Oh Christ-mas, How I Love Thee

I was doing so good on my December Daily postings...I didn't even miss one...

...for like TWENTY whole days...

...but then came our trip to a little place called California.

{Oh California, how I love thee.}

And I failed. Uhhhh!

My excuse--I just didn't use the computer the whole week.

Which was quite lovely I might add.

So I'm about to make up for it. I'm going to drown this blog in some Christ-mas photos.

The Swisherz headed into the rock-n-roll Christmas service.

My bro snapped these shots of us of us on our way in. Now that I am a mom, I understand why my mom loved being in church with all of her kids on Christ-mas so much. It's just special.

And the twins, well, they were all kinds of adorable.

My mom + dad in all their glory. (Well almost all their glory because Judah wasn't there.)

My mom had some great activites for the kids to do while we there. Bird feeders, gingerbread houses, snowman cookies, peppermint play dough, jingle bell painting, ornament-glittering...you name it. We all had a blast!

(And swept the floor about 215 times!)

Tubby time was a personal fave.

How lucky are these turds!

Two things:

1.) My brother can grow a better handlebar moustache than your brother.

2.) That beauty on the right, she's my niece. She's a gem. I've never met a 13 year old girl like her. I'm so glad she's in our family.

Even if she's half Canadian.

Bah-dum-dum.

The original 5.

These photos don't get to happen too often anymore.

Add in the matching Christmas pajamas and we are talking not very often at all.

I'm sure this will be in the family calendar next year.

These 2 are brothers from another mother.

My dude from the woods of Pacific NW + Kelsey's 'neck from the dirty south = BFF.

Who would have thought?!

But I do love it.

Meet the new partial-owner of the Green Bay Packers.

This is one happy man right here.

Did I mention I love California? This was our Christ-mas day picnic...

CHRIST-MAS DAY PEOPLE!

And how about that scarf--

Well that was finger-knit from the Canadian.

Love.

The fam.

On the train we ride whenever we visit Folsom.

Good memories.

(Even if Jackson hates the whistle.)

Oh yeah, did I mention Santa came???

As usual, he did NOT disappoint.

We did have one tragedy.

One of Jackson's toys got stuck in my hair.

Bad.

Really, really bad.

It's a funny story, but it was looking like I was going to have to say goodbye to my long locks. Brian saved the day with his patience and determination.

(My high pain tolerance probably helped a little too.)

Owwww!

Of course this happened to me.

Of course.

We had a great visit. So much fun and photos that I'm not including believe it or not.

We are blessed.

So very blessed.

And we haven't even celebrated with the other side of the family yet.

December Daily

Here is a picture from last Christmas Eve. I snapped it right before I went to bed. This is one of my most favorite moments of the season. All the presents wrapped and under the tree, the stockings full, the tree in it's glory and the cookies + milk waiting for the Big Guy.

We are getting everything ready to celebrate Christmas with my side of the family this year. It's a lot of work to get ready for a big Christmas trip. And there are many, many things I'm looking forward.

This moment is certainly one of them.

*Please know that there are presents for 12 or 14 people under this tree plus one half-crazy beagle. There is no way in this world we would give our children this many presents.

No way at all!

December Daily

Waiting for the Christmas lights...

Excitement.

Pure, beautiful 2 year old joy.

By the way, Linc + Lila are all about choosing their own clothes right now.

So as you can imagine, we are experiencing all kinds of loveliness around here.

Sweet.

December Daily

L + L are on the go pretty much all. the. time.

Which makes the big guy and I exhausted.

But we have a little trick up our sleeves...

Our kids love books!

We are talking love with a big, fat capital L.

So when they are crazy, or arguing, or driving us bonkers, or tired, or anything-

We read to them.

And it works magic I tell you.

Today in the middle of our shopping trip to REI, the twins found some books and made themselves right at home.

Readers are leaders yo!

On a side note, sometimes I wonder what it would be like with just one 2 year old at time.

Much different?!

I don't know.

But I do wonder.

A lot.

But for the record, I prefer 2.

December Daily

Tonight Linc + Lila took their bath, put their jams on, and then we had a pajama party.

Brian + I put our jams on as well, and we drove around looking at Christmas lights.

Oh yeah, we got some ice cream too!

This just might have to become a tradition!

And just for kicks + giggles, may I present our sweet Lila Pearl...

December Daily

We had to run over to Cabelas today for a Christmas present.

Ahhhhh, Cabelas...

Not quite sure we are a very good match. Nope, not quite sure.

However!, they do have lots of things for 2 year olds to explore.

And so we did. And now we're done.

December Daily

Baby, it's cold outside.

We have had some unusually, (THANK GOD!), dry weather here in western Washington. But as a result, it is chilly. Way chilly. So when we go out we are bundled up.

And when we are home, we stay extra cozy. We sit by our fireplace, sometimes in our jammies, and stay very warm. On this day, we worked on projects. And read books. Lots and lots of books.

December Daily

Brian is on vacation until after the new year! He didn't plan it this way, but life happened this year. And so, we (L + L+ I), are very thrilled.

Today Brian + I got to work out at the gym together...

....for the 1st time in almost 4 years.

It was verrrrry fun. And we even resumed our usual gym disagreements about Brian making me lift too dang heavy. It was like we never left.

And then we picked the kids up from childcare and headed to the basketball court. The regular routine for the twins + I.

Except daddy was here today, so they got to do this...

Merry Christmas to us!

December Daily #10

Today is the last day my mom + dad are here so we decided to use them to snap a quick photo for our Christmas card.

Please enjoy the I-did-not-make-the-Christmas-card-this-year photo.

*Photo courtesy of my dad, James the Jackhammer. And my mom, Dotty2Hottie, who acted a fool with a dirty bird feather to get the twins looking at the camera. They rule.

December #9

Silly picture no doubt, but if you know these 2, it is ever-so-fitting.

Sis + Bud,

Your mama and daddy love you so much.

Just so dang much.

December Daily #8

We saw Santa tonight. In fact, we took a hay ride with Santa around our little town. The kids sat up on his lap, chatted with him and whispered what they wanted for Christmas. {Lincoln-Monster Truck, Lila-Pretty Things.} So much different than last years tears.

We had so much fun we hardly even minded the stories Santa was telling us about when he almost lost his toes to frostbite after he killed an elk back in 1957 in Moscow, Idaho.

Seriously though, he was a very nice Santa. Bonus point for the real beard.

Good job, Gig Harbor!

December Daily #8

Pops is coming! Pops is coming!

And how do we welcome Pops at Christmas time?

With a fresh batch of Christmas cookies. His most favorite.

Most people in my family associate me with the Christmas cookies. I'm the one who made the dough, patiently waited while it chilled, carefully rolled and cut each and every cookie and completed them with homemade frosting, sprinkles and love.

Only to have them eaten within minutes.

Every. Last. One.

Every. Single. Time.

I would get so mad!

Now I realize it's a compliment.

I actually think of my Grandma Krug every time I make the cookies. She used to patiently make them with me during her California visits. I always felt so very special.

Now I have 2 little turds to help.

And sneak bites of the dough.

And sprinkle flour all over the floors.

And smash all the cut cookies into pancakes. (Only to be rolled and cut again.)

Oh what's that?

My pictures are always blurry??

Two 2 year olds.

That's all.

December Daily #7

Tonight we rang the Salvation Army bell in front of our local grocery store.

As a family...

...For 2 whole hours...

...It was 40 degrees. Brrrrrrr!

When our church asked for volunteers, Brian + I thought it would be a great opportunity for our family. We are very interested in teaching our twins that there is much, much more to Christmas than receiving gifts. So we jingled and jingled those bells. And the patrons were very kind and gracious to our family.

On a side note, there was only 1 red apron available for us to wear. Guess who got lucky???

Lila was unanimously selected as MVP for our family. She greeted all the peeps, screamed 'Merry Christmas' about a million times, smiled, danced and looked all kinds of adorable. (She even sustained a minor injury from her wild-at-heart little brother and his rambunctious ringing.) What a gem she is!

December #6

'Christmas is a time for children, Happy faces all a-glow...'

{There is a song in there somewhere, and I might be willing to sing it for you IF you lend me a microphone.}

Children make Christmas (approximately) A BILLION times more awesome. The awe, the happiness and the wonder.

So much fun!

December Daily #5

Brian + I usually do the entire bath time/bedtime routine together. It was a necessity when they were babies, but now it's just family time. As most parents know, sometimes this is the most wild time of the day!

What happens to kids at this hour?!

B's turn to read tonight.

Oh yes, there were finger plays in this book as well.

And then the crane puts them into their beds.

And then B + I do the jiggity-jig because we survived another day. Bring on the popcorn.

December Daily #4

Last night Brian took me to the city. We met up with friends, had some drinks, ate some yummy food and stayed at a pretty swanky little hotel. Then today we got to spend all day shopping. All freaking day. It was so relaxing and so very fun. And then we came home to these smiling faces. Feeling very blessed tonight.

And in case you are wondering, Seattle is gorgeous at Christmas time.

December Daily #3

Lila + Lincoln love to help do the yard work. Yesterday was beautiful--chilly + beautiful. The twins were helping daddy rake the leaves. Seeing them play in and explore our yard will always be some of our most special memories.

December Daily #2

I'm actually kinda jealous I didn't have a twin growing up.

Nevermind.

I always had Kelsey and she is the best. (I'm not quite sure we could've been closer even if we were twins.)

But being a twin just looks like so much fun. Especially at Christmas time.

Snapshots

This afternoon The nosey Pearl found my camera that I had accidently left out. And she wanted to learn to snap some photos. So I showed her what to do.

A diamond in the rough I do declare and an absolute natural if I do say so myself.

And of course, we gave Lincoln a go as well.