Christmas Eve & Day

We started our crazy Christmas traditions by going to my in-laws and my Aunt's house for Christmas Eve.  Two of my cousins and I decided to order matching jammies for the girls.

Gah, so sweet!  Except you can tell Laiken had been crying, ha, poor sweetie.

Ava (3), Hadley (5), Presley (1.5), Laiken (8 mos), Kinley (2)

Ok girls, jump on the couch but just for pictures!  ;)

Laiken and Grandpa cheesin' it up!

Me and my girl

Always posing

I got lucky enough to get some pictures after Santa came, before the girls woke up!

I'm sure this was a 5 a.m. wake up call.  Checking out the new toys...

Wow, what is all this?!

Laiken was on the move at Christmas time.  I still can't believe that this was barely a year ago!

Looking SO big sitting at her piano.

Kinley got a trampoline and gymnastics leotard!

We hurried to get dressed and get to Scott's parents house by 8:30/9.  I love having big families but we always have to stick to a schedule.  Kinley helped everyone open gifts (she was finally into it this year!)

Grandma & Grandpa got Kinley a gymnastics mat!!

Laiken Lou liked it, too.

This little stinker is always into something.

After presents and breakfast we made it back to my parent's house by 11 for more presents before family came.

Kinley got a big girl chair!

And so did Laikey!  She thought she was SO big!

Can't get enough of this chubby cheeker!

The almost newlyweds!

Kids table fun

Aunt B & Laiken!

After more food and relaxation at my parent's house we went back to Scott's parents for Christmas dinner and the present game!  This is exhausting just re-typing everything but we had lots of fun and made great memories!

December 2013

Continuing on with Christmas 2013 - here are actual camera pictures, woohoo!

Festival of Trees

Apparently I was able to get their coats off to snap some quick pics..

Kinley just wouldn't look at the camera but they're still pretty cute together..

One December afternoon I decided to try to take my own Christmas card pictures.  I practiced on the pups first...

My sweet (sometimes) Buffett & Tiki

These took a lot of effort and these were the best I could get...

Laiken says...timberrr

Now that's sweet

I tried everything to get Kinley to cooperate but this 2 year old wasn't having it..

We attended a good friend's wedding mid-December.  LOVE getting together with my high school girls!!

<and guys>

Never a dull moment with this crowd!

O Christmas Tree...

Our Christmas posts are going to be all over the place so we'll start with the Christmas season via my phone.

We put up our first Christmas tree in Kinley's room the weekend after Thanksgiving.  She was obsessed with her purple tree!

We made our annual trip to the apple barn to pick out our tree.

And these could have been perfect Christmas card photos but Kinley would NOT take off her coat.  She was a very opinionated 2 year old, that's for sure.  But the pictures turned out very cute.

It's also a tradition to go to the Festival of Trees to see all of the decorated Christmas trees and visit santa.

Classic santa picture.  I'm the mean mom trying not to laugh and say get a picture!  Laiken was intrigued by his beard while Kinley looks horrified.

We had plenty of red & green outfits thanks to Kinley's hand me downs.  And please ignore our bedroom wallpaper that we still haven't taken down, yikes!

A few more festive Laiken photos.  She was the happiest, smiliest baby!

I had seen a Christmas card tree on another blog the year before so I decided to try my hand at one.  I thought it turned out pretty cute and was a fun way to display all the cards we received.

Obviously I'm all about the Christmas traditions - gingerbread houses!

And I have no idea where this even fits in but it was too sweet and snuggly not to share.

To be continued...

Thanksgiving 2013

We enjoyed another exciting and exhausting Thanksgiving, starting at my parent's house for lunch.

Little photo shoots always seem like such a good idea at the time...until your baby almost face dives off the chair and your 2 year old won't cooperate. Sigh...

Laiken loved her first Thanksgiving meal.  She inhaled it all!

Little sis had been there, done that so she was more interested in my phone.

I love this picture of cousin Ava and Laiken with my Grandma (their GG)!

It's hard to remember Laiken that little!

Kinley conked out on the way to Scott's parent's house (with her sunnies of course).

Hurry, lets try another photo shoot before everyone arrives and my girls are still cooperative!  Well at least everyone is looking..

and cue the meltdown.

Woohoo, finally a smile from Kinley!

And that's a wrap.  Every holiday is jam packed but I wouldn't have it any other way.

And let's give one more, "aaawwwww."