Christmas!

Whew!  Christmas with twins was busy and fun!  At four months, the boys didn't quite know what was going on, but it was nice to start some family Christmas traditions none the less.  Thanks to the advice of one of my crafty co-workers, we were able to make some cute Christmas ornaments for the Grandparents.  Jody was worried that the boys would freak out when I painted their feet brown in an attempt to create a reindeer ornament, but they actually loved it!  The whole process took us less than five minutes, which is probably some sort of world record in the twin ornament making land.  (Yes, we are that good.)  Here they are, as cute as can be.  We can't wait to do this more in the many years to come!

Our little reindeer--Jack on left, Rowan on right

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were also full of adventure for us.  It felt like we were here and there and everywhere in-between, but the boys did so well!  They got some precious toys, and it was fun to watch them play.  One of the highlights from Christmas Day was watching Jack and Rowan interact with their big cousins, Elijah and Ellie.  It was like a light bulb went off and they realized, "Whoa, these people are little AND they're funny!"  They couldn't stop smiling, and they all four made each others day.  Here are some pictures from our first Christmas together.  

Jack laughing at Cousin Elijah

Merry Christmas!

Christmas with Grandma and Grandpa

Christmas Eve

Christmas with Gran and Papa

Trying to eat Papa's chocolate-covered cherries

Of course, one of the best things about this Christmas is that I am able to be home for two whole weeks with the boys!  It is so hard to go to work each day and only get to interact with them for a few hours in the evenings.  It weighs heavy on my heart to leave them during the day, so this past week has been a huge blessing.  I'm enjoying every second of my time with them (even those seconds at 3 AM when we are wide awake.....Mr. Rowan.....).  :)    

Love our happy family!

Whatcha got in your stocking?

Can you believe it is already THAT time of year?  You know, the time when parents of twins all over start subjecting their children to outrageously cute poses in search of the most perfect family Christmas card ever?  Yeah, me either, but boy did we enjoy our little Christmas shoot adventure!

This year, our plan was to get together with our favorite photographer from JTPhotography for some cute family shots, but those plans were sidelined by a little something called the good ole DMV (which is also affectionately known as the Department of Motor Vehicles).  Yes, Jody and I had to wait in line, along with 500 of our closest friends, to get our driver's license renewed.  Thankfully, the whole process didn't take all day like we were expecting, but we did have to cancel our family photo shoot plans.

So, enter me, who was bound and determined to not let the DMV ruin our entire Christmas.  I decided that come spit up or dirty diapers, we were going to put on a smile and take one of the cutest Christmas pictures ever!  All I had to do was come up with a precious idea, find the even more precious props, and convince Jody that taking a Christmas picture of his three month old twins right before their feeding time (as to avoid spit ups) would be the best experience of his life.  Hey, I got this!

Step One:  Come up with obscenely precious idea

This step was actually pretty easy.  All I had to do was type in "cute Christmas picture ideas" in Yahoo and presto!  Why not take a picture of the twins in their Christmas stockings?  Better yet, let's come up with a cute little theme like, "We hope your stockings are filled with double the blessings and double the love."  Yes, I think I like it!

Step Two:  Find obscenely precious props to go with obscenely precious idea

Now, this step actually took a lot of work.  First, I had to order some Christmas hats for the boys.  Then, I had to find a working strand of Christmas lights and a black sheet.  With these props ready, we finally tried to fit the boys into their actual Christmas stockings, but low and behold, my little boys have grown so much that they couldn't fit in them!  This was a little disappointing at first, but I couldn't let it break my Christmas spirit.  We tried a few shots with the stockings laying over the boys, but it just wasn't quite the Christmas card spectacular that I was expecting (but still too stinking cute, if I do say so myself).

Step Two (Continued):  Find NEW obscenely precious props to go with obscenely precious idea

With our little stocking debacle still fresh on my mind, I set out on a mission to the one place that never lets me down--Target!  My goal was to find two massive Christmas stockings for our beefy little tots, and two massive Christmas stockings I did find.  They were $13 each, and yes, that is $26 well spent (but if Jody asks, they were buy one, get one free).  So, with the optimal Christmas props in my possession, I prepared myself for our final step in the journey......

Step Three:  Convince Jody to retake pictures that may or may not have been a nightmare to take the first time around

Whew!  Thankfully this step was surprisingly easy, although Jody did mention a few times that he thought I was going a little crazy.  (What's new?)  With everything set up and ready to go, all we needed was for our boys to look at the camera and give us the best pose ever.  Now, I'll admit, it did take us a few tries until we were able to get the optimal photo, but nothing says Merry Christmas like several good blooper shots, right?

Santa looks like, WHAT?!?!

Rowan was just a little fidgety.

Rowan channeling his inner Maggie from The Simpson's, while Jack has the exact same look in every picture.

Mommy, we are SO over this.

I am happy to say that even though we got off to a rocky-ish start, our Christmas shoot was a huge success.  I had planned to return our $26 stockings when were done (I know, really savvy and/or cheap of me), but Rowan ended up pee-peeing in his.  Guess who is going to have to use a gigantic Christmas stocking for the rest of his life????? :)

 In the end, we did find the perfect picture for our card.  

Awwwww.....I love those little boys!  They did so good for their mommy.  I know they can't wait to see what I'll come up with next year.  If anything, I know they are looking forward to me showing this picture to their girlfriends about twenty years down the road.  Merry Christmas!