Life as we go it

A few days ago I posted some photos of Christmas 2014 - Round 1.

Here's Round 2...

Christmas with Matt's immediate & extended family, at Matt's parents' house:

Liam couldn't wait to see if Santa brought him something.

Chloe slept in for a change so Liam had to wait for her to 

wake up before he could open his gifts.

The next morning. My mom with all of her grand kids. 

(sorry mom, I promised no pajama photo, but I just HAD to)

It's been a while since I last wrote on here! 

First I want to wish you all a belated Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year :) I hope that each of your hearts was filled with love and joy over the holidays. And for those whose hearts may have been aching (the loss of a loved one, or dealing with financial strain, etc) I hope that the New Year wraps you in a big fuzzy blanket of peace and grants you the new beginnings you need :)

_________________

I intended on writing about some some pre-Christmas crafts that Liam and Chloe worked on, some photos of our indoor and outdoor Christmas decorations, some gifts that I made, etc....but I just didn't find the time because:

a) Taking care of two kids every day makes for some busy times! Nurturing them and loving them and teaching them, all the while trying to put up and decorate the Christmas tree/buy and wrap gifts for family/create photo calendars & Christmas cards/prepare food & bake sweets/clean the house for guests/etc just made it that much harder to find time to do anything extra, such as monkey around on my blog.

b) We were traveling around quite a bit prior to/during/after Christmas. It went something like this:

Matt's sister arrived from CA the week before Christmas and stayed with us for a couple of nights.

Then we hosted Matt's cousins at our house for our annual "Cousins Xmas". Then on the weekend (prior to Christmas) we traveled to Matt's parents' house for a couple of days and celebrated with his family. On Christmas Eve we visited Matt's parents again & then went to my mom's house, then back to our house later that night. Woke up Christmas morning with our kids at our house. Went to my aunt's house that afternoon/evening. Came back to our house. Went to my mom's house the next morning-Saturday. We got back home the Saturday after Christmas, only for Chloe to get sick that Sunday night.

and c)  I've been feeling yuck-o for the last two weeks. It started with the flu a couple of weeks ago (I had uncontrollable chills and stabbing body pains for two days). Then it turned into a lingering fever and cold. Then the cough set in. And that's where I'm at now. I have an annoying won't-go-away cough & zero energy. It also hit up Chloe, Liam and Matt, but in different ways.

I think we're finally digging ourselves out of the sick cave & heading towards normal again. Thus why I am finally sitting down to view photos I took from Christmas and blog about it! 

I took way too many a ton of photos, so I'll share these with you first,  then share some more in a few days. Enjoy :)

Sweet little Chloe's first Christmas!

Liam was a PRO at helping decorate the tree this year!

And Chloe loved watching her brother do the work.

Christmas is not complete in our house without a jar of pickled eggs (made by Matt).

A few things that have made me smile lately...

Thanksgiving dinner at my mom's house.

Liam and his cousin Rylan.

Yes, this is three kids playing on three iPads.

The kids looovvveeee grandma's house :)

A sweet little message my niece Caroline wrote on the

chalkboard in my mom's kitchen.

Liam's first snowman of 2014.

Chloe has turned out to be a GREAT little gift wrapping helper.

Shaking the ribbon all over. Picking out gift tags for me.