Christmas!

This was our best Christmas yet! MC was all up in it and R was super into all the celebrations - from decorating the tree to singing carols and making gingerbread. I know I have said it before but I'm so stoked I have given him my insane Christmas joy energy! It was the best time of year when I was little and I love making these memories special for him. Here's some pics from our holiday:

 We all had a great time at the annual Hemus Family Party - I brought led finger lights and R, MC and all the cousins played pretend snowball fight for hours! MC loved being a part of it and hanging with her older cousins, Madison and Samantha. 

 R and I made gingerbread! I decorated these and was proud to have used a pastry bag properly. Ha.

 We spent Christmas Eve at the Ranch. Had a chill afternoon, just us and my parents. Was nice to celebrate in their new living room!

 R got his first watch!

 MC got into the present opening spirit this year.

 Christmas morning at our place - new old Little People garage was a hit!

 Babies!

 MC looooves her dolly. We have since named her "Clementine," since she loves those oranges so much. She calls her "Tine! Tine!"

Nerf crossbow. Christmas just isn't the same without Nerf.

The Week in Pictures

 R attended a birthday party for a schoolmate. There was lots of inflatable bounces plus this awesome levitating t-ball setup!

 Ned treated us to a Kitchen Aid stand mixer and we finally broke it in with some homemade brownies. He and R love to bake together. 

 MC, our little early riser, enjoys some Mickey while I try to get some extra sleep at 6am.

 R diggin' up rocks at the Ranch!

Sister loves preschool dropoff/pickup. She walks right into R's class and sits down to play with the big kid stuff. R has taken to holding her hand sometimes when we walk, it is the sweetest thing in the whole world.

Legoland!

We took R and MC for a mini staycation a few weeks ago. We spent a couple nights up in Carlsbad and went to Legoland and the beach! The kids had a great time but I think their favorite thing was eating dinner off paper plates in the hotel room while watching TV. Such a luxury!

 MC played in the fun Lego cars for a while.

 A cool explorer's tunnel had lots to look at and touch.

While R and Papa rode some bigger kid rides, MC and I played in the baby fun pit. She didn't want to leave :)

Oma's Pumpkin Patch!

This week I got to take Rutherford on his first field trip of the school year - Oma's Pumpkin Patch. He was stoked and he had an even better time this year (I think being a little bigger/older he was able to do more of the activities).

We went on a hayride, played with the water pumps, ran through the haybale maze and more. Here's some pics of our guy:

 They had this huge field with bouncie balls and inflatable horses to wrangle!

 Water pumps were his fave.

 He was disappointed he couldn't start the tractor :)

 Farmhands.

 Maze!

 Sitting with Miss Aly, one of his teachers, on the hayride!

 College Park Preschool represent.

Happy Birthday Rutherford!

Rutherford had an awesome construction birthday party! We invited like 10 little kiddos and their parents and had a blast in the backyard. We played games like the clothespin game (an old family favorite), had some parachute fun and R even picked out an awesome firetruck pinata. I found some construction birthday cake inspiration on Pinterest and even though mine wasn't as pretty we all thought it was pretty cool! We used chocolate grahams for the dirt :)

Everyone wore construction hats and I think one of the most popular things was the ice breaker - literally I mean. I froze some toys in tupperware, then popped them out onto the cement. I gave the kids play tools and they were seriously all occupied for a good 45 minutes busting into the ice. All the parents loved it.

The grandparents and Ned and I all chipped in to get R his very own big kid tricycle. He loves it and now that we've had it for a few months he's getting really good at riding it.

R had a wonderful birthday and we're so proud of our beautiful, sweet and smart four-year-old!

 Our awesome cake - R requested strawberry with strawberry frosting.

 R dropping a clothespin into the jar.

 The firetruck pinata!

 Papa had to bust it open :)

MC had a great time too!

MC Turns One: The video!

And yes, only six weeks late on this one but I did finish it!

Happy Birthday, Mary-Charlotte!

Of course I'm sooo behind on our birthday post, it's harder to keep up with two babes!

Mary-Charlotte had a wonderful birthday celebration! We hosted a small ice cream social at our house for family and even had some special guests from Texas AND New Orleans! Ned's parents came in from Houston and his sister and her husband surprised them by coming, too. It was awesome to have everyone together.

The next day was Mother's Day and we hung out again with Ned's fam. Everyone (except me!) worked together to assemble the dome we got for R. I'm sooo glad they were all here, because if N and I had to do it on our own, it would have never been put together!

Here's some pics of our beautiful birthday girl and our fam!

 The ice cream setup - R was very interested in buying all the toppings and he selected all the flavors: Neopolitan, chocolate chip and cookies and cream.

 Her hat and pretty banner was my birthday splurge for her!

MC and Mimi C

R was first in line!

MC and Mimi reading one of her new books :)