Christmas (a month late I know)

I figured since our Christmas lights are still up, it's not too late to post Christmas pictures (and yes, as each day in January goes by I get more and more embarrassed about the lights being up... I guess not enough to take them down though).

This is the Sunday before Christmas. They each got some new church clothes. Awww!

This is Christmas Eve morning (due to the fact that we flew to Utah on Christmas morning). I feel like I did a much better job on Christmas this year than any other year. Maybe because all Erin wanted was Princess stuff and that was pretty easy to do. It was just great because the kids are older and get really excited about everything. We got them both bikes which I still think was a good idea even though neither of them can ride them yet (Alex's is a bit big and Erin's was bent and kept leaning to the right. We took that one back and still need to get a new one.) And Marissa is in one of her classic positions. I've never seen a baby hang out on her side like that, but she loves it.

This table has to be the best present of all. I've been wanting to get Erin a table, but this wasn't what I had in mind. She saw it in a magazine and circled it so I, that is Santa got it. Three reasons it's the best: it has princesses on it, it was cheap and you can draw on it with dry erase markers. A table you are supposed to draw on? Of course! It's amazing how much the kids like it.

Amidst all the excitement she must have lost her pants, but what a happy girl! Oh, and that butterfly gets mixed reviews. It's supposed to encourage crawling, that is unless you point it at the baby, in which case it just attacks her by flapping its wings in her face while sounding "It's a Small World After All".

This is one a Jared and my many experiments with our 5 year old camera. We must have been bored that night because we got such a kick out of putting it on a long exposure, aiming at the Christmas tree and doing zigzags, circles or lines. I'm thinking of making them into wall hangings. You should try it.