Christmas laughs

Here are a few more pictures that I have on my camera that just make me laugh. The pictures themselves might not be so funny, but the memories of that moment are definitely chuckle worthy.

Audrey helped Tinkerbell make herself at home in our new dollhouse.


Julia received a little makeup from Santa. Here she is trying it out... and then watching warily while Audrey tries it out too. She'd definitely prefer not to share sometimes!



This one isn't a terribly funny, but here's a picture of some of the wall decals that Julia received. (Santa heard Julia's comments that her plain colored room was 'boring' and 'not pretty' but knew that painting an apartment wall wasn't something Mom and Dad cared to do.) After decorating 2 walls, Julia graciously allowed Audrey to use some. Jules also has moved back into her own room now that it's "pretty". (She's been sleeping in the floor of Audrey's room for 2+ weeks.) Audrey is still sleeping in the floor of her room. Whatever.


Only one of the items Matt bought me passed my inspection. (I have issues and issues) Here I am posing with that shirt, but looking at it makes me feel kind of like a fool.

Christmas morning

Christmas morning - 12:45 AM

Julia comes walking in our bedroom where we are about to go to sleep. She snuggles in with us (yes, we're THOSE parents who allow our children to sleep in our bed) and after giggling with her for a few minutes we finally all closed our eyes. As she's drifting off she mumbles...

"What about my dollhouse?"

"Umm, huh??"

"My dollhouse...

"What dollhouse. You don't have a dollhouse."
"My dollhouse in the living room"
"What???" - Matt and I jump up and run to check it out. Julia doesn't bother to follow.

Like last year, Julia saw her presents from Santa and then immediately went back to sleep. I'm glad she was so excited... or not.

Anyways - Audrey woke up first as usual. (6:50 AM in case you want to know) Her tendency is to crawl out of our bed, walk into the hallway, and then start yelling "Mommy, get out of bed. Make me breakfast!" Yes, she has some really bad manners and this Christmas morn was no different than usual.

Except it was different. I actually got out of bed at the first holler. I then met up with her and said, "Do you want to go see if Santa left you any toys in the living room?" She had obviously forgotten b/c she responded with a sharp gasp and wide eyes. Her facial expression read, "oh yeah!"

Here are a few pictures from our morning.

We munched on sausage balls while we opened presents. (That's become our tradition. It feels wonderful to start our own traditions, but at the same time makes me feel OLD!) We then had a breakfast of sopapilla cheesecake, eggs, and fruit. Since Jesus is the "reason for the season" we gave the girls candles in the sopapilla to blow out after we sang "Happy Birthday."

I absolutely loved having a relaxing, slowpaced Christmas morning at home, but we definitely missed our families like crazy and spent a good bit of time Christmas day on the phone! The girls and I are looking forward to visiting TN soon!

Christmas Eve pictures

Here the girls are posing with the cookies/milk we left for Santa and the carrots we left for the reindeer. We also sprinkled reindeer food (dry oatmeal and glitter) outside on the lawn and placed a special key on the front door since we have no chimney this year.




Then I sent the girls to put on a different pair of pajamas (we'd been lounging around all day). I was hoping to get Audrey in an adorable (albeit handmedown) JOY Christmas gown. Instead of wearing pajamas that actually fit, though, the girls decided to wear last years Christmas pajamas so that they could match! Note to self: buy matching Xmas pj's this week for next year - hopefully they'll still be ok with matching 12 months from now!

These girls were so excited!




See last year's Xmas Eve photo shoot here. My, my these girls have changed!

O Christmas Tree

We've added a few ornaments to our tree this year! I just thought I'd share them with you. :)

Julia's S.S. teachers gave her this one.


I ordered these (at a great price of course).


One of my preschoolers gave me this monogrammed ornament - cute!


The girls are big fans of Tinkerbell!


And, of course, we've added a few homemade ornaments. Here are just a few.


Our tree

Pictures, just pictures

Package in the mail

My Grandmother mailed the girls a present this week since we aren't going to be able to see her over the holidays. She's been working on these blankets for awhile! Thank you!

Elf on the Shelf

One of Santa's Helpers has been hanging around our house lately. We've named him Elfie, and every night he reports to Santa who in the house has been naughty or nice. He then flies back to our home and finds a new spot to sit and watch. (Well, he finds a new spot almost every night. Once or twice our elf has been lazy and stayed in the same place!)

The girls have gotten more and more into Elfie the closer it has gotten to Christmas. Here was Elfie in his spot yesterday and today.

Julia started sleeping on the floor of Audrey's room a week ago. It didn't take long for Audrey to join in on the fun. They talk and talk instead of falling right to sleep, but it's Christmas break. Who cares?



Aren't they so cute holding hands? Sweet girls...

Doesn't Matt look absolutely great sitting here holding a baby boy?? This little one reaching for Matt and smiling at him definitely pulled at my baby boy heartstrings! Too bad the only way Matt would agree to a 3rd child is if God decided for him! ;) It's also too bad that I live 7.5 hours away from our nephew that will be here in just a couple of weeks!

Posing for pictures!

The Bowman family had to pose for a few pictures this past Sunday evening. Other than me not bothering to do my hair (so typical) we were looking pretty cute!
This is the worse of the 2 foursome pics we took. For some reason, though, the computer wouldn't let me rotate the other.

I can't dress myself

I have a love/hate relationship with getting clothes for Christmas. I absolutely hate getting clothes as a present because just a small percentage of the clothes I receive actually fit. An even smaller percentage of the clothes that fit are articles that I also feel comfortable wearing. I wind up feeling extremely sad and frustrated by the time I've tried everything on (and returned the majority of the items.)

The other half of me loves receiving clothes as presents because I hate shopping. Too many clothing choices overwhelms me, and I tend to just walk around stores with a dumbfounded look on my face. I've said on more than one occasion that I need a personal shopper. Seriously.

Whether I love it or hate it, I will be receiving (and have already received) some new articles of clothing this month. The generosity of others who take the time to shop for me is much appreciated since it helps keep me from leaving the house looking like... this.

A few pictures from the Christmas program

Here's a short video from the girls' Christmas program yesterday. Perhaps I'm biased, but I think Julia and Audrey are the prettiest little sheep in the whole flock! BTW - Audrey flat out refused to wear her sheep ears.

How the girls spent this weekend...

A) wrestling

2) shirts off (are my kids the only ones that do this frequently?)

D) with my mom, Mammy, thinking most anything they do is cute (what is it with grandparents??)

Pajama Day & Santa!

Sorry for a couple of cloudy pics. I cleaned the lens after the class shot of Julia's, but none of the subsequent pics had her posing quite as good as that first time! As for Audrey's Santa picture, I had to take a picture of a picture.

Audrey on right


Julia - 3rd from left