Christmas Traditions - Christmas Dinner

We got together with our NC family for Christmas dinner. Emmett loves playing with "Papa Steve" and kept begging him to come play. He got a remote control car and a truck, so the boys all had fun playing with that! Susie was perfect as usual, and kept everybody smiling.

Christmas Traditions - Christmas Breakfast

We always get together with our friends for Christmas breakfast. We had a great time sitting around talking for hours.

Christmas Traditions - Christmas Morning

Emmett surprised us all and slept in until 7am! That was a great Christmas present for us! We had so much fun opening presents and watching the joy and excitement he showed. He wanted to play with everything!

One of Cam's favorite traditions from his family is that everyone gets a box of cereal

 

The room is ready for the kids to wake up!

 Santa Came!

Let the fun begin!

Family Pictures

Getting our family picture this year was a bit.... challenging. But we did manage this great shot.

Tent

Emmett got a bed tent from Gigi, and he LOVES it. It's Jake and the Neverland Pirates, which he loves. It also came with a light, so it pretty much is a perfect present all around.

I didn't think he'd actually take his nap after we set it up, but I went to check on him and he had the light turned on, sitting on his stomach, and was sound asleep!

Christmas Traditions - Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve, the kids open Christmas pajamas. This is my new favorite picture,  because I rarely get them sitting still and both of them smiling at the same time!

We leave cookies and milk for Santa.

After that, we read the nativity story and put Emmett to bed. About twenty minutes later, he called me and I went into his room. I asked him what was wrong, and he said "Ho Ho is COMING!" I didn't think he really understood what was going on, but he did and he was VERY excited. 

Christmas Traditions - Maw Maw

Maw Maw came during the day on Christmas Eve to do presents with us.Emmett got a stick horse. Do you know how hard it is to get a picture of a 2 year old hopping around? We got a great ornament from Aunt June that tells the Christmas story. Emmett sat and played with it for quite a while. She also set him a fun game, which Maw Maw scolded us about because it was too loud and was waking Susie up!

Christmas Traditions - Gigi's House

Ever since Emmett was born, we've found a night or morning to get together with Gigi, Pa, and NeyNey. We have fun sitting around and talking while the kids play.

 I love Emmett's look of concentration!

 Susie wasn't too sure about all the excitement.

 They both got "tablets," and I love how Susie seems to be saying "How do I work this thing Emmett?"

Tacky Day

At school we had Christmas Tacky Day for the staff. I didn't win, but I sure had fun finding things for my outfit.

Painted Nails

Christmas makeup

Christmas shirt, red sweatpants, bells on the shirt, ornaments for earrings, necklace

Red shoes from goodwill with bows added on

Rudolph in my hair! Emmett especially loved this!

Christmas Traditions - Christmas Concert

Our church has put on a Christmas concert the last few years on the Sunday before Christmas. I have accompanied someone everytime, and this year I did the same. It's always an evening of beautiful Christmas music. This year, Aunt Jenn came that Sunday and went with us to the concert. And then Emmett got to open some presents and talk to Aunt Nette on the phone. He kept asking where she was all day - we miss her lots!

Christmas Traditions - Sharing Goodies

Normally I'll bake quite a bit for Christmas, but the flu hit me hard and messed up my baking plans (after all - nobody wants goodies from a sick person!). Once I felt better, I knew that I at least needed to make some cookies for Santa. We made some extras to share with friends. I realized that the only paper plates I had were baby boy plates. I guess that's appropriate, right? Happy Birthday Baby Jesus! Luckily, I think our friends understood. Emmett loved helping to deliver them on Christmas Eve.

6 months

Here are Susie's 6 month photos. She's growing too fast and time is flying by.

Susie

Susie is changing so much each day. She makes everyone smile, and she's very adventurous. I think we're in for some trouble once she can keep up with Emmett. Here are some random Susie pics.

She's a thumb sucker - but only in her sleep.

All ready for winter weather!

Her first trip to Red Mango - Aunt Jenn is teaching her early!

She takes little catnaps at the most random times. I dressed her for church, laid her in her crib to go get Emmett dressed, and two minutes later she was like this:

She loves to get her toes. She HATES having socks on! This one really shows her blue eyes.

She thinks she's all grown up and holds her own bottle now. She's also loving real food!