Merry Christmas-es

We had several Christmas celebrations again this year! Here are some of the few pictures I took at each one.  I'm going to try & keep the words few in this post since there are so many celebrations to cover!

December 18th, PawPaw& Dee Dee came in town much to all of our delight! They went ALL out this year! Nora's favorite: a pink tricycle, Aaron's favorite: wrinkle free church shirts that FIT, my favorite: Vera bradley tote!

December 24-25th, we spent with Grandpa & Vivian in Summerville. We had a huge buffet of snacks for Christmas Eve, big breakfast Christmas morning, and big lunch Christmas afternoon. It was fun to have Nora & Millie together for Christmas morning. We had a great time! Nora's favorite: her candy necklace in her stocking, Aaron's favorite: new work boots, my favorite: a bread machine!

December 25th (dinner), we stopped at Tutu & Raras in Columbia. Nora took these pictures of them. (Maybe sometime I'll show you the headless ones she also took.) Nora's favorite: hair bows, our favorite: a framed picture of the Columbia temple where we were married (& engaged)! (Although the soup in bread bowls for dinner was probably a close second.)

December 26th, we had Christmas with Lala & Gpa Steve at their house. Santa continued to not disappoint! We had a yummy breakfast followed by stockings & presents. Nora's favorite: Millie's dress up shoes (or her fancy new doll stroller), Aaron's favorite: buckey balls (see photo of Buck below for an example of what they are), my favorite: new wireless printer! There's no denying it...we get spoiled by them!

Our last Christmas was January 2nd with Gramma. She brought pizza and spent some time with us for the evening. Nora's favorite: new gumball machine ball toy. She's had her eye on that thing for over a year now!

We love all our family and were so glad to celebrate so many times with all of them!  We are beyond blessed!  Hope yours was even half as great!

Cousin First Birthdays

Nora is lucky to have two cousins a little younger than her. Both of them turned one recently! She loves both of them...some times too much. She can be sweet little bully by pushing them down or squeezing them as she tries to pick them up. Oh, what to do with her!

Karleigh turned one November 26th, but we didn't get to celebrate with her until later. We all met at Wild Wings and ate with her. Aaron had to work late, so we were quite late, but made it in time to quickly eat & didn't even miss the cupcakes! Karleigh iss so cute...I could just squeeze her chunkiness! Karleigh has always been weary of Aaron. I'm not sure why since he looks so similar to her dad. This time she even smiled sitting with him. We had to take a picture for proof!

Aaron and the birthday girl!

Luckily they put us in the back (whew, because it's never quiet when we're all together) by the stage where the kids had room to move and play. Nora likes running around with the big kids...when she's not pushing down the littler ones.

On December 18th, Jacob turned one! Christie threw a football party for him with TONS of food. She borrowed some of Aaron's football plaques, trophies, & uniform pieces for decorations. Who knew Aaron had so many 'sports treasures' up in our attic? Apparently he was good & not just at football! =) We all hung out and ate while the kids entertained us. Jacob got some great toys that all the kids enjoyed playing with. He's such a cute, easy little boy. He definitely makes Aaron want a son!

Even though he was a little sick, he enjoyed his cake!

Happy 1st Birthdays, Karleigh & Jacob! We love you!

November Birthdays

Oops.  Apparently I forgot to 'publish' this post.

In November we had a few birthdays to celebrate.  Some boys (men) we love!

Nora's twin cousins, Tyler & Aiden, turned 3 on November 13th.  When it was cake time, Nora had to get right in the middle of the action.

5 kids...3 chairs

Tyler, Nora, Aiden, Ellie

Nora in their highchair so she could get down to business

Nora & Aiden after church

On November16th, Nora's Uncle Xan had his birthday.  He goes to USC and lives in Columbia, so we went to him to celebrate.  Nora enjoys messing up playing in his room in his apartment.

Playing with Uncle Xan.

Check out that mamma-jamma candle!

We love you Xan, Tyler, & Aiden!  Glad we got to celebrate your birthdays with you!