The Eve of New Years Eve...

WOW - is all I can think of right now, and all I've thought the past several days since Christmas!  Let me just say that these girls are so loved to have been spoiled with so many books, games and new toys!  I think our hunt for a larger house is going to happen quicker than planned!  Madelyn really had fun this year, Emily had fun on her first Christmas..but thank goodness she had that thumb to get her through!  We had a great time with both of our families...many laughs and good times. 

Since I haven't posted since Christmas Eve, here's a quick little peek into Christmas Day in our house ---
I'll share some more later...it's bed time for me!


Emily's First Christmas!!

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Day is here!  I better get to bed so Santa will come...I just couldn't stop "tinkering" with all these fun toys that the girls will be surprised with!  We've had so much fun this holiday season, I know it will only get better every year.

Every day is a gift for us - waking up to sleepy little eyes and big long stretches, hearing the giggles and little baby sneezes when they are still in their rooms, listening to the thump thump of quick little feet and the squeals that follow...it's great!  We are so thankful for our family that we've made, and so thankful for the families that we come from.

Here are some pictures of our tree on Christmas Eve...

Santa left a note thanking Madelyn for the cookie and milk

Christmas at Grandpa & Mimi's

Merry Christmas!  I knew I'd be up late, setting up toys and arranging the girls' Christmas presents just so.  But it's been so fun!  I've been up til midnight the past week...yesterday we baked all day, about 15 dozen cookies later...the neighbors are now our best friends!  (And my feet are NOT!) 

Today we headed over to Ben's family (AKA Grandpa and Mimi, Aunties) to celebrate Christmas.  What a fun day it was, Madelyn was thrilled with one of the first things she saw...a pen just her size and a small clipboard that she kept close by to take all of our orders!  "What would you like" she asked each of us over and over...she'll make a mighty fine waitress one day!  She got a beautiful pink tri-cycle with a helmet, clothes, games, books and a GIGANTIC Disney Princess tent/castle big enough for me to hide from everyone when I need my alone time!  Emily was happy with some bows and paper, but she was treated just as well with a Lion ride on toy, clothes and books, too.  Hard to believe it's Emily's FIRST CHRISTMAS! 

THANK YOU all for a great Christmas....here are some fun pics:

4 days to go!

The countdown is on!  Only four days til Saint Nicholas visits!  Our shopping is done and just about everything is wrapped.  We're looking forward to the end of the week and spending time with our families. 

A few fun things to share....

Madelyn's first Christmas concert was a few weeks ago.  It was so cute, and so fun to watch the little ones trying to stay still for a whole 15 minutes.  Madelyn spotted her family right away and waved, I held back tears the entire time!  ha  I cried in September when they told us to mark our calendars! 

We had a pretty major snow storm (for Virginia anyway) blow through over the weekend.  It was beautiful!  We haven't had snow like that in years, Madelyn had a great time outside and even Emily enjoyed it too!  We made a snowman and wrestled around, and made sure we fed all of our little friendly birds.

5 days to go!

Could it really be?  It seems like Christmas just popped it's little self up out of nowhere this year!  Madelyn has certainly been in Christmas mode...she says we are celebrating Jesus' birthday and she really wants some of His birthday cake!  She's been wearing her Santa jammies for weeks now, every morning she wants the lights turned on on the tree and every morning is a hunt for our spying elf, Alfie.  Once we find him, it's time to open the next door of our Advent Calendar. 

Alfie is a new tradition for our family this year...something we thought would be fun for our girls while they are young.  He's a sweet little guy in red who reports back to Santa each night to tell him how Madelyn (and Emily next year) has been, and every morning he returns, he hides himself in a different spot.  He could be anywhere - we say good morning to him and check up on him throughout the day - but no touching as he will lose his magic to fly back to The North Pole.  SO FUN!  (Honestly, he's a creepy looking little thing -- long pointy hands and legs and piercing blue eyes that seem to follow you wherever you go!)

Madelyn & Emily each have their own "first Christmas" ornaments...two sweet little keepsakes they'll hang on their own tree one day...and there's something about this happy little snowman that I love seeing every year.  He's one of my favorites!

More to come...Madelyn had her first Christmas concert, and we were surprised with 9 inches of snow over the weekend!

A week of Thanksgiving celebrations...

Well, another month snuck past us - if I keep up this "Blogger Withdrawl", it'll be 2010 before I post again!  It's less than a month away, I honestly think as we get older, time goes by faster.  I remember being a little kid and the summer seemed to last forever, and it took an eternity for Christmas to get here...now it seems like we blink our eyes and the swimming pools have been put away for the Christmas trees!

We had THREE great Thanksgivings this year...one with my family at the "Johnson Home" in Stafford the weekend before Thanksgiving, one here with the four of us and my Mom on Thanksgiving Day, and one the Saturday after Thanksgiving with Ben's family in Amelia.  It certainly stretched the holiday out...and our pants!  After two turkeys, ham, heaps of potatoes, green beans and stuffing, and so many slices of dessert that we lost count - we can officially say that the leftovers are over!

The Johnson's tradition is that each of us bring something for dinner - Sean and Dad provided munchies, a delicious SMOKED turkey, and stufffing with fresh spinach and artichoke.  Mom brought a potato casserole and cranberry salad, I had sweet potatoes and green beans and Liz and Mary bring their fabulous pies -- chocolate, coconut and pumpkin.  Thank you for hosting, Dad -- you don't know how special it is to me when we're all back in our old house -- the house where I spent ALL but three years of my life...

Here at home, I kept it small with a yummy sweet ham, green beans, sweet potatoes, rolls and dessert...

And at The Joneses - meatballs, devilled eggs, veggies, shrimp, cookies, cakes and brownies...and thats all before dinner!  A fried turkey, green bean casserole, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes & gravy, rolls, applesauce, along with pumpkin and pecan pies.  Whew...it was great, I'm sure I forgot something in there!  Thank you for cooking a wonderful dinner, Mom - we all had such a great day!  It was so fun to be with everyone that day!

Now looking ahead -- the decorations are up, the girl's gifts are complete (not wrapped yet, but waiting), a little shopping to do for family and a load of Christmas celebrations to enjoy this season.  We're really looking forward to more time spent with our families!