Merry Christmas!

We had a GREAT Christmas this year! This was the first year we've had our elf come to our house. (I'll post on that soon!) It was Nora's first Christmas and Andrew's first Christmas really getting into Santa and knowing the true meaning of Christmas. It was so nice having all of my siblings and their families all together. I love spending time with family!

On Sunday we went to church with my parents. It was so nice to listen to all the music and spoken word. My grandpa spoke in church - and man, was it a great talk! I'm so grateful for him and his sweet and strong spirit. 

(between sleepy kids after church, bad camera settings, and a low battery for my flash- this was the best pic we got. So glad we got picture of all of us though!)

We spent the holiday with my family. Here's a great picture of all the McKinney cousins. What a fun group of kids!

On Christmas Eve we had the kids act out the Nativity as my Grandpa read out of Luke 2.

Gavin and Kayla as Joseph & Mary, and a doll as baby Jesus.

Andrew was a shepherd and Nora was a sheep! Brooke, my niece was also a wandering sheep.

It was really nice having a Christmas program. We sang songs and remembered Christmases past.

The next morning Santa came. It was so sweet as I was putting Andrew to bed, you could easily feel his excitement for the arrival of Santa. I could hear him giggling as he was going to sleep. He even woke up at 5:30 wanting to go downstairs. Thankfully we were able to get him to go back to bed for another 2 hours.

Santa brought the kids a new play kitchen, fully stocked. They got a few more toys to play with as well.

I hope that you all had a very Merry Christmas too!

She'll hate me for this one...

While Morgan and I were cutting Andrew's hair....

... Nora grew a goatee.

Finger Foods!

Nora has entered into the wide world of finger foods. She (and I) and loving it! The other day Andrew was snacking on some clementines and Nora went right up and helped  herself. I was a little worried at first since she is still pretty new with finger foods - but she did great!

7 Years!

(and itch free!)

Circa October 2004. 

Love that man!!

She's a climber!

Want to hear something crazy? Both of my kids, at 9 months of age have learned how to climb stairs... at their Mimi and Papa's house. 

What fun! (besides the part that they are actually climbing stairs) 

Nora, November 2012

Andrew, July 2009

Man, I love 9 month olds! 

We, three Jeans.

While in Maine, we were able to go and see Morgan's Grandma. It was nice for Grammy to see her namesake! Her name is Jean, Kim's (Morgan's mom) middle name is Jean, as well as Nora. (Morgan also has a cousin, Hillory whose middle name is also Jean). Lots of Jeans in this family!!

I think Nora had her Great-Grammy wrapped around her finger pretty quickly.

 I absolutely am so glad to see how this picture turned out! I'm so glad we were able to make it out to see Grammy!

Thanksgiving trip to Maine!

Over Thanksgiving Break (one of the few perks of still being students... holiday breaks!) we were able to head up to Maine to visit Morgan's parents. We had a GREAT time! It was Nora's first time going to Maine, as well as flying. 

We were extremely lucky the flights there and on the way home....

 ... we had both kids sleep most of every flight! (Now, the drive from Boston to Maine was a completely different story...)

A few of the sights from the trip...

Andrew enjoying breakfast with Minnie, Bananas, and Sims (the cat that lives at Mimi and Papas)

Seeing Santa during the Thanksgiving Parade

While in Maine, Morgan's best friend from high school got married. Morgan was in the wedding party.

 Little scenes like this were found all over the house. Little evidences of Andrew...

Morgan's parents had left the trampoline up in anticipation of having us come up. Every morning right when Andrew woke up he'd ask to go out to jump. Thankfully the weather was pretty moderate that he was able to jump to his little hearts content. Nora even got in on the fun. She would just cackle away as she'd be bounced around.

Silly face on Papa's sliding glass door.

Nora has quite a fondness for her Papa Stinson. It was so sweet to see them interact with each other!

Nora getting to know Sims....

Daily walks around the neighborhood... especially to the river and train tracks. Or the "RR Sign" as Andrew would put it.

NO visit to Maine would be complete without Pat's Pizza and a visit (or two) to Governor's.

Seriously, we had a great time. We were also able to go visit Morgan's grandma and have Thanksgiving dinner with his aunt and family, and Morgan's brother Evan. It was great to see so much family. Can't wait til we can get up there again!

Brotherly Sisterly Love

At the park the other day it hit me how much my kids really absolutely love each other. I'm such a lucky mom. These sweet kiddos add so much joy to my life!

 (Andrew kissing Nora after she got a little fussy)

Leaves!

For most of the month of October and November the grass infront of our townhouse was COVERED in leaves. Our building must have been in the sweet spot to collect massive amounts of leaves. Needless to say, my vacuum was put to work daily. 

Andrew loved running through them every chance he got. He also loved seeing the landscapers use their super strong blowers to collect them all. (Although he was sad that they were all gone!)

Pardon the undies shot. That's how Andrew rolls some days :-)