Christmas 2011

 

I think Marlo’s expression in this photo describes perfectly EVERYONE’S infatuation with our new little Mia.  (I snapped this photo with my cell phone, and it is one of my favorites!)

Despite being smitten with this new little girl, losing plenty of sleep and just generally being busy with a newborn, we found plenty of time to celebrate Christmas at our home.

Every year, we are usually very ON TOP of getting our photos done for our Christmas card.  (And as most of you can recall, those pictures always included our beloved Banks!)  This year, though, we were halted a little bit in our efforts when Mia arrived on December 4. 

In a what I thought was a last minute stroke of genius, I purchased sort of matching Christmas PJs for the kiddos and thought we could photograph them all for a quick Christmas card we could whip up at Kroger.  Boy was I wrong!

We got as far as just getting a few pictures taken on our bed and that was it.  So enjoy these photos, as there will be NO Regan Christmas card arriving in your snail-mail box this year :)

The week leading up to Christmas proved to be a very wild one, well, in terms of the kids’ behavior anyway!  Since Ty is getting older he is very much understanding the concept of counting down the days till gift opening, etc.  On Christmas Eve morning we allowed the kids to exchange the gifts they got each other.  This was a big hit!

Ty and his new book…

Marlo and her new “Glinda wand”…

 

Christmas Eve we celebrated with the Regan family at our house.  GG wasted no time sneaking in a cuddle with WIDE AWAKE Mia :)

After a yummy surprise dinner of Chicago Ed and Joe’s pizza (or was it the appetizer?  I don’t think it ever made the table, ha!") we got right to the gift opening!

 

Making plenty of noise with instruments (Thankfully these instruments didn’t stay at our house, as we were the one’s who gifted these to Brian and Haley.  You’re welcome guys, ha ha ha!)

Both Ty and Gunnar were given full football gear, but Uncle D decided to try on the helmet and get a nice whack on the head from Gunnar and his Thor hammer (is that what it was??)…

Marlo got right to business and played with her new play house and figures…

Mia slept the night away, part of the time in Daddy’s arms…aww

 

Uncle D taught everyone the important lesson of being modest while nursing!

More football mischief!

Christmas Morning!  Santa came!

 

And this photo leaves me wondering, why in the WORLD do I spend all that time wrapping???? 

Also, speaking of wrapping…we need to make a mental note of an observation Ty made this year.  The first thing he exclaimed as he came downstairs to survey the goodies under the tree he said, “Hey, Santa has the SAME wrapping paper as US!”

Whoops.

School Christmas Parties

 

On this last week of school (and Mia’s second week here with us!) we had a full week of school Christmas parties.  Tuesday Mia and I joined Marlo in her class for some singing and some snacks.

Marlo wasted no time and went right to the “buffet line” to retrieve some snacks  (about 15 crackers and 75 cubes of cheese).  I amended her plate slightly and sat in an itty bitty chair while she told me about her classroom.  So sweet.  And watching her interact with her little friends just warmed my heart.

Cookie #1…

Aaaand, Cookie #2…

 

After filling up on snacks the kids sat on the carpet for some singing.  Here is Marlo with her jingle bells :)

A Christmas Classic (and also notice that Marlo is the ONLY girl in her class-her friend and only other girl classmate, Norah, was sick this week.)

(There is another short video of Marlo’s class performing a little snowman song, but it won’t load right now…check back soon!)

And because I hadn’t felt like I partied enough for the week, the girls and I joined Ty in his class on Thursday for his Christmas Celebration.  gingerbread house decorating is always a part of this Christmas party, and because his class is doing an in depth study of architecture/buildings/cities the children constructed their OWN gingerbread houses.  Ty’s was the one that was described by his teacher as “defying gravity”!  (Check out that roof!)

Slopping on some icing for adhering the candy decorations…

 

And taking a little sneaky bite of the “decorations”…

Marlo behaved so well, and spent much of her time having a staring contest with the bull frog.

And her brother even let her help decorate (and also take some sneaky bites of the decorations too!).

This is how Mia participated.  She didn’t make ONE SINGLE PEEP :)

 

The classroom is so richly adorned with their creations, which is evidence of just how involved and interested they are in the building theme (and also of how amazing the teachers are to facilitate this…)

 

The year without The Cookie Bake

 

So last Christmas season I started the tradition of gathering all the women in the family to do a Cookie Bake in our home.  It was such fun…

Something happened this year though to make this cookie bake pretty much impossible…

This sweet little treat came into our lives right around the time we would’ve had the cookie bake.  We couldn’t be happier :)

So, girls (and guys!) we’ll see ya next year for the Annual Christmas Cookie Bake at our house.

Happy Holidays everyone!

Baby Mia is HERE!

 

Sunday at 12:06 P.M Mia Helen Teresa arrived very quickly and we QUICKLY fell in love with her!

(It was extremely tough to get a good picture of EVERYONE, so this was the best we could do!)

Poor little girly girl had her little face smashed :(  But she was a very content baby during our stay in the hospital (which thankfully was only 24 hours!)

 

Nana and Mia :)

Ahh, the craziness is about to be the usual for us, 3 crazy kiddos :)  Just check out these attempts at getting some good family pictures!

BIG sister giving love to her new BABY sister <3

 

Getting cozy and cuddling before going home

 

With the holidays coming up there will definitely be more pictures to come :)