Is winter over yet?

So, I have almost daily intentions to get this new post done....but every day I keep discovering how quickly time goes and how little I am actually able to get done now, with 2 kiddos. I find myself continually awed by all you mothers out there. How do you do it with 3+ children? How did my own mother do everything she did with all us kids? I remember her spending hours every day practicing instruments with us; lots of music/swim/dance/other lessons; a very complete food storage; hand-knitted sweater and hat combos; home-made matching dresses for every major holiday; a very clean house.....etc., etc. Granted I was almost 3 years younger than Brittani....but still....mothers are amazing. My mother was amazing. Single, working mothers are phenomenal!

Well....I'll let the pictures do most of the talking in this post....
We went to see the Christmas lights at Storybook Island...very cool (LucyMae loved the whole idea of Christmas lights this year), extremely cold, but totally worth it because of....
Santa Claus...I have no idea why LucyMae decided he was scary...but this picture is priceless!
We were at Sam's Club a couple days later, sitting at the tables at the front eating a smoothie. And at one of the tables next to us there was an older man with a belly, a long white beard, and a santa hat on...just in the spirit of Christmas. LucyMae was kind of eyeing him for a while, then he and his wife started smiling and waving at the cute little red-headed girl, and then he got up and came over to our table to give us little candy-canes....BAD idea. LucyMae, who is usually such a charmer with strangers, just started screaming and crying, as demonstrated in the picture above. It was a hilarious moment for us. I always knew I would have a hard time acting like a parent in situations like these, rather than just laughing.....Sam is the same way. Hopefully we don't scar our kids for life.

After Sam's mom left, we somehow survived until Sam's finals at school were over and he was able to be around more. We were able to get ready for Christmas, and I didn't feel so hopeless about life being fun again.

A day of Christmas shopping went well into LucyMae's nap-time....I can count on 2 hands the number of times this girl has fallen asleep in my or Sam's arms while out in public. I had to capture this on film.
In the days leading up to Christmas it was ridiculously cold in these parts, but we did our best to enjoy the season. LucyMae's little snow outfit makes her look like an eewok(sp?).




We enjoyed a quiet Christmas Eve by ourselves....it was quaint. And it gave us a chance to really think and talk about what traditions we want to have in our own little family.....one of which is hors d'oeuvres and home-made clam-chowder in bread-bowls (maybe the bread-bowls will be home-made someday too;).

We also decided to have everyone open one gift each on Christmas Eve. LucyMae chose a gift from our neighbor. It was this adorable teddy-bear that she just loves snuggling.

Christmas morning we have a big breakfast (nothing in particular), and then enjoy presents...I'm hoping to make it a tradition in our family that Christmas morning is for sleeping in...NOT waking early! We failed to take very many pictures of present-opening because we were videoing so much....oh well. We did capture this big doll from Grandma Clair though....check out LucyMae's face in this one...
She LOVES holding, rocking, shhhing, and feeding her babies lately. So cute!
Just a fun moment with LucyMae....she's just chillin', reading a book, with her legs crossed
Then, we were lucky enough to have the weather cooperate enough to allow Sam's siblings to drive out here the day before New Year's Eve to party with us for a few days. Our camera was experiencing an awkward moment in the days that they were here....so I don't have very many pictures of it (Bonnie...I still need you to email me yours!) We had a fondue party on New Year's Eve that was delicious!
We visited Mt. Rushmore...and succeeded in finding someone dense enough to take a picture of us all in front of Mt. Rushmore but cut the monument out of the picture....memories of my lack of a good picture in front of Notre Dame....seriously people...is it really that hard?
The day before Sam's siblings left, my sister Serenity flew in. She was here for 5 1/2 days, of which I have no pictures (email me Rennie?....please?) And the day she left my mom flew in for 3 days (mom....email me pictures?). It was so great to have the help and so fun to have the visitors....but sad that I didn't get a single picture....Help!!!!


The rest of the pictures here just capture some of the fun little moments we have around here these days. I love these two beautiful little girls of ours.


We took advantage of MLK day by enjoying some time playing at Sylvan Lake...or should I say ON Sylvan Lake? I've never walked on a frozen lake like this before....kind of scary, but pretty cool!

Can you see the cracks in the ice? They go REALLY deep...I can't believe how thick that ice was!

We decided we were done being a one-car family... just too difficult and frustrating! So we decided to find a car under $1000....and we found this for $500: a 1981 Jeep Cherokee/Truck. It's quite the beater...but it runs well (after a little work from Sam) and gets the job done. Sam is thinking that it might be a fun restoration project someday....
This is Samantha and Zaila (my friends' little girl who was born a couple weeks before Samantha). They are both growing quickly....but Samantha is beating her at this point. Samantha weighed less than her at birth and has already passed her way up. At the Dr. this last week Samantha was 12lbs. 12 oz. at 2 months 1 week old (she was 6 lbs. 13 oz. at birth)! She's chunky and we LOVE it!
LucyMae has discovered the joy of bubble-baths. She can say bubble pretty well, and doesn't like to take a bath without them anymore.The petting-zoo area at the Rodeo....LucyMae was so cute petting all the animals and saying 'hi' to them. She is an animal girl! And she loved the rodeo...even though it was a late night for her.

The rest of the pictures are just me going crazy with the camera one day, after I realized how bad I have been at taking pictures of Samantha compared to LucyMae when she was born....so I'm trying to make up for it. And DANG these girls are CUTE!!!!