Happy Birthday Nick & Abby!

Nick & Abby turned one and we had a nice birthday party with our friends. It's hard to believe that it's been a year (seeing that the first 6 months we're a blur) but we made it through and they are wonderful little babies. The pictures of them in their car seats puts it into perspective how small they we're when we brought them home and how chunky they are now. Time just flew by too quickly!

Mom toasted some wine for making it through and Dad had some beers - yippee! Now the real work begins. Nick was very clean when eating his cake - Abby, not so much. They are so different and I love seeing how they tackle things separately. John & I are very happy to have such a wonderful group of neighbors/friends and to have such wonderful people in our life to support us through a very busy year. Thank you!

Hello Santa!

We went to see Santa and tell him everything we wanted for Christmas. I knew Jake would do great on Santa's lap - the twins - pretty sure that they would cry. Well, they proved me wrong - they did great too and Abby just stared at the guy in red with amazement. It was fun to see their reactions to the whole process. Next year will be interesting to see if the try to run for it. For now, we got some good pictures.

I like it!

Well, we had a very busy month after Thanksgiving and it's only going to get busier.
We put up a tree over that weekend and decorated the house for Christmas. John put up the lights outside on the last remaining warm day before the snow flew and flew and flew. Is it just me or has it been a lot of snow for December in a long time?

The kids love the tree and when the gates are down - the twins take off running. Now you may ask "did they put a tree up with all those tiny hands grabbing ornaments in the family room?" The answer is "ARE YOU CRAZY?" We set up in the living rooom/dining room which is blocked from anyone (Abby) tackling the tree, stealing ornaments (Nicky) and grabbing ribbon (Abby). Nick has had a rough go with teeth the last couple of months - he already has 8 and his molars are just popping through - so he really hasn't talked much until the last two weeks. He's been fun to listen to and his gestures crack us up. Abby still only has the bottom two but her tops have come through and we can see more on the way. Thank GOD for Ibuprofen! In the video I ask Nicky if he likes the tree - and if you listen - he repeats me. I swear! I swear!
The rest of the video is a constant trying to keep up! Jake is hopped up on sugar...

Maybe I need some ibuprofen?

So this was our crazy weekend:
Friday: work Christmas party for John,
Saturday afternoon: 13th annual Cookie exchange at Mary Ellen's house in Delafield
(took 2 days to make 8 dozen cookies - ugh!),
Saturday evening: Our 10th annual neighborhood round robin,
Sunday afternoon: PACKER GAME on TV (yeah! they clinched the NFC north division title) then drove to Janesville to see Santa, grandparents, aunt & cousins.

Whew...
Christmas is 2 weeks away...
I'm beat.