Family Portrait by Megan

My heart melted a little bit tonight when Megan drew these little pictures in the bathtub.  This is the first time I've ever seen her actually draw something that looked like anything.  I asked her where she learned to draw like this and said maybe it was Grandma Lewis?  She replied that "No, Grandma Lewis does not have crayons :)"  Anyways, I don't know where she picked this up from but we might have a budding artist on our hands!

You can see big circle bodies, eyes, straight lines for mouths and little stubby arms and legs.

This is a picture of Mommy and Daddy.  

 

This is Megan and Owen.

 

Sesame Street Weekend

Last weekend John and I took Megan to see Sesame Street Live.  We're not big Sesame Street watchers at our house but Megan watches it occasionally with her Lewis Grandparents so she's more than familiar with the characters.  Our pastor ordered tickets for a group of five families from our church so we could all sit together and overall it was a fun time.

It was a 10:30 show but we got there around 9:30 since we left early to allow time to drop off Owen.  (We dropped off Owen at John's parents' place on the way down to the Target center since we didn't want to deal with a squirmy baby during the show and I do not regret our decision.)  There was a little activity before the show where kids could get an up close look at the characters and do some activities.  We didn't do too much on that level since it was just packed with kids but we took time to get a picture of John and Megan with Cookie Monster.  (This one's for you, Grandma Lewis!)

When we left home I said that we weren't going to spend any money there and I kept to my word - aside from the $10 parking ramp fee.  Megan got this cute little pig tattoo on her hand and also got her hair sprayed purple (hard to see in these pictures) both for free.  I was nervous when we went to the bathroom and all the kids were walking around with Abby wands and spinning Elmo toys and Megan did say she wanted one but I held my ground.  We had a snack of blueberries, apples and pumpkin bread before the show started instead of all the cotton candy, lemonade, donuts and other concessions.  I did feel a little guilty for not buying anything but also didn't want Megan to get the impression that when we go to these things she can have whatever she wants.  It was especially bad since our seats were right behind a major walkway and the cotton candy kept passing by us at eye level.  My proudest moment came when I pulled out a light-up toy out of our bag (a spinning Easter egg toy that Megan got for Easter last year) and gave it for her to play with during the second half.  She squealed and I confirmed that it was hers and I got a big hug.  A big win for Mommy!

 

The title of the show was Can't Stop Singing.  Abby loses her wand, Elmo finds it and casts a spell which makes everyone sing instead of speak.  Abby looks for her wand the entire time until she figures out that Elmo had it all along and had used it.  I think Megan liked it and definitely caught the emotions of Elmo and Abby from both sad to happy.  There were a couple songs after the intermission where she was even clapping along and doing some actions!

On the way out we stopped to say hi to an Abby cutout.

On the way back to pick up Owen we stopped for a little shopping.  I took this picture so you could see the purple hair!  Megan was also so concerned about her pig tattoo the whole time.  Even during her bath she kept her hand above the water the whole time so it wouldn't wash off!

 

We did break down and gave Megan a ride in this Mickey car for being a good sport during our errands!  Look at that smile!

There were a couple other highlights from last weekend.  We took the kids swimming at Safari Island right after church.  Owen hadn't been in the water since just a couple months and he was in absolute glory!  He totally soaked up every minute and there was no fussing for the entire time we were there - close to an hour! Megan loved it too and is testing her limits in the water.  I no more than opened up the door to the pool area and she was in the water.  And she also doesn't know when to stop - she'll keep going deeper and deeper.  I did get her to jump into the water from the edge into my arms and that was pretty fun!

Sunday night John and I went to EP Home Depot's holiday party at Brunswick Zone.  We had a buffet dinner and then spent time doing laser tag, arcade and bowling alley.  This was my first time playing laser tag and it was pretty fun.  I didn't know what to expect but at least I didn't come in last on our team!

Friday Funnies

Hey everyone - It's getting late so I am going to keep the funnies short and sweet this week.

I'm starting out with one that I forgot to add to last week's post but Megan reminded me of it again during church on Sunday.  Megan's new thing is picking off crayon wrappers.  She likes to take the church activity bags and pick at the wrappers during the sermons.  I probably should just be taking the crayons away from her but I try to get her to stop picking on her own so I will talk to her and tell her to stop.  Megan replies with something like this:  "Shhhh, no talk to me.  Listen to Pastor, Mom, listen to Pastor!"

While driving to John's parents' place last Sunday night I kept turning around to look and see what Megan was doing.  She told me that she was watching the trees and that I should turn back around.  John asked Megan what kind of trees she was watching and she replied with, "Real ones!  Not pretend ones!"

The girls thought this was funny until John yelled at them for spilling crackers all over the bedroom floor.  If you look closely at the picture you can see that they are crying because they have to clean up the mess...  I will probably be finding animal crackers for weeks!

Megan and her "flute"...

Daddy goofing around with the kiddos!

I think Megan is really enjoying princess stuff lately and also watching princess shows and movies on TV.  When I dropped her off at my parents' this morning she ran right to her princess dress up outfit and said, "Bye, Mommy-derella!"
When I picked the kids up after work we dressed up Megan in the dress I wore as a flower girl when I was 6.  She's all ready for the ball with her gown and crown!

2013 Goals & Resolutions

I was really feeling motivated right around New Year's.  As we took down the Christmas tree and decorations we also moved out a bunch of baby-baby stuff.  With getting rid of those things it seemed like we gained a ton of space in our house and I just really wanted to get organized.  There are so many things that I want to get organized and I am notorious for starting a ton of things and not following through on anything.  Hopefully I can change that this in 2013.  Everything I come across that has anything to do with organization says to start small and work in stages.  I am hoping to run this out large-scale throughout the year.  Each month I am going to dedicate to a specific area or idea.

January:  Organization month.  Probably my most ambitious month right off the bat.  I want to go through EVERYTHING and organize, get rid of things, and get everything where it belongs.  I want a place for everything and everything in its place.  Kitchen stuff might carry over into February but I'm ok with that.
February:  Finance month.  Figure out budget, get all passwords and accounts in a central location, see if we can start paying for things with cash instead of credit.
March:  Coupon month.  With so many deal sites and apps for my new iPhone I need to get in a groove for using my coupons, where I save them all and how to use them at the stores.  How can we save the most month?
April:  Grocery month.  I want to know how much everything costs so I know if it's a good deal or not.  Make a list of things we buy often and also so we know when we need to stock up or run out of products.  With this also comes meal planning and possibility of doing freezer meals.
May:  Recipe month.  May get tied in with April I want to get all recipes in a central location.  Maybe put a cookbook together of our favorite meals?
June:  Garage month.  Lots of room for improvements here.  Maybe put a pegboard up for John's tools?
July:  Photo month.  Need to archive our blog and also work on backing up photos.  Perhaps start scrapbooking projects?

Besides these monthly objectives, here are a list of other goals I have for this year:

• Do more as husband and wife.  This was a rough last year with a new baby so focus was on myself and Owen.  We are hoping to do at a date the first weekend of every month (or at least once/month). I am also trying to make a conscious effort to give John a kiss before leaving and after getting home from work.
• Learn the in's and out's of my camera and experiment with manual mode.  Goal is to take at least one picture per day on some sort of camera.  I want to focus on learning the camera but also work on composition and lighting techniques as well.  Also, experiment more with Photoshop.
• I want to lose 8 pounds, hopefully to get down to 115 and a size 6 pants.  I also want to lose my baby belly :)
• Use up all the old food in our deep freeze.  You know, the turkeys and other things that make their way to a permanent spot at the bottom :)
• Read more - preferably one book per month.  I said this before I realized the book I just started had 600+ pages so probably not going to happen, at least with this book.  But, I guess the real goal is just to start reading something.
• Be in the Word.  Again, just need to start reading something so off to a good start with a devotion app I found on my new iPhone!
• Learn iTunes and use it!
• Try to incorporate a vegetable into every family meal.
• Finish wedding scrapbook and start/finish Megan's digital scrapbook ages 0-3.
• Try hard not to stress out and also make time for ME.
• Get more sleep.  I'm starting to realize that I am not in college any more and actually need more sleep than what I've really been allotting for myself.  It also might help me be a better wife and mother.  

John had a few goals too.  He is hoping to get under 200 pounds - currently only 25 more pounds to go.  He also wants to keep up his Calorie counting, eating right and exercise routing.  John also wants to do a few daddy-daughter outings this summer including a Twins game!

Guess it's going to be a busy month!  I'll try to keep this updated with each month's progress - with me luck!

Potty Progress: What's Got Her Going!

You might remember me talking about how constipated Megan was over Christmas and the weeks surrounding it.  For some reason she was just afraid to go poop on the potty and it probably hurt quite a bit since she was so blocked up.  Quite funny how she walked around like an old man but I bet it was pretty uncomfortable.

Here is a quick picture John's mom took of Alexa trying to "help" Megan go poop on the potty...

I think we finally are over the hurdle though!  Since the M&M's were not a big enough incentive to go #2 we found another treat... fruit snacks!  That is Megan's most recent obsession.  Santa brought her a few boxes, I bought her a box of Dora ones and both Grandmas have them now too.  Megan loves them and I was worried she would eat all of them right away so I told her she had to work for them.  She had to put the poop in the potty and she could have a bag.  And you know what - it's working!  

On Friday with Grandma Gennrich, as soon as the poop hit the water Megan cried "fruit snacks now"!  At the Lewis's on Saturday Megan had to poop and we just kept chanting "fruit snacks, fruit snacks" until it came out.  Grandma Lewis's were rock hard since they were from last year but fruit snacks none-the-less and Megan ate them right up!  (Just slows her down a little)

As I was packing the snack bag for church on Sunday Megan made sure I added fruit snacks just in case she had to poop while at church.  She's thinking ahead!!!

And Monday.... Monday was quite the eventful day.  Grandma Lewis did a great job summing up the day for me in a little email.  I was laughing so hard as I read it I had tears coming down my cheeks.  I hope you enjoy!

Just wanted to say be careful what you wish for..Megan has been a poop machine today.  I've lost count...I think may be 9 or 10 times and not just a little speck in the bowl either!  It became quite comical after a while.  The fruit snacks have really got her "going" if you know what I mean.  I figured after the fourth time in the pink potty she would be done; they were solid poops and she went right to business without any encouragement, as long as she got the fruit snacks that is (which she did).  So I put the pink potty in the nursery thinking we wouldn't need it anymore today but then she comes up and says she has to go.  I told her Owen was sleeping and didn't want to disturb him so she would have to go on the big potty.  She sighed and we got ready and lo and behold she went AGAIN!!.  Yes and snacks again.  About 20 minutes later she had to go again but this time she put the "potty seat" on the toilet and didn't want me to help her up onto it...she just wanted me to get the bench so she could do it herself.  Ditto with another load and yes more fruit snacks except this time I told her lunch was ready and she would have to eat that before she got fruit snacks.  Lunch was over and she had to go again.  Yes, she wanted more fruit snacks but I said I thought it would be best to bag up her fruit snacks now and take them home to show Mommy and she was okay with that, probably because she was full of fruit snacks...go figure . 

Later she came to check to see where I put the fruit snacks(in her take home bag) and assured herself that yes, she could take them home.  But we were not through yet.  She has had a couple more poops and she wanted M's (she got 2) and then a piece of Dove candy.  I think she wore herself out because she wanted to take a nap and laid down for about 15 minutes.  She didn't sleep but just rested - after all it had been a very busy day.  So just wanted to let you know I don't think we have to worry about her not pooping anymore.  She's got it down really good.  Tomorrow I promise we will ease up on the snacks of any kind but she was really on a roll today and wanted to encourage her as much as I could.  FYI:  Her stools have gone from being quite solid to mushy now, so I think that's a good sign.

And to top it off, there was even one more poop after this email was written!  Megan must be feeling pounds lighter and I look forward to great potty successes going forward!  Yeah Megan!

Owen at Eight Months

Owen is now eight months old and doing great!  I already wrote about his big accomplishment for the last month which is pulling up to stand and walking around objects.  There hasn't been a whole lot of other breaking news other than him getting more and more mobile and getting into lots of stuff!!  But he seems sooo much happer, when he isn't hitting his head on the floor, that is!

As you can see, Owen has no problem pulling himself up to toys and taking steps.  The trouble right now is that he doesn't always know which things he can pull and stand up by.  The swivel rocking chair doesn't work too well, hardwood floor is tricky in non-grippy socks and the side table drawer pinches fingers.  Owen's absolute favorite non-toy things to stand by are the couch, Daddy's side table (because he knows the remotes are in the drawer) and Megan's toddler bed so he can get at her books!  Also, whenever I put out her potty chair he is there in no time at all!

We're still having minor troubles with sleeping through the night.  He is still waking most nights for a bottle and when he wakes up it's like he wants to party.  I have to let him play for a few minutes so he wears himself out and then offer the bottle to get him back down.  I thought maybe all this new activity would wear him out but I guess he's getting used to it!  I guess it's really not as bad as it could be - he does about 8-2 or 3 and then back to bed until 6:30.  It would just be nice not to have to get out of bed until I decide it's time :)

I am trying to feed Owen bulkier food to fill up his tummy before bedtime, hoping to get him through the night.  Lately, I've ground up some kid chicken noodle soup to mix with his veggies.  Owen will eat it but often is hit or miss whether it solves the sleeping problem.  I'm still feeding Owen a lot of food by the spoon, cereal and baby food - both homemade or bought.  I need to start in on more stage 3, just trying to use up the last of the 2's!  Also need to start making more myself.  Right now mashed up bananas are a bit hit.  Hopefully teeth will come soon and then he will maybe be more adventurous with textures.

We have been having other fun during feedings.  Owen has really taken a liking to sipping water from cups and sippy cups.  I've just been giving him water but he gets a big kick out of the water going into his mouth and blowing the occasional bubbles into the cups!

Owen has also learned how to smack his lips and we've all got in on the action and do it a lot when trying to keep his attention while feeding.  He must be practicing for all those kisses he's going to be giving Mommy soon!  I think I would rather like a little pucker kiss than the open mouthed, slobbery ones I've been getting lately.  Either way, I know he loves his Mommy!

And just so you don't think that the little guy is always smiling, I took these pictures during one of his upset moments.  You can see a couple tears in some of the pictures :)

Here is Owen tearing through all the toys in his room.  He loves his barn and all the puzzles!  Even though he doesn't know how to put the pieces in the holes yet that doesn't mean he can't chew on them, right?

 

That's the end of last month!  Stay tuned for next this next month's adventures!

Friday Funnies

This was a long week because it was our first full work week after the Christmas holiday and New Year's. I was also covering for my manager who was on vacation last week and most of this week so just a little mental exhaustion.  Hoping to have some fun this weekend so kicking it off right now with some funnies!

These are a couple funnies I had posted on Facebook but putting them up on here as well for my non-Facebook followers :)

On Wednesday night as Megan, Owen and I we were making the trek upstairs for baths, Megan was pretending to struggle while both walking and carrying three light-weight books. She was huffing and puffing as she said, Wooh, I'm getting old, Mom, I'm getting real old."  I'm wondering if it was Daddy, Grandma or Grandpa Lewis or Grandma Gennrich who taught her that line - especially since she used it in perfect context!

This is the play receipt that came with Megan's cash register she got for Christmas. Out of the hundreds of appropriate grocery items they could have listed they out beer as number 3!  Yes, this must be a European toy since the coins are Euros, but still!!

Here is Megan protecting her belongings from Owen one morning.  "No, Owen, this is mine, remember?!?"  Of course, she grabs her potty chair and pet carrier.  For some reason Owen always goes for the potty seat first!

Yeah.... something's wrong with this picture!

John bought Megan a new puzzle tonight.  It's called a lenticular puzzle, so kind of like a hologram.  There are really two pictures and the puzzle changes based on where you are looking from.  John and Megan were putting the puzzle together but all that shiny, changing and moving images must have been too hard on her eyes because she had to get her glasses to see better!

Megan's really been having a problem finishing out the nights in her own bed and often ends up sleeping in my spot and me in the middle.  Both John and I are pretty annoyed by it but Megan sweetened me up the other morning when I asked her why she always comes in.  She said, "Oh, I just love sleeping in your bed so much."

Lately Megan has been telling us things that she's done and then always saying 'last year'.  I finally figured out that she's referring to everything in the past as 'last year'.  I guess I need to teach her how to say 'yesterday' or 'this morning', huh?!

Even though we're not the biggest Sesame Street fans at this house, we decided to take Megan to see Sesame Street Live tomorrow morning with some families from church.  We've been telling her about it and that we're going to see Elmo this weekend.  One day she just nodded and smiled at me and said, "And Mickey and Minnie and Goofy too!"  Sorry, Sweetie, just Elmo and his friends!!  Mickey lives at the Clubhouse!

Funnies & Forget-Its: December Wrap-Up

As rough as December was, we still had a few funny moments here and there along with some things we would rather just forget.

Our biggest forget-it moment came at the beginning of the month when we had our first really big dumping of snow.  We hadn't winterized our patio as well as we needed to before the snow came and we completely forgot about tucking satellite cable in better.  When our dish was installed they buried it ok but it slowly made its way up from underneath the rocks.  Anyways, when the snow removal people came with their snow blower they cut the cable!  That was not the thing John was hoping to see as we pulled into our driveway after church that Sunday right as the Vikings game was about to start!  It took him a couple hours and a couple stores but he was able to get the TV going again and watch the last half of the game.

Now on to some funnies (in no particular order):

Megan got such a kick out of all the Christmas decorations, including the stockings.  At my parents' house, she found a stocking, stuck it on one foot and said, "Ho, ho, ho.  Give me candy!"

When opening up Christmas presents at John's parents' place one of Megan's gifts was packaged in a box of an outdoor lighted deer lawn decoration.  We all commented on the box since John's dad usually gets boxes from his places of employment.  As Megan pulled out her beautiful fleece blanket and pillow she exclaimed, "Hey!  Where's the lights!"

The Sunday before Christmas my mom and sister graciously took the kids for the day so John and I could do some thorough cleaning of the house.  It was awesome and one of my best Christmas presents this year!  Anyways, picking Megan up that night John told her that she had been at Grandma's house so Mommy could clean the house.  He also told her that he made her bed while she was away.  She quickly said, "Did you make me a blue bed?"  Here she thought John had made her an entirely new bed and she talked about her blue bed the whole night long!

Megan's been on this little kissy kick for the last few weeks.  She likes to wrap her arms around my neck and kiss me smack on my lips.  I try to turn my head and tell her to kiss me on my cheek but she turns it right back.  I finally asked her who kisses like that.  She replied, "Auntie Cat and Uncle Kevin!"  I am no longer going to be the first person to start the dinging of glasses at wedding receptions anymore!  Too much wedding fun for Miss Megan!

We've also been talking about people lately.  Big people and little people - mostly that Megan and Owen are young so they are little and that Mommy and Daddy are grown-ups.  Right now, Megan has been telling me that I am medium in size and is wondering when I am going to be big like Daddy!  I knew my height would come up eventually, but not when our daughter was only 2 1/2!

Our little girl sure knows when someone is not in a good mood.  Megan can sense when I am a little annoyed or mad and will ask, "Mommy, are you mad?"  She is so sweet when she comes up to me and puppy kisses which makes me giggle and says, "Mommy, I make you happy!!"

John is sometimes a little predictable and Megan has caught onto that too.  One night Megan wanted a popsicle and sometimes John likes to ask her if she's sure, then really sure, then really, really sure.  Well, Megan was a couple steps ahead of him because she said, "Daddy, I want a papasicle.  I'm sure, I'm really sure, and I'm really, really sure!!!"  Then, she proceeded to take me by the hand to the garage door so I could get to the freezer.  She told me, "Go on.  You can do it.  Go on!"

Megan is totally amusing us lately with all her little expressions and sayings.  Here are a few of them that I can think of off the top of my head:

• Mommy, your necklace is adordaful!
• Shh, no talk to me (When she doesn't like what we're saying, of course!)
• Where going tomorrow?  Where Mommy, Owen, Megan going tomorrow?
• It's like this, remember?  Owen, that's my toy, remember?
• Yep, Rachel's here alright!
• Tell me... (when I ask her what she wants and she wants to hear the choices)
• There, that's better.
• Whew, that was a close one!
• What does it taste like?  "Good!"

Through the Eyes of Our Child: Megan's Christmas!

Hello!!!!  It's Megan.  How was my Christmas?  Let me tell you!  Christmas was good but I also liked advent which is what comes before Christmas.  Every day Mom and Dad let me open a door to my advent calendar and get a piece of candy!  I had learned a lot about baby Jesus at Sunday school, visited Santa, sang songs (I especially liked Jingle Bells), baked cookies with Mommy, watched Christmas movies like Rudolph, decorated the Christmas tree, colored pictures of Christmas trees and so much more!

I knew Christmas was getting close because everyone kept asking me what I wanted Santa to bring me for presents.  I really wanted all the presents so I first thought a camera and backpack would be nice but then I decided that I really wanted a choo-choo train and Homer the cat instead!  Mom and Dad were going to take me to visit the reindeer farm but when we got there all the reindeer were already gone up to the North Pole to get Santa's sleigh all ready for the big night.  And guess what?  That same night Santa send me a movie telling me that he was coming soon with some special things for me!!!!

Daddy said that when Santa comes he is very hungry so he needs cookies!  I picked out my favorite ones for him and Daddy helped me put them on a plate underneath the Christmas tree!!  When we woke up the next morning I noticed right away that the cookies were gone.  There were also a whole lot of presents, but not Homer the cat...

 

I waited real patiently to open presents and also helped Mommy make pancakes for breakfast.  Mickey Mouse pancakes too!!  When breakfast was over, guess what?  I got to open all the presents!  I started on one side of the tree and with each present, brought it to Mommy and said, "Who is this for?"  She would tell me (it was usually Megan or Owen) and then I would say, "OK.  Let's see what's inside." and then rip right into it!  And Grandpa Looloose, you would be so happy to know that I threw away all the wrapping paper away after every present!  Daddy said you'd like that.  

Santa must really know me well because so many presents were wrapped in Mickey Mouse paper - even though Donald wasn't on there.  I opened them real careful. Even Owen's.  

Yep, Minnie and Daisy jammies?  These are great!

And my BACK PACK!!!!!  I'm all ready for school now, Mom!!!

Santa brought me so much nice stuff it was hard to decide what to play with first!  Camera, movies, games and toys!  And Dad said we still got to go do more presents at my Grandparents houses!  Hooray!!  Grandma Mimic got me a kitchen for her place and Santa left a Doc McStuffins doll for me at Grandma Looloose's house!

"Daddy, can we put cookies out again tonight?"

Through the Eyes of Our Child: Owen's Christmas!

Hi Everyone!  This was my very first Christmas and it was so much fun!  I had wondered what all the wonderful music, bright lights, gift wrappings and cold weather were all about but now I know!  I can't believe it's over and now I can't wait for next year - I miss everything already!!  I really can't wait for next year when I'm a whole year older and I get to try all the Christmas cookies.  There were so many kinds and they all looked so good.  So did all the other Christmas Eve and Christmas food.  Yum, yum!

Anyways, just like the cool song all I really wanted for Christmas was a few teeth but I got a really bad cold instead.  A few nights before Christmas I had to lay on the couch with Mommy because I just couldn't sleep but she took really good care of me.  I wasn't fully back to myself before Christmas but I felt a lot better after getting a checkup at the chiropractor and also sleeping with the humidifier a few nights.  I think I like Christmas a lot better than having a cold and cough!

I know that Santa is not real because I saw Mommy wrapping all the presents!  She used different paper than everyone else's so Megan would think they came from someone else.  But don't worry, I won't tell her until she's older :)  And to play along even more, I let Megan open my presents for me too.  It did look like fun so I will have to try it next year.  This year I just enjoyed the Mickey and Santa wrapping paper and the boxes!

I received so many wonderful present!  God sure sent me to live with a family who loves me, that's for sure!  I got nice clothes, jammies, boy toys like a boat for the bathtub, cars and helicopters and other toys that make music and Thomas and Friends movies!  Thank you, everyone, so much!

Here are a few pictures Mommy took of me during Christmas.  I especially love this one of Daddy and me!

  

I really love my sister, Megan, but does she always have to hold me so tight???

And here I am in crawling position - yep, I can hand and knees crawl now - and also sporting my Christmas red and green!

 

 

Happy Christmas and Merry New Year!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from our family of Four!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas season and rings in the New Year with family and loved ones!

Sorry this is a bit late, but better late than never!  I've been trying hard to get caught up on the blogging before we entered the new year but we've just had so much going on.  And after all the activity stopped, so did I!  To tell you the truth, I've kind of been dreading writing about Christmas because there are sooo many details, and since I started Christmas shopping so early this year I was just plain Christmas'd out.  I told John that this was hopefully our toughest Christmas with a newly potty-trained 2 1/2 year old and a little boy who just became instantly mobile!  These two were a handful!

I was able to snag some great prices on Christmas gifts since I started before Black Friday and watched daily deals as they came out.  We even finished our shopping early this year - I think the week before Christmas - and even got everything wrapped a couple days before.

We were able to spend Christmas Eve and Day with both of our immediate families but my favorite was Christmas Eve morning.  Both John and I were lucky enough to have that day off so we decided that Santa would come that morning so we could have just a few hours with us four before all the hustle started.  Megan and I got up early but Owen slept in to give us time to make pancakes!  We had a blast opening and playing with presents before heading off to church and then to my parents' house.  Christmas morning we were at my parents' church since we like to play our brass instruments in church and have been doing it for several years now.  When that was over we made our way to John's parents' where we finished off the day with five grandchildren this year!

Since Christmas is best through the eyes of a little child I think I am going to let Megan and Owen tell their own stories.  Stay tuned to read what these two Christmas angels have to say!