Lewis Christmas

And finally, our last stop on our Christmas adventure (we had quite a busy few days as you can see), was with the Lewis clan.

It was great seeing everyone as always. But the most fun was watching all the grandkids have fun together. There was this hallway where they could do laps around the room and then through here. Madeline and Alexis started it by running through and screaming like, well, little girls. Then they all joined in. It was hilarious! And loud.

Right as we were getting ready to leave, my Dad was holding the girls for me. They looked so cute together and I had to take a picture. Then my Mom came walking by and I told her to jump in. It turned out perfect. I love this picture!

Lair Family Christmas

We spent Christmas evening with Andy's family. The girls got all dolled up for the occasion. Madeline's girly side was really coming through. She loved wearing her pretty dress and her new earrings were a must!

She was a sport and let the paparazzi snap some photos. This is Andy's cousin Ellie. I love this picture.

Getting a family photo is so tough with little kids. It still turned out fairly well though.

The real fun began when Madeline and Sophia got to open all their presents. Madeline was really into the whole present-opening thing this year. I can only imagine how she'll be next year.

Poor Sophia. You can tell she was so tired, but still having fun. These beautiful white coats they both got looked so cute with their nice dresses.

Uncle Dave helped out a bit.

Especially when it came to modeling the clothes.

The next morning we had yet another Christmas with Andy's immediate family. Madeline's theme was kitchen stuff.....a new kitchen and play food to go with it.


Sophia got a few new toys to play with too.

Check out Andy in his new "godfather" hat.

Papaw and Nana drove up later and helped Andy put Madeline's new kitchen together. It took FOREVER! Thank goodness Andy had help. I can only imagine the Dads trying to build this thing on Christmas Eve.

Madeline couldn't stand to sit by and watch once it started actually resembling a kitchen.

This was her reaction once it was all done. I'd say the verdict is a good one.

Santa was here

Somehow Santa knew where to find us and left some fun toys for the kids. Thankfully they don't quite understand the excitement yet and slept in until almost 8am! Once Madeline saw her presents though, she was all about it. Her first present was a new camera. She loves it and took pictures all weekend!! I'll be posting some of the pictures she's taken later. Some of them actually aren't bad.

She helped her sister open her presents too.

She got a glow-worm that lights up and sings lullabies.

Santa also brought her some of the snacks she loves. How does he know this stuff?

Fia also got a new bath toy and jammies. Madeline got a Cookie Monster Wii game, Elmo's Potty Time DVD, slippers, coloring book and new hair barrettes. Santa was very good to them.

As for Andy and I, we both did a good job for each other. I got him a nice OSU frame for his MBA diploma. I thought it would look great in his new office at work.

Madeline helped me open my gift from Andy.

It's a beautiful new Eco-Drive watch. I love it but I haven't been able to wear it yet. I need to get the band adjusted to fit me.

Christmas 2010, Part 1

We had a wonderful trip back home for Christmas. Lots of travelling but it was so nice to see everyone again. With all those stops meant lots and lots of pictures. So I hope you all like pictures and lots of them. Our first stop was at my parent's house on Christmas Eve. As you can see, she is wearing some of her new gear.....a dress set with earrings (which she absolutely LOVED) and a kitchen apron. She was opening a new Mickey and Minnie Mouse Christmas ornament.

Then she helped her cousin Alexis open some of her presents.

The last gift from my parents was a stroller and doll for each of them. They must have done 50 laps around the house pushing their new babies. It was so cute!

Then we were off to Grandma Cipollone's house.

Madeline and Alexis loved playing together. It will be so much fun once we live closer and they can play all the time.

Then it was time to go home and get in bed. Santa was on his way afterall.

Merry Christmas!

This was Madeline's first homework assignment. We were supposed to decorate this tree with whatever we wanted. Family pictures were a given. Then we filled it in with "ornaments" colored by her and some of her favorite characters.

- The characters are from Yo Gabba Gabba, her new favorite show.

- Woody from Toy Story was a given too, she loves that movie.

- The glitter was not a good idea in hindsight.

- I wanted to do some sort of stickers since she loves those. I found candy cane stickers when I was out and thought they were perfect for this.

- She is obsessed with tracing her hand and had me do that while we were making her other ornaments, so on the tree it went.

"Painting" Snowmen

Sophia paints a lot at school and typically ends up eating it.

I thought, why not use edible paint? So I came up with an art project painting a snowman using whipped cream and M&M's. What kid wouldn't like that? I showed them my example (don't laugh, I was never known for my creative abilities) and set them free.

Sophia enjoyed ripping her paper.

Madeline was painting something, it just wasn't a snowman.

In the end, they both had a great time. Anything that is messy is always fun, right?

Wildlights 2010

It has been terribly cold this year, so it was tough finding a decent night to go to the Wildlights at the Zoo. But we made it the last semi-warm night there was right before a storm rolled through. The lights were beautiful, the kids had a great time and we left right when it started to rain. It makes me sad to think it might be our last trip to the Columbus Zoo in a long time. I love this place!

Christmas Tree 2010

Madeline is really understanding Christmas trees and Santa this year, so I couldn't wait to get our tree up. Here is the requisite forced-smile picture.

She loved looking at all the different ornaments.

Fia had some fun playing with the lights.

Fia snapped a good picture with her Momma.

Madeline tried her best not to smile.

With this being Fia's first Christmas, I got them both new stockings. Madeline never had a decent one to begin with anyway. I just need to get their names embroidered on them. It's looking very festive around here.

After all of that, I decided I was still in the Christmas spirit and wanted to make Christmas cookies. At 7 o'clock at night. And not just any cookies. The famous Lair Christmas Cookies.

Umm, not the brightest idea I've had in awhile. But we had fun! Madeline was a great helper as always.

Of course the decorating was her favorite part.

I'd say they turned out pretty good. They even tasted great too!