Christmas Eve and Christmas Morning

On Christmas Eve night we went to the Lord's Supper Ceremony at church. It used to be the candle lighting service, but they quit doing that. I miss it, but I still love going for the Lord's Supper. It is one of my favorite traditions. This year, we sat in the back and went first just in case the babies got a little fussy. We were so blessed, though, because Reid slept right after we had communion all the way through the service and Lilly stayed happy throughout the whole ceremony--mainly thanks to the pens and the pen holders attached to the back of the pews. Also, this year was a little extra special because Pastor Rick did our Lord's Supper and made it personal and special. We are a very blessed family and I just think starting the celebration at church helps keep the focus on the real reason for the season. After church, we head back to DeDe and Poppy's (yeah, we are trying out Poppy) to eat a delicious dinner while all of the kids wait in agony for everyone to arrive so that they can open gifts. Reid racked up in presents. There is no way that I could post photos of everything that Lilly and Reid got--let us just leave it at they were so blessed!!

Lilly got this blender that she LOVES. Actually, she is getting good use out of all of the presents that we have taken out of the box. I am saving some of them for later in the week/month. That way she can play with them all.

She wore the cutest Santa dress but I didn't get a single posed picture of her in it--maybe someone else did and I can post it later.

Colt playing in the jumper.

Reid got some loving from DeDe.

DeDe showing him one of his presents. After everyone left, Santa's elves began assembling Lilly's kitchen. They sent a note saying that it came in a bajillion pieces that all had to be cut out of the plastic moldings and took several hours to put together--they hope she enjoys it and that it was worth all the sweat and carpal tunnel that came from screwing in the hundreds of screws by hand. I figure if they cared enough to send a note it must have been an ordeal. Ha!

Lilly went to it first thing when she got up! It was worth it Santa's elf!

She played with it all the time we were down there--unfortunately, we didn't have room in our van to bring it home so it won't be here for a couple of weeks.

Smiling--she is so happy about Christmas! Notice she is still in her Christmas PJs.

Reid in his Christmas PJs surrounded by all of his goodies.

On Christmas we gave Reid cereal for the first time. He liked it so much that he ate the whole bowl! I had to stop feeding it to him because I read that if you need to boost the supply that you shouldn't supplement anything. Rats! There will be more cereal soon big boy!

Reid took a little Christmas nap on DeDe. So precious!

Lilly also got a ball pit. She HEARTS this thing!

She plays in this thing constantly. Another bonus is that I am always finding things that she hides in there! I love surprises. (c;

Sunday afternoon Grandma Betty came over for lunch. Lilly was a little too busy for photos (actually I think when I finally thought about pictures she was already napping).

She got Lilly and Reid these awesome rocking chairs with their names on the back of them. LOVE them. Reid's is coming with the kitchen since he can't sit in it yet. That sums up our Christmases. We were so blessed and had a great time celebrating the season with our families!

Note: This is my third post of the day so you probably need to keep scrolling down! (c: Make sure you read the Christmas Chocolate post--it is one of my favorites!

Cousins

In Benton, we always have lunch together after church on Sundays. This past Sunday before we left we decided to try and get a picture of Reid and Colt--they are cousins and only 7 weeks apart. Colt is the older one and he is on the left. He has got the cutest cheeks that I could just kiss all the day long.

Then, Eli decided he needed to be in the picture. He is Colt's big brother.

Well then Thomas decided he needed to be in the picture, too.

Next came Ray...at this point we are all laughing.

So we decided to add Lilly to the mix and went through several unsuccessful photos like the following...

Ahem...Lilly-could we get some focus here??

Then, we finally got this adorable little photo. I love it! I should also note that there were four different cameras taking pictures at the same time--so add that to the fact that there are six children in this photo and I think it turned out pretty perfect.

I posted another post earlier so keep scrolling down!! It is a pretty good one if I do say so myself!

Christmas Chocolate

Well, I am sitting here enjoying what my friend Lindsay dubbed "the magic hour"--aka both children napping simultaneously. Ahhh. The house is as close to clean as it can be before I clean out the closets to make room for all of the new presents and clothes we were so spoiled with for Christmas and dinner (Taco Soup with Black Beans...mmmmm) is already in the Crock Pot cooking. Plus, today is Matt's Friday so I am looking forward to a three-day weekend! Life is good!!! So, we went to Benton on the 18th for Matt's cousin Melissa's birthday party. We showed up to the VFW with both of our babies. Now, we had never been to a VFW and were not aware that is pretty much like a night club. So we walk in with both babies in tow and go through the smoky bar to the party room that is blaring a DJ, totally dark, and pretty much looking like a night club. Oh, I felt like a good parent. Ha. Then, one of the guests used the line from Sweet Home Alabama and said, "Hey, look! There's a baby...in a bar!" Move over parent of the year recipients...here Matt and I come! Ha. Well, obviously we decided to take our babies elsewhere. We went to Matt's Aunt Kay's house for a little while and let Lilly, Reid, Eli, and Colt play until Matt's parents were finished at the party. Then they took the kiddos and we went back. (PS. Mary Lynn--I was so bummed that we weren't able to get back before you left!) It was nice to spend a night out and have possibly a little too much fun and not have to worry about what our babies were doing. Good times.

Then, we hung out with family through the weekend. During this time, Lilly earned a Master's degree in "Redecorating"--she must get it from her Aunt Becca (who is an interior designer). Matt came back home to work Monday and Tuesday while we stayed in Little Rock with my Momma (aka MoMo). Lilly LOVED tearing through her pantry.

And, sitting in the fridge! She also cleaned out the cabinets at DeDe and Poppy's as well as redecorated their entire house. I am sure they are still enjoying her "arrangements".

On Wednesday we went to lunch with Granddaddy. Lilly spent most of lunch on Bert's lap--but she was definitely lively for lunch.

Eating some of Uncle Bert's french fries.

Feeding Uncle Bert some french fries. Look at her face. She thought it was hilarious. She fed him so many fries that he had to start fake eating them. Haha.

Christmas night (I am saving Christmas Eve and Christmas morning for this evening's post) we went to MoMo's and had a delicious dinner. I didn't take a single picture. Oops. Anyway, we played Dirty Santa (the cleanest dirty Santa game ever). Matt won this box of chocolates, Olive Garden gift certificate, and movie tickets! Date night here we come!!!!

Lilly is really into the chocolates. Last night, I told her she could have one last chocolate after dinner. So, I gave her one and thought that was the end.

She pulled everything off of the dining room table in order to get the chocolates down for herself.

This was the look on her face when we saw what she was doing. Nice.

She is trying to offer us some now.

This is what I won playing dirty Santa. I was so happy to win this...and this is why......

This was our sad set of pot holders. All of them had been burned or had holes in them. Sad looking bunch isn't it??

These were Lilly and Reid's presents from MoMo. They also each got an outfit and we all got spoiled with stockings FULL of goodies. After presents, we played Uno Attack and Family Feud. We had a great time. It was a great end to a great Christmas Day.

Random & Crock Pot Wednesday

Well, this post is totally random because I have so much catching up to do. So I am trying to fit in some stuff that I had to post about before I start posting a weeks worth of Christmas posts. We were out of town for about a week and a half visiting family and celebrating Christmas. To say the least, it has been a little crazy since we got back in town. For starters, big man broke through his first tooth about a week ago. That is right--he got his first tooth before he turned four months old!! That is crazy. Bless his heart--I didn't give him teething medicine or Tylenol because I had no idea he was working on one. Second, he has also decided that he isn't going to sleep anymore--ever! Ok, ok, I am exaggerating. He is eating every two hours on average....including during the night. What??! I know! I am one tired Mamma. In addition, he is fighting sleep beyond belief--unless he falls asleep while eating. But when he gets tired--he doesn't want to eat (that is the only time). Nothing works! In fact, he just fell asleep on his own for the first time in days--I mean SCREAMING. That breaks my heart because I am just not strong enough to be a "cry it out" Mommy--but I finally had to just set him down because nothing I was doing was helping. I am proud of him for going to sleep on his own--I just hate that he had to do it screaming and fighting all the way.

Miss Priss got up from a nap looking like this a couple of weeks ago. The bed head is getting worse! Haha.

To really appreciate it, you need to see it from all angles.

This might be why she opens the shower curtain while I am showering and sticks her head in the shower! She is just trying to fix her hair!! Haha. Seriously, her sticking her head in my shower is why she is SOAKING WET in this photo!

A couple of weeks ago, we went to Buffalo Wild Wings with MoMo and Ray to eat some spicy food and play Skip-Bo.

In order to play our game, we had to bribe Lilly to stay in her high chair with some chocolate. Don't judge me. Haha.

This wasn't even the worst of it--you should've seen her outfit (which had to be stain-treated the second we got home), the table, and her face once she was finished. Needless to say, she went straight to the tub once we got home.

Big man just chillaxin!

Then, sharing in the smiles. After a little while, he just fell asleep in his carseat and hung out for the rest of the night. Ohhhhhhh, those were the days! Haha. I am just teasing I know how blessed we are and what a great baby he is!

White Christmas! Well, we were out of town so we missed it, but there was still snow when we got back. This was taken on Monday--a doozie of a day for me! I had Reid down for what turned out to be a 10 minute nap and I was exhausted because I got basically no sleep Sunday night. BUT I decided memories can be made even if you are tired and I took Lilly outside to play in the snow for the first time. She loved feeling it and thought it was hilarious! She just kept giggling.

Then, she went over to this icy spot on our driveway. I decided to walk over there so I could keep her from falling. Well, on my way over, I fell! I busted my knee and dropped my camera while the lens was open and ended up jamming the camera lens. The lens still won't close on it's own. But I can get it closed--this little plastic piece around the lens just cracked so it isn't laying flesh against the lens now which keeps it from closing. I think it is just there for looks/protection of the lens and won't cause me to need a new camera. Thank God because I didn't want to get a new camera now. I would like to wait until I can get a really nice camera and that is just not in the cards right now! Anyway, so I pick up my busted camera and Lilly, along with some bruised pride and limp into the house--all the while Lilly is kicking and screaming because she wants to stay outside while it is freezing and play in the snow. She remained ticked off until nap time. So, that is just a little of what is going on with us this week and a little bit of what we did a couple of weeks ago. Christmas posts will be coming soon! By the way, Lilly has had a blast playing with her new toys this week.

We had some left over ham from Christmas, so I went through my new Fix It and Forget It cookbook that I got for Christmas (Thanks Mom) and found this recipe for our leftovers!

Au Gratin Potatoes and Ham

Ingredients:

10 potatoes, thinly sliced

1 onion, chopped

2 Tbsp. flour

1/4 tsp. pepper, optional

1/2 lb. Velveeta cheese, cubed

1/2 cup milk

1 cup fully cooked ham

Directions: Combine all ingredients in slow cooker. Cover. Cook on Low 7-8 hours.

Notes. This was tasty. However, I only used 7 potatoes and it was still a tight fit in my small crock pot. Also, my onion was questionable so I used onion powder. I also used 1 1/2 to 2 cups of ham and the ratio was still like a little bit of ham with a lot of potatoes. All of that said, the dish was quite tasty and gave us enough leftovers so that I don't have to cook tonight. Plus, we used up some of our ham.