All Through the House

Here are some pictures of our house decorated for Christmas -- they're mostly for me so I can remember next year where I put everything!! :)

Front door -- we'd had a LOT of wind so the tree is a little lopsided. :)

Our christmas stocking countdown.
The kids bath.

Kitchen shelf

Kitchen.

I filled all my frames with old Christmas pics of the kids.

Living room

Our tree.

I pack up the Christmas books and put them away after Christmas. Then when I pull them out each December, it's like having a BUNCH of new books for the kids to look at! I try to add to the list each year -- usually after christmas when they're 50% off!! I always keep them in a special basket by the fireplace......just the place for a good bedtime story. You'll notice that my FAVORITE basket is broken, thanks to Harrison. I'll be getting a new one next year. :(

My mantle.

This is over the door in our entryway.

Dining room table, all set for Christmas dinner!

Dining room

That's pretty much the house.....I got lazy and left off a few rooms, but, oh well.

Santa Came!

Christmas morning this year was the most fun ever!! Madeleine woke up -- looked over at me and gave me the biggest GRIN -- said, "did Santa come???!!!" She couldn't WAIT to go see what he brought her! We got brother up and let them go into the living room at the same time. Madeleine yelled "My fairy barbie!!" and headed straight for her new toys.....with Harrison right behind her. He headed straight for the new doll bed!! Ha! He completely bypassed what Santa brought him, a new train table!

Madeleine's gifts -- a baby bed with working mobile, new dress up clothes, new legos, polly pocket toys, fairy barbie, etc.

Harrison's toys -- a train table, farm, vaccum, racetrack, thomas legos, books, puzzles, etc.

Daddy getting the fairy barbie out and being thankful that we own electric scissors.

Got what she wanted!!

Checking out her stocking.

Eating the chocolate Santa left him!

Chugging some sweetarts. Nothing like some serious candy early in the morning.

My parents came up on Christmas morning to spend the day/rest of the week with us. We had such fun opening presents with them.......all Harrison wanted to do was rip the presents open then move on! He spent the ENTIRE morning in Grandad's lap! Poor Grandad probably will be having back surgery in the near future from holding Harrison the ENTIRE weekend -- haha!!

Sugar got the kids these fun seats for the new playroom.

Madeleine and her new baby doll and highchair had to join us for lunch. Notice that Madeleine's in her tutu -- I'm posting this picture for my cousin Katie, since Lily's always in princess gear, we're always in ballerina attire!!! (and no, the tutu wasn't new, it's our second one this year since we're wearing them out!)

We had such a fun Christmas!! It's estimated that Santa visited our house around 2am, so we're thankful that BOTH kids slept until almost 9:00 Christmas morning. We played so hard all day and had a yummy lunch/dinner with my parents. We're still eating leftovers. I'm already looking forward to next year!

Christmas Eve

This Christmas has been the best one ever!! I've been working for weeks, trying to get everything done so that we could just play and have fun this week. :) We had the most fun on Christmas eve. It was just our little family and we spent the day playing. In the morning the kids and I made some cookies for Santa. Madeleine is getting to be such the cook. She was so gentle cutting and lifting her cookies onto the cookie sheet. She was so proud to wear her apron, just like me!

After awhile, the smell of yummy cookies drew Harrison to the kitchen. Then he had to get in on the action. He thought he was big stuff up there cooking!

The he thought he'd try the dough & he REALLY liked it!! He would have eaten the rest, if I'd let him.

After they cooled, it was time for some icing! Madeleine worked so long icing her cookies. I think she did 5 in the amount of time it took me to do almost 25! ha!

Harrison wasn't interested in decorating.....he was just interested in eating. Not to worry, he also ate 2 cheese stix (protein) to balance out the sugar he was consuming.

Madeleine with her almost finished cookies......at least I think there's a cookie under that icing somewhere.

Yummy!!

After dinner, we let the kids open ONE present (mommy selected). They were so excited!! Harrison just went running to the tree, grabbed a present and ripped. Unfortunately, it wasn't for him! Madeleine got a new set of princess puzzles, which we worked before bed. Have I mentioned that she's a puzzle guru -- she can do puzzles up to 100 pieces, by herself!!

Harrison also got a new puzzle, which he surprised all of us and worked like a pro!

Then it was time to put out our reindeer food so Santa and the Reindeer could find our house! This is something we do every year and Madeleine was pretty serious about doing it just right this year!

Then we headed inside to read The Night Before Christmas. We also do this every year, all cuddled up together on the couch! I love this time, just before they go to bed. They both could hardly stay still, they were SO excited!

Then it was time to put out Santa's milk and cookies. I was able to talk Madeleine into leaving some of her less-iced cookies so Santa wouldn't go into sugar shock at our house. One problem here: Harrison was convinced that the cookies were for him. Madeleine tried to tell him NO, but....

he threw a fit! Here's a "real-life" picture. I love Harrison's face! It's so sad. :(

Madeleine knew exactly what to do. She was excited to see the cookies the next morning.

Check back for pictures of Christmas day......I'll leave with this one thought. This was the BEST christmas I've ever had, ever ever ever! Madeleine knew EXACTLY what was happening and watching her excitement grow with every passing day was more fun for me than her, I think. Harrison just fed off her excitement! Having his birthday just before christmas helped him, too. He never paid any attention to the presents under the tree until after his birthday, when he realized that there were actually TOYS in those boxes!! Then he couldn't stay away. :)

New Trick

Harrison has learned to pull his pants down.....the only problem is that he can't get them up again! hehehe He just walks around the house YELLING "uh-oh" until I pull them back up. Then we do it all over again.