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.