Merry Christmas Eve

I'm not sure which one I enjoy more, Christmas Eve or Christmas Day.  Both pretty much rock in our family!  Our sis Allison & her hubby Mike like to host our family's Christmas Eve celebration... we ate, we drank, we opened presents and had a ball!

Lauren & Allison got Cam dressed after his nap!

Maddy with Grandma & Grandpa

Such a firecracker!

Everyone had a chance to enjoy the nice weather and watch the sunset.

Mike & Allison

It's almost time!  As soon as it's dark we open presents!

What a surprise!!  SANTA stopped by!!

He talked to each one of the girls about what they've been nice about, what they've been naughty about and what to keep trying hard at...  AND he had presents! 

Mikayla looked stressed until Santa gave her presents!

Paparazzi & Cam - he wasn't really feeling the whole sitting on Santa's lap thing!  Oh well, maybe next year. 

Cam did like the Little Einstein Rocket Ship we got him!

Mikayla's reactions were priceless when she opened her presents, she was just as excited about the clothes as she was the toys!

Maddy's favorites were definitely the clothes, books & her new Dsi game.  My first born is growing up!

Ok... AND the dolls!

Our family had another blessed & merry Christmas Eve but we had one last thing to to together before everyone packed up to go home... birthday cake.  More specifically, rum cake.  I baked it but unfortunately, I messed up the recipe by adding too much butter.  It was ok, but it was too rich, even for a rum cake.  My father-in-law really liked it though and since it was 1/2 HIS cake I won't be too hard on myself.  Happy Birthday to our December Birthday boys Mike & Dad and...

  MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Christmas Par-Tay

Every Christmas Season, my best friend's Mom throws a Christmas party in which we are always invited.  We always look forward to it and this year was Marata's best party ever!

All spiffed up and ready to go!

Within 10 minutes of arriving, Maddy & Mikayla were in the backyard playing football with the boys (Austin, Conner, Will, Ben, Collin & Tanner) in the dark.  It had rained earlier in the day, so it didn't take long for the boys to get mudded up.  Mikayla trashed her socks & white shirt but her bare knees & hands were easy to clean up.  Maddy is my clean-machine!  She can play hard and stay clean doing it!

Mike & Me

Our besties Brad & Jackie 

Jessica & Ken

Awww Jackie & Me :)

Jess, Jackie & Me

Sisters Chelsea, Jackie & Melissa with Aunt Mikey, Cousin Jen (in town from Seattle) & their Mom Marata

Ken, Brad & Mike

MERRY TIMES!!!

Mikayla's Stage Debut

This Fall Mikayla started preschool, I was thrilled when her teacher told me they were practicing songs for their annual Christmas program!  They sang Away In A Manger, Jingle Bells & Twinkle Twinkle Christmas Star.  It was the sweetest little performance.  All the kids did a great job but I was so very proud of MY Mikayla... I was afraid that she'd freeze up on stage but she was a shining star!  Just like the Christmas Star she sang about!

It was so hard to get good pictures, the lighting wasn't ideal but I managed to get a few... and we took videos with both cameras which captured it all!  I'm not sure if this video below will work but let's give it a try...

Daddy's Birthday

This December, my Michael turned 35.  His birthday (the 10th) fell on Friday, so I planned a little get together in his honor.  Amazingly, I was able to keep his party plans a secret until the last minute, once he caught me making my pasta salad he knew something was up!

It was a cool night, perfect for a fire! ;)

Lauren, Mikayla & Jackie

Mike & Dave

The kids' table - Conner, Collin, Maddy & Mikayla

The boys hanging by the fire... Brad, Dave, Collin, Conner, Mike & Gregg

The techies...

The wild childs...

Mike's Birthday cake, baked with Love....

Another year older...

Happy Birthday Baby!!  Make a wish!!  And make it a good one!!

BrrRRRrrr

Florida does get cold during the winter, last week we had our first "Arctic Blast".  We had temps that dipped as low as *27 with the wind chill overnight.  It's not as cold as our home state of Illinois but for my Florida native daughters, the cold isn't something they're used to!

Here's Maddy bundled up in her coat & mittens for school.

After I dropped Maddy off, I took a ride to our jetty to check out the surf.  It was so cold there wasn't a soul on the rocks or the beach for miles!

Trimming the Tree

The day after Thanksgiving we went to Ergle's Tree Farm with the Perneckys to pick out our Christmas trees.  It is always a project moving furniture, cleaning and decorating especially when there's excited children involved, so we took our time and enjoyed it!  

This is Mikayla's Paris Hilton pose... (Mike & I are in trouble aren't we?)

Maddy was demonstrating her ballet positions!

We all had fun rediscovering and hanging our favorite ornaments!

Mikayla helped Daddy with our fiber optic angel tree topper!

Awww doesn't it look nice???  I just love it!!!