Christmas and New Years!!

Finally! I have GOBS of pictures (none very good - we all know I lack talent in the photography department!) and tons to get caught up on so I'm sorry if this post is a little long for you! I am so sad that the holidays are over but I have to admit it's going to be nice to have things slow down a little! This was our first year not traveling to see family for Christmas. I was prepared for a slow, kind of boring day and I was VERY pleasantly surprised! I absolutely LOVED just having it be us for Christmas morning. It was so fun and stress-free and relaxing!

For Christmas Eve we had some friends over and it was a blast! We ate, we played Rock Band (Nathan is dying to own it now!), and pulled together a last minute nativity. We had such a great time!

Janae, Amy, and David

Nathan and Rick

Our nativity was VERY original! We used what we could find in the girl's dress up bin so we ended up with a Pocahontas Mary (Keslie), a handsome little Joseph (Peter), a dragon donkey (Anika), a dog sheep (Abby) and an awfully cute shepherd (Wyatt). OH and Brenan acted out the part of "the little Lord Jesus" (Anika's words) perfectly! I think they look professional - what do you think?After everyone left we opened up our Christmas pj's!

Our chubby little man before he put on his pj'sAnd after! I know - my hair looks fabulous!They put out cookies for Santa!

And then spilled the cookies! At least it wasn't the egg nog!

CHRISTMAS DAY!!

I was awake and ready to start by 4 AM - like always! Much to my dismay the girls just kept SLEEPING and SLEEPING! Finally, at 7:45 AM, they woke up! They were absolutely thrilled to see that Santa had eaten his cookies and used the napkin they left out for him! I don't think they noticed the big doll house he left for them for a good 10 minutes! They got some pretty fun stuff! Here is smattering:

Aunt Kelyn sent them about 60 Littlest Pet Shop animals. HOLY COW! Between the ones Kelyn sent and the ones they already had they are at 111!! And they play with every one of them!

Keslie's present for her Daddy was "a house to put a picture on".

And this is Nathan's present from Anika. She wanted to give him a bug squisher so this is what we came up with!Here is Keslie opening up her new Cinderella dress from Nana West. Nana must have noticed how "loved" her Cinderella dress from last Christmas is!! You can kind of see the doll house in the background. I found this at Target last September on clearance for $24.99 - normally $125!!! Can you BELIEVE that?!! I was pretty excited!Anika got her Easy Bake Oven. She has been asking for this thing for MONTHS. She was SO happy!Brenan with a super cool toy from his cousin Taylor! He loves it!They got K'nex from Grandma and Grandpa Kivett!And this cool Leap pad computer from Nana and Papa West!Nathan with his new shoes! This was my other big score. Normally $75 and I got them for $20! SWEET DEAL!!In their new Christmas outfits and ready to go see the Tale of Despereaux! It was super cute by the way. =)

NEW YEARS EVE!!!

We had such a fun New Years!! The Vellingas flew in on New Years Eve morning to celebrate with us!! We invited them thinking it wouldn't really happen but it did!! It never hurts to ask!! Janae, Rick, and Wyatt also came over for part of the night. We were sad when they had to leave! We played some American Idol Karoeke on the Wii (my present from Nathan!) to start the night! I think we all have a musical future. It was awesome!

Here are the rock stars:

Nathan, Rick, Richard, Wyatt, Richard Scott and David

They've got their rock moves!

The girls! Sumer, Brittanie, Janae and Anika And Miss Keslie:And here is another one with Sumer and me - I had to put a smiling one of her on!!And the lovely Janae again!After Janae and Rick left we put the kids to bed and things just got wild. =) Haha!
We played the napkin nose game. Mandi - you know what I'm talking about! Here is Nathan with his napkin - still unused.

Richard tried to swallow a whole orange! We all about died laughing. Apparently, he has a big throat! =) It had been 10 years so it was attempted but in the end the orange didn't go down the throat. Here is some video footage for the Vellingas. It's pretty much just 3 minutes of us laughing! It's probably something that only we will think is funny. =) And for the record - he did not throw up. The video ends with me asking if he threw up. And the answer is no. =) Richard, Sumer - you guys are awesome.

Around 11:45 I was about ready to throw in the towel. My eyes were drooping!! But at 11:55 we turned on the TV to countdown to the New Year with NYC! We all woke up and partied (sat and talked) for another 2 hours!

The New Years kisses!

It's IBC ROOT BEER FOLKS!! And I, for one, like it much better than sparkling cider! We made a promise that every year - no matter where we are - we'd whip out the IBC root beer and think of the Vellingas and they'd think of us! It's tradition now.
The boys dancing to 'THAT'S NOT MY NAME' by the TING TINGS. It was the most retarded song I've ever heard but it made us laugh!

Anyway - HAPPY NEW YEARS!!

Girl's Night and Gingerbread Houses!

Last Thursday night we had a girl's night out and it was great fun! We went and got dessert at The Cheesecake Factory and then headed over to the theater to see Twilight!! I have to say I enjoyed it and I think the only reason I enjoyed it was because I was with a group of friends. If I had gone with Nathan I would have picked it apart the whole time and pretty much hated it. =) Books are always better! I'm just not very good at seeing a movie after I read the book. But, it was the perfect girl's night movie and I had fun cheering when Edward walked into the cafeteria and laughing when he sparkled! Jasper's face was hilarious the whole time! SO - to sum it up, I don't regret seeing it but I won't be buying it or seeing it again. =) I will be reading the book again soon because I need to make sure that my imagined Edward hasn't been ruined forever by the movie Edward.

And we can't forget Andrea and Heather who joined us at the movie!!On Saturday we made gingerbread houses with some friends. The girls LOVED it and have been carrying their houses around OUR house for the last couple days!

SNOW!!

YOU KNOW the girls are outside lovin' it right at this moment!! I was with them for awhile but I am still an AZ girl at heart and I just didn't have enough layers on. I don't like to be cold!!! My toes are still defrosting!

These pictures crack me up. The way they are posing makes them look like a couple - I think Nathan and I have this exact picture!

I couldn't get Keslie to look at the camera again - she was too intent on licking the snow off of Anika's hat. =)

Let the Smiling Begin!!!

Today was the big day! He has been doing some smiles here and there for us but he was full of them this afternoon! Since Nathan was home we were able to catch one of them on camera!!


And, for your viewing pleasure, here is Miss Keslie at exactly 1 month old. Doesn't she make Brenan look skinny??!! Oh! She was the cutest, rolliest little baby!! I can't believe she's 3!!

Brenan Stats and Christmas Dresses!

This is the most recent picture I have of Brenan! I'll take some new ones soon!!

He had his doctor's appt. yesterday. He is 5 weeks 4 days and he weighs 13 lbs 11oz and is 25.5 inches long. He's a chubby little guy! I don't think he is as big as Keslie was though! He is trying so hard to talk and smile! His eyes smile and occasionally he can make his mouth do it too! His little noises are still mostly grunts but when he does coo it is SO cute!! He is still sleeping a ton and I have yet to hammer down a good schedule for him. He eats every 3 hours (ish) and sleeps in between! I don't worry too much about a strict schedule until my babies are around 2 months. I don't think they are ready for one until then! He still is a bit jaundiced. The doctor thinks it's just "breastfeeding jaundice" but I had to take him in for another heel prick today. He is the sweetest little man ever! The girls just love him (a little too much sometimes!)!

I took these pictures when he was 4 weeks old.

The girls got to wear their Christmas dresses last week! They both felt like princesses! I LOVE their dresses this year and I only paid about $10 for each one! I love EBAY!! Anika was not in the mood to pose! We got a couple normal ones and then the rest are her being a goofball.

She wanted Nana West and Grandma Kivett to see how it twirls!

And here is Miss Bodess:

Here is Anika's letter to Santa! The words are ALL hers - I was helping her with spelling at first and then I just let her do her own thing!
Translation: Santa Baby, I love Rudolph's red nose. Please bring me a pet. I will leave you cookies. Love, Anika West
And a couple random Keslie ones:

Why did I do it??

Is it the memories?? Is it the seriously fun beat that get's my shoulders groovin' side to side?? Is it because it was only $1? I'm not sure. All I know is that I am now the proud (???) owner of this CD:


It's one of those that I will only be able to enjoy when I'm alone in the car (and I will enjoy it!). Goodness knows Nathan won't EVER listen to it and I don't really want the girls singing "I'm a Barbie Girl"! I need a sister or my Mandi so that we can drive around with the music blasting, singing at the top of our lungs!! OR I need one of my CT friends to shake off the shackles of coolness and join me. YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO!! It's just so FUN to be a dork sometimes. All the time! Seriously - how can you not like a group that makes music videos this cheesy?!!

Anika Bananika is 5 Years OLD!!

It's true. We have a 5 year old! Her birthday was last Wednesday and I think she had a pretty great day. =) She wanted to go to Chuck E. Cheese just like Keslie so we did! Here are some pictures from her special day!

Here they are at Build-a Bear. They LOVE this place!! Of course Anika had to have the Christmas moose! Oh well - it was one of the cheapest ones so I guess I should appreciate it! Anika named her moose Rudolph and Keslie named her puppy Kito.

Birthday morning (this is her dragon costume - she had to see if it still fit now that she's 5!!) When we went to choose an outfit that morning she was really concerned because none of the clothes in her drawer were going to fit now that she was one year older! Lucky for her, I've been buying size 5 for awhile!

For her birthday breakfast she chose cinnamon sugar toast and a banana.

Getting ready to make a wish. She is such a HAM!!
AND I know - those aren't real birthday candles! We were all out. She didn't seem to mind!

Anika is the most amazing little girl. She is so sweet and so kind. I couldn't have asked for a better oldest child. She is best friends with Keslie and is so helpful with the baby. She is very smart and loves to ask "WHY???" to EVERYTHING! She's hilarious! Anika has so many wonderful talents. Is going to be fun to sit back and watch her fly as she starts school and gets more opportunities to develop them. Her little voice is SO cute and we love the way she pronounces different words. Her pronunciation of the letter L is our favorite right now. =) We love her so much. I can't believe it's already been 5 years! It seems like yesterday that I was holding her at the hospital and thinking she was the most beautiful, perfect baby to have ever been born to the world.