Christmas morning...

my gluten-free, not so red velvet cake... isn't it cute????

Christmas eve dinner....

Christmas eve dinner sans children.... look at those smiles!!

cousins... matt, lauren, andrew

brooke, byssa, kerri, shell, dyh, stef, taylor

the presley family! (dd was sick...)

Christmas morning... stockings left by "santa"

say "cheese"!!

her new shirt from santa...

trying to get every blessed piece of paper off...

his new book...

he was told to go say "thank you" to mom-mom. so, he carried the whole gift to her to say thank you. so precious!!

loving his new baseball/golf toy!

her life-sized doll from cho-cho and taylor.

her new dress mommy made!

tickles with uncle andrew!

my two babies. daddy is #4 in the flu line-up. sad for him.

merry Christmas to all...

saying "cheese" with cho-cho...

her new strawberry shortcake... maybe her favorite gift!

new tutu from aunt cindy and julia... loving on aunt julia!

embracing all sides of MY family's heritage! doing crackers with the presley family for Christmas... they loved it!! nora kept looking inside for "crackers". she was a little disappointed...

two days later, people are STILL wearing their crowns!!!

love my parents... and the davids!

merry Christmas to ME!! my new fabric came just before we got here!! isn't it BEAUTIFUL!!! i can't wait to start sewing with it!!

watching "a charlie brown Christmas"... in her charlie brown inflatable chair...

the tomato soup i made... after pureeing... this is only HALF of it... btw, it's almost gone!!

Merry Christmas to all... pics from eve and day to come!! we have had a wonderful week here at home so far. as i type, david is playing a game with my mom, someone is throwing up (the only downside to being at home- the 24 hour flu we have been passing around...), showering, doing dishes, kids are watching their new veggie tales...pretty much status quo for the week...

we had a game night/sleep over at libby and will's house. SO MUCH FUN. i think it will be a new tradition! (eliminates the need for baby-sitters... and we can play later because we all just fall into bed!) dentist appointments for nora and me. i think i've been to target almost every day. just having fun! oh... and bridesmaid dresses and wedding gowns!! oh, and my new obsession... JUST DANCE 2!

dance party...

daddy and his silly kids!!!

girls' night out!

my sweet kids!!

making her "birthday hat"

her Christmas performance!

family picture...

nora's teachers... miss bonnie and miss keri.

chatting on the phone...

uncle hans taught nora how to make music with her crystal wine glass...

oh how i love that face!!

loving on uncle joey!!

snuggling with uncle hans!!

and with pop-pop. jamey LOVES those penguins!

look at those blue eyes!

tonight, we discovered "just dance 2". LOVE it! and the kids loved dancing to it!

snuggling with josh... dd's bestie

dancing!

more dancing!

tonight was pepparkaker night. a presley/peterson family tradition. we have spent years doing this... it shapes Christmas for me. so fun to get together tonight and do it. to have david there and helping...

and nora... (with cousin lauren)...

check out that snow bank outside!

cousins!!!

we are driving home for Christmas and stopped at em's (and john's) for the night. it breaks up our trip, and we get to have a GREAT time! we reminisced about times growing up.... and nora stinking LOVES em! she couldn't wait all day to see her! so much fun...

some pics and a vid...

cute girl... she loved her lips in this one!!

nora showing off her advent calendar ponies... chilling and killing time while daddy is at work late!

silly kids. this made the kids laugh FOREVER!!

my sweet kiddos...

okay, so the kids go to the childcare at the gym when i go (three days a week). the kids have a great time. in fact, jamey has stopped screaming anytime he goes into nursery/child care. it's wonderful. and every time we leave, he starts yelling "fun". (his way of telling me, "i had fun") and he doesn't stop until i acknowledge that he had fun.

they show barney and disney videos. the kids love it. and usually jamey comes running to me yelling, "mommy"!!! it's so sweet!! today, nora was doing a puzzle with one of the workers. she asked to finish it. they told me it was 100 pieces, and maybe she could do it next time. she was really excited, and the worker seemed really excited for her.

we get home, eat lunch, i shower, and nora and i are chatting. she was telling me how excited she was to do the puzzle, and said thank you that i told her she could do it. i asked her what the name of the girl was, because i can't remember. she told me she was "the fat one", and puffed out her cheeks and spread her arms wide. it was all i could do to not laugh hysterically. thankfully, i was folding laundry, and she couldn't see me laughing. i had a nice talk with her about people's feelings and that we don't talk about people that way. it didn't make it any less funny! this innocent three year old who really didn't understand how hurtful that could be.

i should mention that she told me she learned it from "one fish two fish"... "the fat one has a yellow hat". mmm...

she also told me that i was going to turn into a sewing machine (maybe i should sew less?). today, i was laying out a quilt and pinning it, and jamey was walking all over it. nora was a little distraught over jamey getting poked. then, i poked myself. nora said, in a very mothering voice, "do i need to teach you how to do the pokes so you don't hurt yourself"?". (pokes are pins...) so sweet! she did, in fact, come over to show me how to do it!