We're Ready!

We arrived at Grami and Poppi's house this afternoon. We took our baths and posed for some pictures in front of the Christmas tree.

Grami has a ton of presents under the tree already; they made great props!

Marcus especially liked to climb the tower of presents and proceeded to jump off and even hit his head; hopefully it won't leave too big of a mark.

Then we put our stockings on the couch (their idea) to be sure Santa didn't miss them.

We got our plate of cookies (one from each of the kids) and now we are ready for Santa!!! Merry Christmas Eve Everyone!

Bunk Beds

Marc finally had time to build the girls new beds...he found one that looked like this online and decided to just build it himself rather than pay the $1900 to buy it. I LOVE IT! The kids do too.

Olivia sleeps on top.

Emma gets the bottom. Marc even built a little cubby for her to keep all her treasures. She filled it with stuffed animals and babies immediately.

Marcus' room did get rearranged and he inherited another shelving unit from the girls, so he wasn't left out. Plus he loves to climb all over the girls' bed...it's like a new play gym in the house! So fun!

Santa Success

This is the first year with all three that NO ONE is crying! I wasn't going to do Santa pictures this year due to past experiences; but the girls begged me. I was prepared for at least Marcus to be in tears this year...we found a place in a little strip mall that said "Santa Photos Here!" so we tried it. Marcus was the first to jump up on Santa's lap and he talked his ear off. The girls each got a turn to let Santa know what they wanted for Christmas too. This was taken by a professional photographer and he said Marcus did great. He said he's never seen a child Marcus' age just sit and smile...they always end up with tears. Not Marcus! He loved every minute of this. Now the girls are as happy as can be since they got to put in their Santa requests face to face. They all left with huge smiles on their faces and candy canes in their hands waving and shouting "Goodbye Santa...see you at our house in a few days!"

Ho Ho Ho

I think we are taking this Santa thing a bit to far over here :-)

Happy 15th Kylie

Our little friend Kylie turns 15 on Monday so we helped her celebrate celebrity style in a limo last night. Chad and Julie (Kylie's parents) surprised Kylie...here she is in the back of the limo with her sister, Courtney.

We had sparkling apple juice and put it in champagne flutes for the kids. Emma got a kick out of that!

Emma really soaked this celebrity style stuff up! We told her if she was a princess she would go to school in a limo every day...she replied with "But I AM a princess!" Priceless :-)

The limo took us all over town to look at all the impressive lights on different houses. One of the houses invited you into their yard to explore lots of different exhibits.

The kids thought this was pretty cool!

Then we stopped off downtown for dinner at the Olive Garden. However it was an hour wait and our kids needed to eat sooner so our family went to Rock City for pizza and then we took them around the shopping area to look at all the Christmas decorations. There were even real live Christmas Carolers in old fashion outfits. This stroller was free of charge too...what a deal!

Then it was back to the limo and home. Marcus thought it was pretty cool to be out of a car seat and free to roam around. He loved all the lights and just stood at the window looking out.

The kids stuck to the back most of the night. It was so fun to watch the little ones interact with the teens. They acted like such big kids...wow do they grow up fast!

We couldn't get Emma to drink out of anything but that champagne flute the rest of the night.

Emma wants one of these limos too...

Olivia had a ton of fun with all the festivities too. She really acted like a big girl all night long. It sort of brought a tear to my eye.

We had a ton of fun and were so grateful to be included in Kylie's party. Thanks Starks! What a great idea for a 15th birthday party! We had a blast!!!

Christmas Tree

Our good friend , Jordan, called Marc on Friday night and said he was out cutting down trees and wondered if we wanted one. Heck Yeah! Free tree! That's the only way to go for us this year. Well, after some trimming down (it was quite large for our little space) we decorated yesterday morning, and here it is. I think it is beautiful!

Check up

Marcus had his 2-year checkup today. We started by dropping the girls off at daycare and then Marcus said "I want to go to Seattle". I'm not really sure where that came from...I think he thinks I go to work in Seattle everyday. Anyways, I said we were going to go visit someone. The minute I turned into the parking lot Marcus looked down and said quietly "I go to the doctor". He was so bummed. See, Marcus has been pretty healthy his whole 2 years of life so his only experience with the doctor always ends in shots. I asked him if he would be a good boy and he said with a smile similar to the one above "YES!" I think he forgot...the moment the doctor walked in he was screaming and trying to get as far away as possible. At one point he even kicked the doctor in the face. I was horrified! When all was said and done, we found out he is a healthy typical 2-year old boy. He weighed in at 27 lbs (50%) and was 33 1/2 inches in height (25%). However, we are not 100% sure that is accurate as weighing and measuring proved to be as difficult as the rest of the appointment...but the doctor said he appears to be growing fine and was not too concerned. Surprisingly, the best part of the visit was the shots. The nurse was a little smarter than the rest of us and gave him a tootsie roll just before she poked him. He barley made a sound...he was too into that tootsie roll. Now, why didn't we think of that from the start...might have been a whole different appointment!

Big Party

We celebrated Marcus' 2nd birthday yesterday. Nana made one of her fabulous cakes once again...this is a "monkeys lose in the zoo" cake.

Marcus LOVED his cake; especially the monkeys. The "Happy Birthday Marcus" hippo pool was a little cake just for Marcus to eat. So cute! We are so lucky to have Nana around to create these beautiful cakes. Thanks Mom!

We had around 30 adults and 18 kids in our 900 square foot house...yes it is possible :-) There were lots of friends from Daycare there. The kids' rooms were quite busy with little ones and teenagers (see those big boys in the little girl beds...just when you think they're growing up too fast, they revert back to the baby days...ha ha ha...).

Overall, the party was a hit. It was so nice to have all of our friends and some of our family there to help celebrate. Marcus got a TON of new trucks and toys and has played non-stop with every one of them since the party ended. The girls think all the new toys are lots of fun too. Thanks so much everyone for helping us celebrate Marcus' 2nd birthday!

Look Who's 2!

Marcus' birthday was today. He had cupcakes at daycare and we had extras for tonight. He was soaking up the "Happy Birthday" song. He's been so excited for this day for a while (it helps that the girls kept reminding him a million times a day that his birthday was on the way...I think they were just as excited).

He blew out his own candle and then dug right in! YUMMY!

Then it was present time. Honestly I've never seen a 2 year old (or two 3-year olds for that matter) so excited about the gifts he got. We finally got him an etch and sketch of his very own. The girls each have one and he is always fighting for one of theirs. His has baseballs and basketballs all over it and he was so excited about that. Needless to say he will not let his sister's near it. He also got a magnetic Leap Frog toy that sticks to the fridge and has all the letters of the alphabet that you can interchange in it. It sings the ABCs and tells you the letters and sounds of the letters. Daycare has one and the kids just love it. They played on Marcus' for the rest of the night tonight...it was a good find for sure (well until we get tired of hearing the ABCs over and over again I suppose...).

Overall, I think Marcus had a great day. So hard to believe my baby is 2! What a character this one is :-) HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABY BOY!