January 9, 2011: Christmas/New Years 2010

Before we get in to Christmas stories and pictures from this year, I wanted to post some pictures from Christmas past...specifically our track record with Santa. Liam really got into Christmas this year and the idea of Santa. But Liam has kind of a love/hate relationship with Santa. Even though Santa has always been good to Liam, Liam has not always been good to Santa. Their relationship started off innocently enough...

However after a year, it pretty much went downhill (and we took Pres down as well)...

But Santa didn't take it personally because Liam was also having issues with his pal, the Easter bunny....

And at the present moment, he will only deal with Santa through a mediator (who was NOT expecting to be photographed till her child practically threw himself off Santa's lap)... But Liam and Santa are not giving up and hopefully by next year there might even be two people smiling in that picture. Of course by then Bryn will probably the one screaming :) It does appear that someone in our house likes Santa...no it's (obviously) not Liam, but his look-alike, aka daddy at age 2 :)
We had a wonderful holiday starting with the fact that both Nick and I were off for 10 days together...well I was on maternity leave still, but it was great to have so much time as a family. It was also a very special Christmas because it was Bryn's first and the first one in our house! We had Christmas Eve dinner at our house (standing rib roast and fondue, ahem) and the whole family came over. Looks like Meha was ready to eat :)

My mom found the matching Christmas outfits that Alex and Amelia wore when they were 2 years old...so of course we had to put them on Pres and Liam (this outift is NOT daddy-approved). But they did look pretty darn cute. We also put Bryn in Amelia's baby dress, but she wasn't in the mood for a photo shoot :)

We did our sibling gift exchange after dinner and gifts to godchildren and godparents. Being a godparent in our family is a big deal and over this holiday we also decided and asked Cameron and Rachel to be Bryn's! I don't have a picture...but they said yes :)

It was really special to wake up Christmas morning in our house. My parents and the twins came over as soon as we got up to watch Liam open his gifts. Liam must have been a good boy this year because he got some really cool things from Santa and family like a kid-size lazy boy, a work bench, a new art desk, his first baseball glove, a remote control car, his first sleeping bag, and of course...another HUGE t-rex. Santa liked our sugar cookies and whole milk we left out. We had to use Liam's milk cause we were out of skim...personally yuck, but Santa actually drank it for authenticity purposes :) and then left stacks of presents around the living room!Liam opened his Cars hotwheels first...and then just wanted to play with them on his ramp. We had to bribe him into opening more gifts which were luckily filled with more Cars stuff, Thomas the train, sports, dinos, and art supplies for his new desk...all his favorites. After opening gifts, we went to the Smith's for Christmas brunch. It was yummy and very fancy :) We then went over to Mallie/Dallie's to open their gifts to the kids. It was nice to relax, snuggle, and enjoy the day with the whole family.The day after Christmas we drove down to Houston. On the drive down we stopped so I could feed Bryn and Daddy and Liam found another activity to occupy themselves with. We mistakenly parked next to a firework stand, and Nick bought some of the poppers that they were throwing on the ground. Fireworks at age 2, yikes! Of course Liam loved it!Pics from Houston...We had a great visit with Grandma and Grandpa and also got to see Aunt Steph, Judy, Carson and Mayce.
We were home for New Years and decided to host a party with some family friends...who all happen to have a 2 year old boy :) The kids party was upstairs in the playroom (and supervised by a babysitter) while the adults hung out downstairs. The boys would come running down the stairs to sneak appetizers off the table and then run back up to play...they seemed so much older than 2. Here's some pics of them with their blowers celebrating the new year (2 hours early, of course!)...Liam is literally shrieking in one, he was so excited.

So what's new for this year? Well for one thing, Lindsey has moved in with us temporarily! She started a new job in Dallas and is staying with us while she decides what area she wants to live in. It's been fun having her here and she is Liam's favorite snuggle buddy after dinner. She fits right in with the fam and I found this picture that exemplifies that perfectly...Cameron threatening to buzz her ear off during a game of Taboo :)

My children each have their obsession. Right now T-Rex is to Liam what Wubbanub is to Bryn. Liam now has about 6 T-Rex dinos in all sizes...some roar, some are soft to snuggle with, and one is as big is he is! He just loves them all.... I heard Liam say "T-Rex, you want to color with me? You doooo?" And then I saw this...

Liam never took to the Wubbanub. But Bryn sure does LOVE her Wubby (also known as Wub, Clifford, her pipe or piper)I don't know how we are ever going to wean her off her wubby! But for now, I'm just enjoying the fact she has something else to pacify her besides mommy.

Here are some pics of Bryn just being so sweet and in two cute outfits! I love her looking at Amelia going "Did you really just put me in jeggings?"

I can't believe Bryn is already 2 months old! Her appointment is tomorrow, so I'll post more pics and stats after that.