, it goes like this: Mallie's bed (aka her packnplay) is rolled out of her room into our room. Ashton's mattress is taken out of Ashton & Hannah's shared room and put on the floor in Mallie's room. I should mention that all of his blankets and animals make the trip to Mallie's room too. And Hannah, well, Hannah lives the sweet life and gets to stay in her room for naps. Mostly b/c she's in the crib that doesn't travel easily and we don't want to contribute to her emotional unstability.
It's kind of a pain to move beds back and forth everyday but mostly Ashton tearing apart the baby's room is the worst. One day I walked in and found an entire Costco-sized box of diapers all over the room. Since then we've changed the requirements of "quiet time". It now encompasses not tearing apart the room along with keeping the volume level down. If he decides to opt out of the nap he's got very few things to actually "play" with.

When he does fall asleep only 50% of the time is it on the mattress. Which makes me wonder why we bother to move the mattress in there at all. Yesterday, for example, David opened the door and found this...
Maybe he feels a little homeless. At least, he has his "flying backpack" (the bear mirror for the car) and his rope (the old computer cord) under there for company along with his big dog Charlie. Gotta love this age.

Look who

found her toes! And is trying desperately to sit up!

Leaning.. leaning...

I can't believe this little one is 4.5 months. I have a dreaded feeling that she'll be our early crawler.

Christmas Pics 2010

I've mentionted my friend Bree before... and by the end of this post you're going to wish she was your friend too. Actually you can probably just look at her blog and you'd already wish that. She is my personal stylist, interior design consultant and photographer. I kid you not, I call her when I'm trying to put an outfit together (you know, for the 3 days a year I decide to ditch the flipflops), decorate a blank wall or I need our annual Christmas pics. She helped outfit my kids and then decided there was no need to travel to a location. We have this rustic looking backdrop fencing in our entire yard. Genius, it was so nice not to have go somewhere to take pictures.
Eat your heart out Nanas...

I'm glad she made us take a few of just the two of us because I really love this guy. I still get excited when he calls to tell me he's on his way home from school. Life is good.