Christmas Festivities

Since we are spread all over the state (OK, just us, but anyway), we celebrated Christmas with the my family a week before Christmas. My parents did a wonderful job of hosting and making us feel so special. They are incredibly kind and generous! Growing up, my mom used to "direct" a Christmas play with us and our cousins. I have such fond memories of being an angel in the play in grandma and grandpa's basement. Veronica and Jaime decided to carry on the tradition and direct our own family play with all the little ones. It was so great!! Out of the mouths of babes . . .

Opening his 1st Christmas gift!

The bow is the best part!

Little angels - "Don't be afraid, Mary."

The Holy Family

Such a good baby Jesus!

The entire cast - (Julia says, "I just want to be JuJu."

Notice her lack of costume!!)

And then . . . a stellar performance of "Red Solo Cup"
If you've never heard the song, you should really look it up on you tube. (You'll thank me later for having an annoying song stuck in your head!)

One sleepy baby (and mommy!)

Family Photo Shoot

Back in November, while my parents were on their trip, we all got together and did a little photo shoot to surprise them with some pics for Christmas. It was an adventure, with 6 kids (5 and under), to say the least!

Not bad for putting the camera on a ladder with the timer on,

me pushing the button and running into place :-)

Thanksgiving 2011

Ahh, what a differene a year makes! Last year, at Thanksgiving, I was sicker than a dog and just 8 weeks pregnant. And now we have our little babe. This year was MUCH better! :-) Even though I didn't get many pictures of them (I'm not too good at remembering to take pics), we celebrated the day with Grandma and Uncle Jeff and Aunt Cheryl's family at my parents' house. One person was definitely missed, though: my grandpa. This was the first holiday without him and it was hard. We wil always miss him, but it seems like the "firsts" of anything are extra tough.

Max was a happy camper all day. He just learned how to roll and was showing off his skills, rolling from one end of the family room to the other. He is a social creature and it was like pulling teeth to get him to nap . . . or eat for that matter! He is too busy paying attention to everyone to do either. I might be biased, but he is such a cool kid. ;-)