December 25 = Kayleigh's First Christmas

Look at these two!

Uncle Matt & Meese took Malia back with them to spend the night- looks like she had a little fun.

December 2 = Family Picture Day

Oh my goodness- so the church we go to- King Grant's Fellowship- has a program where they have a photographer and a Santa and they decorate and they have families with kids with special needs come in and give them a family picture.  It's amazing.  The lady that coordinates it has a son on the spectrum and so she understands how difficult it can be to get a good family picture.  So they have volunteers to get the kids' attention- they have stuff to keep the kids occupied before picture time so they're not "over it" by the time the camera's ready.  And this is now one of my most prized possessions:

December 20 = Our Little Christmas

We decided yesterday to go to NC after all for Christmas.  It's just not Christmas without family.  But tonight, we had a little Christmas with just the four of us.

After opening a few presents, we put the kids to bed and we got to baking!  This is my sparkling apple cranberry juice.  Oh my goodness- so good.

And here's the yummy chocolate chex mix we made- I'm not sure how much will make it to NC...

Here's Miss Lala in her new robe and her new shoes... she's set.

December 25 = Christmas!

On the road again!  We ate delicious cheddar and bacon biscuits for breakfast before packing the car and heading back to Graham.  Here are the three babies in the car:

Lots of people say that kids like the boxes their presents come in more than the boxes- it's true for this one:

My parents got Malia a baby doll with a little booster seat - Malia opened the booster seat before realizing she had a doll that was supposed to sit in it, so she tried to sit in it herself.

I guess I paid close attention to present exchanging because those are the only pictures I got!  Here's Liam with Daisy in the background:

And this meme I saw on facebook- I took a screen shot of it as my friend Alexandra was texting me but I thought this was so funny- people dream of a white Christmas but this is what we got:
 

After presents we resumed the putting the blanket over our head habit... he was so tired.

Alexandra came over!  We haven't seen each other in so long- way too long- she had never met Malia!

 It was time for Liam to wake up- Malia decided.

 These are the pajamas Grace got Liam for Christmas- glow in the dark snowmen.

Zachary snapped some pictures while I was getting a power nap in preparation for getting Liam down.

You may be able to see Liam's nice little toddler bed at the foot of our bed... we had to wait for him to rock himself to sleep on our bed before Zachary carefully moved him onto his bed.

December 23 = Presents Day!

Tomorrow is going to be busy with lots of yummy food and Christmas Eve service so Grandma and Pops decided to do Christmas presents today.  

Here's Malia soaking up all the beauty rest she can get with her little feet crossed- so cute.

And here's Sadie checking out Daisy in a safe environment.

Both kids are wearing shirts from their Meese.  Still not sure where Liam got Meese out of Grace but just like with Mimi instead of Grammy, everyone just goes with it.

 Malia's super excited to get the opening of presents started!

 Liam got tired as Grandma was sorting the presents so he wasn't the most enthusiastic.

 But Malia's enthusiasm made up for it.  We knew Liam wouldn't participate much on his first Christmas because he was so young.  We used that same reasoning for the second.  By the third we thought we would get some excitement out of him and surely by the fourth but so far presents on Christmas don't interest him.  The presents he got on Christmas interest him a lot in the following days and weeks and months but on the day?  Nah.

Malia sitting in one of her presents from Grandma & Pops:

Liam finally waking up and opening his Gronkowski jersey- super excited about this! Uncle Matty got Liam an Aaron Rodgers jersey so he can now represent two of my favorite NFL players!

Zachary's impressive wrapping job on Matthew's present:

December 26 = Christmas II

My parents left in the morning and Zachary's parents got there soon after!  After they brought in as many presents as they could carry, we had leftovers for lunch and then got down to business!  Liam didn't get quite as much of his nap as he should have but he did a good job opening presents and even helped with a few of Malia's.  Liam got a cool easel with a whiteboard on one side and a chalkboard on the other side- it also came with letter and number magnets- it was an instant hit!  He also got some red chucks and a really cool alphabet bag- it unzips to all of these pockets, labeled a-z, with a tiny object that starts with that letter.  Right now he loves playing with the little pieces but it will be great when he learns his letters too.  Malia got lots of cute clothes and cool toys- including a little play floor piano that she can kick to make lots of music.  My favorite gifts were a new pair of Toms shoes and a Jeopardy daily calendar and Zachary got some warm winter clothes and a lot of books.  We also got a book with pictures from throughout the year- some pictures in the book I had never seen!  We hesitated to stay in Annapolis for Christmas because we were worried we wouldn't be able to spend enough time with family but we were so blessed to be able to see both of our immediate families and spend great quality time with them!

December 25 = Christmas!

Malia slept through Christmas Eve night like a champ!  I woke up at 7:00 and was the only one awake so I read the Christmas story in Luke like I do every Christmas while I pumped of course and then made my new favorite breakfast- an English muffin with Nutella and Matthew, sleeping on a mattress in the living room, didn't hear me cleaning out the dishwasher or the toaster go off.  Zachary woke up and fed Malia and came out to join me which signaled to me it was time to get everyone up!  So I turned on Pandora and turned it way up and sure enough, everyone got up around 8:00.  We opened presents- Liam got his annual Hess truck from uncle Matt, the traditional Dr. Seuss book from my parents, and some really cool toys that I had put on Pinterest that I thought would be good for his development.  He also got some cool TMNT clothes.  Malia got some really cool toys- one being an colorful octopus that plays peekaboo- and lots of adorable clothes.  I got a beautiful ruby necklace because that's Malia's birthstone, really awesome Sanuk yoga mat flip flops, two cardigans and a lot of leftover containers!  And who can forget the chocolate covered cherries?!  Zachary got a Duke shirt and a gift card to Dick's sporting goods.

After the presents were all opened- we headed to IHOP which is a tradition Zachary and I started a few years ago- we've gone three of our five Christmases together now.  Liam kept his elf pajamas on from the night before and spread lots of Christmas cheer to the waiters and waitresses having to work on Christmas morning.  When we got home it was time to start preparing more food even though we were pretty full at the moment.  Growing up, we always spent Christmas Eve with my dad's side of the family and Christmas day with my mom's side.  My grandma and aunts would make snacks for us the "nosh" on throughout the day.  So keeping with that we made some cheese dip, sausage balls, a pork tenderloin and lots of baked goods my mom and brother had made the week before.

We had my dad's favorite Christmas movie, A Christmas Story on in the background as well as lots of NBA action and then tuned in to watch Zachary's school, George Washington, win a basketball game that night.

Unfortunately I don't have many pictures because we had my parents' video camera rolling the whole time so we did preserve memories but none I can share here!

Posting that first picture reminded me of another Christmas soon to be tradition that we started this year- Zachary wore an "ugly sweater" and plans to wear the same one every Christmas- should be interesting!

December 23 = Reflection Day

I was listening to "Mary, Did You Know" today by Pentatonix- it's beautiful.

Mary did you know that your baby boy will give sight to a blind man?
Mary did you know that your baby boy will calm the storm with his hand?
Did you know that your baby boy has walked where angels trod?
And when you kiss your little baby, you've kissed the face of God.

So Malia is not Jesus but when I was listening to this song, I looked over at her and she was laying on her blanket, staring at her hands.  I started thinking about what those hands would do one day.  Would they do what my hands do every day, prepare food for her babies, change their diapers, encouragingly pat them, pick up the same toys a million times a day?  Or maybe she'll be a nurse one day, and they'll give medications, change IVs and hold the hands of scared patients.  Maybe she'll be an accountant or a CEO or an architect or an engineer.  Whatever she is, I know she'll be great at it and she'll have all my support.

I pictured her giving a speech in front of her classmates at graduation- she may have been the valedictorian or maybe the class president- but in my daydream, I thought to myself, I'll be so honored to be the one that kissed those cheeks and fed her and patted her to sleep. 

And that helps me understand the true meaning of Christmas- to think that Jesus came into the world the same way Malia did- well without the c-section.  But He was an innocent, sweet baby who stared at his hands, I'm sure. 

December 17 = Christmas Party Day

Similar to the Thanksgiving party a few weeks ago, Liam's preschool class had a Christmas party today!  We got there early and waited eagerly in the hallway.  Two of the parents were ten minutes late because their baby had a dirty diaper on the way out- been there, done that.  So by the time the parents were able to come in, the kids were a little restless.  Liam saw his Daddy and it was over.  He came and sat with Zachary in the audience and while some parents were pointing out to the teacher that they were missing one of the students, they started without him.  He did enjoy the cookies afterwards though!

December 9 = Dress up the Cats Day

We have two small stockings for Joey and Marley.  Just like with Zachary's presents, I couldn't wait until Christmas to give them theirs.  They each got a battery powered toy- Joey got a bug and Marley got a mouse- that you can turn on and they scoot around the house, prompting the cats to attack.  But the more exciting presents were new collars and some collar attachments:

December 6 = Get in the Christmas Spirit Day!

Zachary and I have spent most of our Christmases traveling to NC.  Having recently gotten back from a trip to NC during which Liam nor Malia slept very well and Liam did not eat very well... and the ride back was nightmarish... we decided- after making sure our families would still come see us- to stay in Maryland for Christmas.  So not only did this mean no packing and better sleeping and eating but it also meant there was a legitimate reason to get a Christmas tree!  We've never really had to have the artificial tree vs. real tree conversation but I grew up with artificial trees and he grew up with real trees.  But marriage is all about compromise ;) and he knew I would love the way the tree would make our house smell so we headed out to Target (of course) and got lights and a tree stand and a few other things and then headed to the tree lot.  I was hoping to make a huge spectacle of choosing a tree- letting Liam walk around and see if he gravitated towards one... taking lots of pictures... but it was cold and when we left Target it started raining so Zachary let me pick one and we headed home to decorate!

They are such a pair.

We got a few battery powered stars to put in the window- they were a hit with Liam.

Missy Mae supervising.

Reaching for the button to turn the lights on...

Success!

Liam telling us what color each of the lights were- he loved them so much!

Santa's helper relaxing after all her hard work.

2/3rds of our family- just missing Marley & me.