Hey!

Let’s pretend I wrote this blog just a few days after Christmas, okay?

Thanks!

Because see…

What happened was…

Christmas.

Christmas happened.

And since then I’ve been in a pattern of traveling, celebrating, eating, playing, CLEANING, complaining about cleaning, forgetting what our “normal” schedule is, trying to figure out where to put all these new toys, cleaning some more and then cleaning.

Also?

My house is a mess.

Someone please clean it!

Anyway…this isn’t a very perky beginning.

What I should be saying is…CHRISTMAS WAS SO FUN!

You know what else?

BEFORE CHRISTMAS WAS SO FUN!

Because before Christmas, we saw a lot of people who love us.

Before Christmas, we celebrated with Kev’s family.

Then we drove down to visit my grandmother, my parents, my sister’s family and my mom’s big family.

And then we came home for actual Christmas.

But this blog is about *before* Christmas!

So here it is in all its glory…

Before Christmas!

Aunt Amy always steals the baby!  Her kids call her the “baby hog.”  Which they mean in the nicest way possible.

Alice is going through a phase called “I really don’t like anyone except my parents, but I’ll try to tolerate you for a couple minutes before crying.”  That’s a long name for a phase, Alice.

Cousin Delaney LOVES babies, too.  She takes after her Mama.

Alice and Mimi!

I took 23 photos of this — and this is the best.  Woo!

Yeah, the girls posing for the photo was not the problem…

But I’m not saying who *was* the problem. Not specifically.

This is the first year Tom was old enough to help hand out presents.  I really wish I’d videoed this, because he did so awesome and it was hysterical.  There was a lot of , “Here you go, Mom!  Here’s another present for YOU!!!!”  Adorable.

Alice likes presents.

So does Tom!  He loved this helicopter and carried it with him the rest of the day.

Alice had a wonderful time with Mimi and Pops!

That afternoon we headed down to my hometown so Alice could visit with her great-grandmother, LaLa.

Cousin Matilda and Alice playing with LaLa’s toys.

And then we headed to my parent’s house so they could give Tom (and Alice) a kitchen set!  Yay!

Alice loves the pots and pans — and the fake potato chips.

And Tom loved taking the truck we bought for his cousin, Gus, and packing it with fake fruit.  OBVIOUSLY.

And then Alice decided to give me a really cool present…and she started crawling.

We also visited with my mom’s family — but I forgot to take my camera.  Boo, me!  But we had a wonderful time visiting with all my aunts, uncles and cousins and everyone who hadn’t met Alice, met her — so it was awesome!  Alice is named after my mom’s mom, so everyone was thrilled to see the newest namesake.

We had a wonderful time with our families and I’m so thrilled we were able to take the kids to visit everyone.

Christmas with kids is THE. BEST.

I’m not kidding you.

It’s the Super Bowl for moms.

This year did not disappoint, and I’m so happy we were able to share it with our parents, siblings and extended family.

Next blog will cover actual Christmas, and I have high hopes I’ll post it before another week goes by!

I really, really hope y’all had a wonderful Christmas week!

LOVE.