Better late than never, right?

This year for Christmas, we spent the night at my parents house with the whole family- minus Heidi and Ovidiu who had to go back to Oregon for work :( 

Let's just say it was a FULL house that night.

We had an enjoyable evening on Christmas Eve and were quite excited to run off to bed as quickly as possible when we heard Santa's bells jingling out in the neighborhood.

Mom had sent a special letter to Santa asking him to leave our family's presents in the living room instead of under the tree since our cousins were having Christmas there too.

Christmas Morning:

Christmas morning started out early with Brooklyn waking up a bit before 6 but she had to wait until 6:30 to head upstairs because Madison would just not wake up (even with all the efforts Brooklyn was making to be noisy).

(Disclaimer: all of these pictures have a weird blur to them... my battery was pretty much dead before the festivities began)

 The girls Santa lists this year were quite simple.

Brooklyn's list:

A candy cane (the plastic kind with candy in it)

and a cake maker.

 Although you may not be able to tell it by her face, Brooklyn was actually super excited to open this present.

Madison's list:

A Tinkerbell music box and a "real" make up kit.

Aubrey's list:

Let's be honest. Aubrey was happy to get whatever.

But I think Santa did an awful good job at finding the perfect gift for not only Aubrey, but her sisters as well.

She did get a few other things as well, but I'm pretty sure all she really cared about was that car. :)

The most exciting thing about the car is that it is great for Aubrey development wise. I love watching her little mind working as she climbs in and out of the car. Sometimes she climbs in backwards and then has to turn around once she's in. She has also been known to slide out the hole where her feet go and slither out from underneath the car when she was done playing.

There's never a dull moment with her around!

 I wish I had gotten a picture of Maddie in the car before my battery died... she looks like a little clown in a clown car because she is so tall but that doesn't stop her from playing as well.

 And the last picture we took before the camera was out of commission for the day...

We sure had a great Christmas and hope that all of you did too! We are certainly blessed with good friends and family that made this Christmas wonderful! 

It's never a good idea to take family pictures at night...

...But when that's the only time you've got, then you do it anyway.

My sister Heidi and her husband Ovidiu were here just before Christmas (they weren't able to get work off at Christmas so they had to come early) and since we only get to see them a couple times a year, we decided to take a family picture. 

But man, oh man, do I HATE taking pictures in crummy lighting. No matter what we tried, we couldn't quite get the right lighting... but since it was the only time we could get the whole family together before Heidi and Ovidiu left, we did it anyway.

The other reason you should never take pictures at night time (or before dinnertime either) is it is almost impossible to get the little ones to cooperate... Oh well right. At least the adults are all smiling.

Grumpy much?

That's a little better. I guess funny hats can do that.

We surely do wish that Aunt Heidi and Uncle Ovidiu lived closer... we miss them already!

Best Christmas Present Ever!

Pop pop's big party...

A couple of weeks ago one of our favorite people turned 60.

So of course, a big party had to be planned.

We invited lots of old friends (and no I don't mean everyone who was invited was old), family and neighbors.

We ate lots of cookies, hot chocolate and treats...

 Maddie quickly learned that you don't actually eat the cranberries that are floating in your water...

There was a lot of catching up, and fun to be had...

 And even some who were hiding away because it was too loud with all of those people...

We even took some family pictures...

 Although it appeared to be impossible to get a picture with all the kids smiling... none of them seemed to have a hard time pulling a funny face...

The original 6

 Pop pop and Nana with all 5 grand-kids...

 Notice anything different about this last picture?

Happy 60th birthday Pop pop!!!

The verdict is in...

We just got back from the allergist and it looks like this little lady is allergic to cats... And grass...

(I realize that most of you have seen this picture already but I had to make sure it made it on the blog.)

Good...

So it's been a while since I last blogged...

So much has happened, but I don't have any proof because I haven't been taking pictures...

But I know I need to blog.

But I'd rather be doing this...

Maybe not in that exact position, but sleep would be nice.

For some reason we haven't been sleeping very well at our house lately. It seems that we are awake with at least 2 of the 3 kids every night and sometimes all 3- sometimes even multiple times per night. I don't know what the deal is, but I sure wish I did.

We are still trying to figure out this Asthma thing with little Aubrey as well. For the most part she is doing really well and then she will randomly start screaming for at least 15 minutes at a time (which is SO uncharacteristic of her) and can usually only be calmed down with a few puffs of her medicine. We don't know if she is screaming because she can't breath or if she can't breath because she is screaming... but we sure wish we did.

As for her development, Aubrey has really started to take off...

She is finally pulling herself up to pretty much everything and is starting to cruise along furniture (something we have been working towards for a LONG time).  She plays so well on her own and can keep herself entertained for hours on end. Who would complain about that?

So although life has been pretty busy,

and a little tiring too-

It really has been good.

So how has life been for you?