Another lazy vacation day

Today's pictures are out of order but I'm WAYYYYYY too tired to care! So here is some of what we did today:

Guess why these two are clapping and excited?

Because Elizabeth learned how to SWING!!! We are so proud of her, she was having so much fun! And Mark was trying really hard and was a very supportive brother, clapping a lot!

At one point Aunt Becky had all 3 kids playing peek a boo with her!!!

Playing 'sleeping' game on the stairs:

A trip to the dairy farm to see the cats, equipment and cows of course! Elizabeth even put her hands in a cows mouth!!:

Ring around the Rosie:

Mark miraculously fell asleep while watching his new Wonderpets DVD! And when I picked him up to take him to his pack n play he yelled out milk, milk...then fell back asleep for almost 3 hours!!

Sarah got a hold of a pepper shaker, took the lid off and then dumped it all over her spaghetti (the pictures are in the wrong order, but it's still cute!)!!!

Christmas Day 2011

We had an amazing day today and everyone has gotten very spoiled this year!! We started off the morning with our little Santa greeting everyone as they came in to look at their presents (she was up the earliest):

We told Mark to go and sit by Santa for a picture and without any direction he sat right on her lap!!

Then Elizabeth joined in but somehow that knocked Annie down...she couldn't take both of them!

She recovered to have her picture taken with her sister (and yes that is cookies you see in their hands...Santa forgot to eat them off the plate and these two got first dibs on them!)

Now onto stockings! Elizabeth got washable markers:

And a new Wonderpets DVD (the ONLY show that they like):

And a sticker book:

Mark also got a new Wonderpets DVD:

He is pointing and saying the names of the 3 main characters...Winny (Linny), Tuck and Ming Ming. I'm surprised he was able to move on to other presents, he loves getting in the car to watch 'pets'!:

They also received mini play doughs (which Annie wanted to chew on), stamps, and stickers:

Annie got to find out what was in her stocking...

CHEERIOS!!! Her new favorite snack!

This is her sucking down Cheerios face, it's so cute!

Elizabeth and Mark both got special personalized books:

And their big presents from Mom and Dad:

Elizabeth loved playing with this toy and wanted Daddy to put it on top of the piano when she was done playing with it so that no other kids would touch it!

Mark and his cool car!

Then it was Annie's turn to chew..I mean open presents:

Big brother decided to come and help:

She is waiting patiently for me to take it out of the package:

And what is the first thing she looks for and finds? The tag!!

Then a couple more to go...

So seriously concentrating on this new book:

And the mother of all teething toys! She has LOVED exploring this toy!

The kids enjoyed playing with this 101 piece cookie cutters that Marjean gave us:

Ron and Marjean got all of us so many things.....A king sized quilt and sheets, lotion, books (including Childcraft books from 1988 that our kids LOVE!!!!!!), I'm probably forgetting more things because we got SO MUCH!! Becky and Jared gave us kitchen shears (yay!), an Amazon gift card and a ping pong raquet case with balls. Thanks to everyone for the gifts!!

Besides taking most of the day to open presents we also went to Church and then hung around all day and PLAYED!!! It has been a great day!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!

We didn't have time to send out pictures this year. Here is our informal letter and picture.

This year has been amazing for all of us! We celebrated Mark and Elizabeth's 1st birthday in February!! We had a fun family day and they both started walking within a few weeks of their birthday. They have turned into busy, busy, busy toddlers!! They run, jump, and spin all over the place! They wear us parents out really good every day but they are so much fun. They are sweet and it's quite an adventure watching them learn and grow.

In June we welcomed our beautiful Annie!!! She has been a ray of sunshine in our family and such a blessing. No matter how much craziness is happening with two toddlers she is ALWAYS happy and smiling!! She is now 6 months and sitting up really well, eating solids, and loves her siblings to pieces! It has been so amazing to watch the bonds forming between all 3 of our children.

In July we bought our first home and have loved it! It is a beautiful home and the kids have lots more room to run. We spend as much of our 'free' time as we can making it our own and are having a lot of fun with it. Mark is still employed and we feel so blessed that he has a great job that he likes. As you can imagine Emily is a little busy caring for 3 kids under the age of 2! It is more than a full time job but more rewarding than anything!

We hope this finds all of our family and friends well. We love and appreciate all of you! Merry Christmas!!

Here are pictures of Mark:

And Elizabeth:

And Annie:

The whole family!

And some outtakes.....