This year our
babysitters hosted a holiday dinner for all of their parents and kids. They also treated us to a special visit with Santa! I am convinced that they are the best
babysitters in the whole wide world. We count our lucky stars for them every single day!
"Grandma" Felipa and her kiddos...
Lisa (aka Nana, our other babysitter) with her son Paul and daughter Madison
The kiddos with Santa Claus...
The whole family sitting with the man in the red suit...
Cole getting a special treat from the jolly old fella...
Mereck and
Meredith (the kids have grown up together at Grandma Felipa's and Nana's house)
Kadee's friend and the
babysitter's next door neighbor Ashley with Santa...
I made a pot of hot chocolate for the kids and had a little myself and off we went. It was decently cold out so the hot tub felt great! The kids splashed around and swam for about twenty minutes then it was time to get. As always, this tuckered them out and they lasted approximately five minutes after getting their PJs on. I tried my best to stay awake till midnight but as always Charlie ended up waking me up just before midnight! Pretty uneventful but I am not complaining. I kissed my babies to ring in the New Year. Welcome 2010 may you bring happiness and good health to our loved ones.
He gave it his all to try to open his presents but just couldn't figure it out.
Lucky for him, his big brother eagerly came to his aide and helped him out.
His favorite part about it all, these pretty bows.
Cole opened present after present and was genuinely happy with each one, even all of the clothes. He took time to pull each outfit out of the box and hold it up to show mommy and daddy. Grandma and Grandpa lucked out and got the kids Zhu Zhu pets, one of the seasons hot toy items.
Kadeebug opened each present ever so carefully anxiously awaiting the surprise inside.
She even modeled for me.
Charlie was surrounded by the Christmas Morning mess.
While we were opening our gifts I noticed the puppies were almost pouting, they must have thought Santa forgot about them. 
Luckily, Charlie found the raw hides Santa brought them and there eyes lit up just like the kids...
After we opened presents we settled in for breakfast. Charlie made us all Waffles, a Christmas Morning tradition he carried over from his family. Chance couldn't hold out though and fell asleep in his highchair. It was definitely time for a Christmas Morning nap.
Cole tried on his sister's new Heely's.
After the day was here and gone I was making one of many trips out to the trash can when I caught a glance of my front yard. It was so quiet. It was so beautiful, all lit up. And there from our tree hung the kids swing just begging for someone to ride it. Besides the kids eyes lighting up as they took in Christmas morning, this was my favorite moment of the day.
We narrowed our pick for Kadence down pretty quick as well. There was the gymnast kitty that would fit, a cute barbie shoe that was also pretty cute, but we ultimately decided on the Barbie horse ornament. We chose this one for two reasons really. One, she loves Barbies. It was a constant battle all year trying to convince her to pick up all of her Barbies in her room and keep them in her two cases that are full! She would often to my surprise dump the entire contents of both cases onto the floor in a huge mound of Barbies, clothes, accessories and furniture. She would be entertained for hours! The second reason we chose this ornament was because of the beautiful Palomino horse Barbie sat on. Kadence loves horses, especially Palominos. Her love for horses was even greater this year because we joined the Horses for Heroes program that allowed us to take advantage of a couple of Horseback riding lessons for her...which she loved. Hopefully we will get a few more in this year.
I usually give the kiddos this early gift the night we decorate our tree and then we all snuggle in and watch a favorite Christmas movie and spend the night in the living room basking in all of the Christmas lights. This year I didn't even get the tree up until the 19th, I couldn't because of the pending carpet install. I got our tree up but didn't get it decorated, thank goodness it was pre-lit so it at least had lights on it. The kids were so tired by the time we finished that night there was no Christmas movie and we all ended up sleeping in our own beds. I let our tradition down...never again! I'm not sure if the kids even knew the difference, but I did. 
I knew it was getting to be time to cut it but I had such a hard time justifying cutting a 6-7 month old's hair. It just didn't seem right until... 
I sat and watched and teared up, my baby was having his first haircut. When it was all said and done, he looked so handsome! He is such a cutie pie!
The hit of the party was the cutest puppy dog that made all kind of cute puppy dog sounds. Joe initially opened it, Clarice stole it from him and when I subtly mentioned that Chance would love it on Christmas morning I saw a slight mean streak in Clarice, never seen before that intimidated the you know what out of me and force me to steal someone else's gift. 
By the way, sorry Rosie and Freddy, but we love our Kahlua and Bailey's...
It turned out absolutely beautiful and literally feels like you are walking on clouds. The first couple of days it was like complete bliss, the second I stepped out of bed on to this plush floor I sunk and a smile covered my face from ear to ear. Now we have no problem letting Chance crawl around, it is so comfortable that we often find ourselves right down there with him.
