It was magical!

We have had a really special Christmas this year! It has been a busy holiday season filled with parties, fun, family and more! However, the last couple of days have been slow and easy with just the four of us! It has been really special to spend lots of time with our fabulous foursome! Jack and Lucy have made everything so very special this year. We have had time to sit and appreciate the time together. We have made fun memories and have enjoyed it all! Jack has been so into everything this year and excited about every little thing that has happened. Lucy has followed in his excitement (whether she knows why or not!)

We did it ALL MOMMY!!! It's Christmas!

Christmas Eve was spent cooking, baking and playing! We headed to church for the 4:00pm Children's Pagent. Jack got a bag when we walked in with donkey ears in it! The children created a live nativity and it was really neat! When it was time for the "animals" to go up..Jack was the first one up there! I think he was very excited about seeing Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus! He was such a big boy!

Our donkey! (Trying to get Jack to smile for the camera these days is tough!)

Both kids hung in there for the hour long service....well, almost. We took communion and Miss Lucy apparently thought it was snack time. Well, she didnt get a snack! When they handed me the wafer, she was NOT pleased to get passed by. She never really recovered. We snuck out a few minutes early! I am sure we will laugh in years to come..but can't believe we almost made it to the end and our very agresssive..I mean excited eater couldnt handle being passed by during communion! It was a special service and glad we got to participate! We came home and headed to the neighbor's house for snacks and some play time before bedtime! Jack loved playing with his buddies and Lucy loved trying to keep up with the boys!
Jack was so excited last night and kept telling us that we had to "Hurry and get to sleep FAST so Santa could come!!!" It was fun putting out the cookies and milk for Santa and reading Twas the Night Before Christmas.

Daddy and I had our nice dinner after the kiddos went to sleep! Filet, sauteed brussel sprouts, onion rice and a NICE Napa bottle of wine! It was so nice!

The morning was magical for us! Jack was so excited when he got up... he kept asking if we thought Santa ate the cookies and he told us that he heard Santa on the roof last night but he stayed in bed and went back to sleep! He was so happy to go get Lucy up (poor baby was so asleep when Jack ran into her room telling her to get up!) The kids had fun playing with the new toys from Santa and we sat back and enoyed our coffee and Monkey Bread! Poppa came down and got to try out all the new fun things with the kids! We had a really nice laid back lunch and then all took a long nap! We have all been in pjs all day (THAT IS THE BEST!!!!) What a great day! We ate some leftovers and played some more tonight! It has been a magical Christmas for us!

Wake up Christmas Angel (Jack's actual words!) Santa came!!!

Look at all the fun stuff!

Look over here Lucy!

Babies loving the kitchen!

Monkey Bread!

Christmas babies!

I am SOOO excited! (LOVE the 3 year old smile...sigh.)

Gummy bears in the morning..Why not?! Santa brought them!

Happy girl with Poppa!

Poppa and Jack playing in the Batman Cave!

Strolling Batman around!

Slinky was a hit!

Lucy trying to get IN the oven!!

Now.....................it's time for it to go! We may get it all up over a month early...but it's usually gone on the 26th! We even watched a very NON-Christmas movie tonight! (Our little tradition!) It's been great...now it's time to CLEAN UP!!!!!

Merry Christmas!
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It's so fun to celebrate with family!

It's hard to believe that it's JUST one week until Christmas! We try so hard to fit so much in to the holiday season! It's bittersweet to see some of our favorite things come and go! We get so excited about each tradition and event coming up...then it quickly comes and goes! That is how this weekend was for us! It's become a tradition to celebrate Christmas at Poppa and Nunno's the weekend before Christmas. We went up early Friday morning (Daddy worked while we played) to spend the weekend! It was great to start our fun times early.  Steven and I went out on a really nice date Friday night (it was pretty unplanned which made it even more fun!) It was so much fun to have dinner and talk! Saturday we got up and everyone came over to celebrate! All five grandchildren were together and were so excited to see all the Christmas decorations and tear into their presents! Jack has been so excited about opening all of his presents! He has even slowed down a little and gets very excited about each thing and usually tries to get someone to "Look! Look!" (He even did that today with a sweater! He asked three different people to LOOK WHAT I GOT!!!"
Lucy, on the other hand, doesnt really care about opening presents (Jack does this for her!) but she LOVES the bows!!! She picks up any bow and tries to put it on her head. It is really funny! If it falls out then she will bring it to you to re-stick it to her head or she will try to get it back up there! Once they are stuck... then she leaves them there!

LOTS of love between cousins!

Lucy and her bows!

LOOK Daddy! I got a new game!

Aunt Anneke and sweet Anna

Lucy checking out her presents!

Jack got lots of dress up clothes and they loved trying them on!

Dancing in circles to "Jingle Bells"

Too much fun!

Today we got up and had a big breakfast and then slowly got ready to head to Cousin Jennifer's to celebrate Christmas with the WHOLE Buffington family! There were six great grandchildren there and they are FULL of energy! It's always fun to see them together! Jack and Lily immediately started playing and never stopped. They marched around singing and telling everyone they were trying to figure out who is naughty and who is nice! They said they were elves and they were working for Santa. They told most everyone if they were naughty or nice! (It seemed that most people were on the naughty list! Jack reasoned that because there were two lists then people had to be on both lists!) It was so fun to listen to their reasoning and imagination! It was a really happy day to see everyone together! We are blessed to have our family!

Lucy and her bows.....again!

Great grandchildren!

Granny her the kids!

Nunno and Poppa with the little lady!

Look Lucy! (Sweet brother stopped to show her toys!)

Jack opening his LONG present from Granny!

All the kids had fun with their LENGTHY unwrapping! (Great job Maegan!)

Jack concentrating on his unwrapping!

The Leonards!

We finished up our gift exchange and had a great lunch! We played some more and then everyone took a little rest! When we got up, Jack and Lucy headed downstairs to play with their new toys and the adults had yummy snacks and drinks! It was a quiet night and so nice to relax!

Now....just one week away from Christmas day and we are happy to be together and thankful for all of the blessings in our life!

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Walking in a Winter Wonderland....

....well, not exactly. However, it seems to be one of Jack's favorite Christmas songs right now and he walks around singing it! If it comes on he says, "Mommy! It's our song!" TOO cute!

We had another fun holiday weekend! Thursday night was Jack's holiday program at school! It was fun (and very short..I guess 3 year olds can't stay focused to sing Christmas songs for too long) and Jack did a great job! He sang every song and looked cute in his scarf and gloves! Nunno and Poppa came down too and it meant so much to Jack! He asked over and over if they were there! He was thrilled to see them in the crowd! His class sang "Rudolph", "We Wish you a Merry Christmas", "Jingle Bells", and "10 Little Snowmen"!  We had a quiet Friday night and watched Frosty after Lucy went to sleep! Jack loved having a special Christmas movie to watch after bathtime! Daddy and I addressed Christmas cards and baked cookies after they were both asleep! We delivered some of the cookies to our neighbors on Saturday afternoon! Jack went up to each door and handed them out and said "Merry Christmas!" He thought it was an "adventure"!

Steven and I went to the Turner Holiday party on Saturday night! It was a lot of fun and so great to see so many people that have been out of town on projects.

We got up today and finished a few things for our Dinner Club! The Reilly's and the Coopers came over for a fun lunch! The kids had so much fun playing together and each one got a new ornament to take home! Everyone also got some cookies to take home too! It's been our tradition to exchange ornaments and cookies (now just the kids exchange ornaments!)

They are getting BIG! William (2.5), Morgan (5), Lucy (1), Jack (3.5), Caroline (3), Lauren (6 wks.)

Look at my Choo Choo Train ornament!

Playing under the table!

Happy to be with his buddies!

Lucy on the rocking horse!

Before I forget... I never mentioned Lucy's 1 year appointment! It went really great! She weighed 20lbs 10oz (50%) and looked "perfect" as Dr. G described her! I think she was happy to have Jack there with her (he got his stitches out at the same time).  She is ahead on most of her milestones and doing really well! We have struggled with Lucy taking a sippy cup. She has been pretty stubborn and just loves her bottle. We got through her birthday and then decided that we had to just go cold turkey. It may seem kind of harsh but she would just cry until we gave her the bottle. She would walk into the kitchen where her bottles were and point and scream for it! So...... Friday we did no bottles and she bascially didnt drink anything all day. Saturday was better and today she did really good! She hasn't asked for the bottle and we even had one empty sippy cup today! So....we might be past that hurdle! Way to go Miss Lucy!

Jack and Lucy with Dr. G (Lucy - not so thrilled!)

Who ARE you Dr. G?!

It should be another fun holiday week! Bring on the Christmas cheer!