Merry Christmas!

Everyone I spoke with said that Christmas will be kind of a bummer until the girls are three years old. So I really wasn't expecting too much from them this year. We read a ton of books about Christmas, and Santa and Rudolph and snowmen and watched specials and they showed some varying interest in all of these things.

But then they really surprised me - they got super into Santa and Rudolph, enjoyed opening gifts (more so, sometimes, than the gifts inside) and were just too adorable meeting and playing with their cousins.

Alex LOVED the piano (pinano) at Grandma and Poppas house and was enjoying mashing the keys and singing "Jinga bells, jinga bells" or "frossy snowman" and Josie would go right along with it. :D These two kill me! (They also did "Happy Know It")

We had a blast enjoying Christmas through their eyes. I also have very little time left to remember they believe Santa is real, I need to watch my tongue!!!

Here are a bunch of photos from Christmas and the days leading up to it!

Playing on grandma and papa's giant property!!

Josie took right to Papa. It was nice to see since 

they can be shy with other people. 

Visiting with Patrick, Maureen and baby Mary!

All the kids had fun and we played a spirited game

of Munchkin while the littles napped!

Playing outside in hats and long sleeves,

so sad to not have snow but happy we 

could enjoy the outdoors so much!

We had to run to the mall and it was a perfect opportunity to

meet up with Jamey's cousin Rita and their two little girls!

Red Robin has these free balloons that the girls loved. 

Alex loving it. Wearing a new outfit from Macy's since

pukapocalypse continued in the car on the way over.

Sammy and the girls playing with balloons.

Cousin Haley, Cousin Rita, Aunt Cathy, Josie, Alex and James!

The view from my bedroom window! 

So foggy and eerie every day!

On Christmas eve, we turned to see Josie making a tower with the mini soda cans!

I have to say, I was VERY impressed with her skills!

Then immediately after she did this. Girl, you are killing us!

Adorable!

We took the girls out to play before nap, since after 

nap was the big Christmas eve party. They really

loved running around the property. 

Alex and daddy walking up from the far pond (there are two!)

Josie running back to the house, that you can't see thanks to the thick fog

A free advertisement for Old Navy Christmas t-shirts lol

Josie LOVES holding hands and gets really angry 

when Alex doesn't want to hold hands anymore. 

Here she is dragging Alex all over the yard lol

After nap, Jill and her kids Noah, Logan and Oliver joined us. 

Alex reminds us multiple times that baby "Nola" was "nakie" 

(his clothes were in the dryer as he had gotten wet). 

After a costume change, the girls helped give gifts to

Noah, Logan and Oliver

Adorable baby Alex <3 p="">

Baby Josie obsessed with the rocking chair.

Santa visited on Christmas Eve and I decided since Alex and 

Josie didn't want to sit on his lap, I would. Santa really liked it. 

THEN SANTA CAME!!! (Holy crap!)

Very tired and up super early on Christmas!

But totally in the spirit and enjoying it all!

(all of us took a nap together later)

Christmas outfits!

Playing with new toys (and wrapping paper)

Playing Pinano

And playing recorders with their cousins.

The cousins really loved Alex and she was enjoying the attention!

Josie, on the other hand, was grateful for a day

 of uninterrupted Daniel Tiger on her tablet.

Then wanted her cousin's tablet.

Josie and William! (Josie always so serious!)

Laurie and Mark, Henry and William, if they added twin girls to their family!

Christmas part two with Grandpa Jeff, Oliver, 

Noah, Jill, Warren and Aunt Cathy.

The girls warmed up to Oliver and gave him a nice hug!

We were Dreaming of a White Christmas

For months we knew we were going to Connecticut for Christmas! It was a surprise, and grandma Barbara had no clue! Do you know how hard it was for me to not blog or post about packing and prepping for our travels? 

Well, I documented it anyway knowing I could blog about it later. And I also plan to prep a new post about traveling with toddlers, because I think we are killing it!

We did KFC Christmas with Becky and Tom the night before we left, and opened gifts from family back east, as well as some of the gifts we got from Jill for the girls since they were too big to bring back with us. (we felt really bad about that, glad we got video to share!) 

Alex was so good to sit in front of the tree in her OMG SANTA shirt and smile! 

Of course we had to keep KFC Christmas a total secret or else people would know something was up!

Josie really liked all of the toys! 

After dinner we all went to bed for our early wake up the next day and trip to the airport! It was our third time with the girls and we kind of have it down now. 

We park our car and take the shuttle to the airport. We each push a baby with one hand and a suitcase or two with the other (thank goodness for the nice rolling ones!) We wear the car seats on our backs by the straps we pull out. 

On our way out, we paid a little extra for first class. Alex liked it. I liked it a lot too, since having food brought to us was fantastic! And the extra large seats were perfect for coloring activities and letting the girls sit together. 

Josie was very comfortable.

Lots of room here for lap sitting.

Alex really took to it.

We had a 3+ hour layover in Chicago. It wasn't bad until the girls really wanted to run around and explore the airport. James and I kept having to take turns chasing them, which was fine for a while but after an hour of that we were tired, and they were not. We finally had to get them to sit so we could use the restroom and prep for our next flight. 

They both slept on the next flight while we ate delicious dinners. They woke up in time for some rolls. That night we checked into the airport hotel and got ready for the big surprise the next day.  

We got in the car Monday morning while Barbara and Eric were at the store. BOTH GIRLS puked in the car, which wasn't something we wanted to deal with when racing to get to the house in time to set up and hide! (We had a few more puke incidents later in the trip too, and suspect the car's bouncy suspension had something to do with it).  We got to the house, James hid the rental car next door while I did a quick puke clean up, and then we hid behind the couch, leaving the girls in the living room to be found. Clearly no one had ruined the surprise - it was genuinely amazing. I had looked forward to this for a while and it was worth every moment! 

Josie wanted nothing to do with posing.