New Year Resolution!

The babies Christmas morning.

Annelise takes after Daddy for sure!

It would be hard to get any sweeter than our boy.

Assaulting the presents one jump at a time!

Annelise and Bella the Bunny. She was so gentle!

This is seriously a new arena for me! New Year resolutions are not something I have ever been interested in taking part in. Mainly because they normally involve some form of physical movement in an attempt to lose weight or some hairball idea that you will never even really try. So having said that I really am going to put one into action. What is it you say??? Well, as you all know we have 16 month old twins (as of today. . .Happy Birthday!) and being twins isn't all it's cracked up to be all the time. Often times they are clumped together as if they only have one life between the two of them. Always being together, which is adorable, but rarely get the one-on-one time of a singleton. So this year I am hoping to get the children alone more to help them explore their budding personalities and to see who they are becoming as my little boy and sweet girl. Since we don't like to leave our babies this may be a challenge but I think Daddy and I can tag team the two of them and make it happen. It should be so much fun for us all and I really hope the babies get to feel unique and special. They really are so different and it will also be so much fun to post all about them!

Christmas Spirit at the Bates house!

"Is this serously not alright to wear outside?"

"I'm plenty warm Mom, I swear!"

Santa hats and babies are a holiday must have!

"If we could just open this silly gate we could get to that tree!"

Looks like a Christmas tree to me but temptaion to them!

Here are a few pics from the week. It's been chilly outside but we finally got a few decorations up after much procrastination. We have hardly shopped at all yet ( I know. . .I'm in trouble!) but we have hed the best time with the babies just playing and enjoying their ever changing personalities. It's been nice to just absorb every second with them and let the hustle of the holidays fly by without a care. Having said that everyone can look forward to our holiday cards getting out in the mail tomorrow! YIKES! With any luck we are only hoping you get them before New Years. If they come any later just change the year to 2009 and pretend I'm really on top of things for next year!

Hair today. . .Tummy tomorrow!

There are just certain meals that never make it to the tummy. I was busy putting up the Christmas tree (Yes, a whole week before the big day) and if you can imagine it was quite a challenge with a hundred glass bulbs and a curious set of 15 month old twins by my side. Since I needed both my hands I thought I would lavish snacks upon the babies as they watched me from their high chairs. By the time I really looked at them closely they had food from one end of the kitchen to the other, in their hair, down their shirt, and anywhere they could throw it. All this while I was literally 8 feet away! It took almost as long to clean it all up as it did for me to decorate the tree. The moral of the story is that food and Christmas trees don't mix! Then again, it's hard to find something cuter than a messy baby. (Except maybe a sleeping one!)

Surprise!

A friendly wave hello!

I'm pretty sure this baby looks like Daddy!

We figured the holidays were as good a time as any to share our thrilling news with everyone. We are currently ecpecting baby #3!!! For those of you who are thinking "How old are the twins?" Well, they are a whopping 15 months old which in turn means that when this baby arrives we will have three children UNDER the age of 2! We love a challenge! In order for us to have the twins we had to endure IVF and fertility treatments but not this time! We feel so amazingly blessed that this baby decided to surprise us. What a great surprise!! We have an ETA of June 17th and are looking forward to having a baby in the house again. We are certain it will be nothing short of busy around here but as my Dad always says "Busy hands are happy hands!" We could not agree more!

We love Santa. . . or NOT!

Yesterday we set out to get our favorite holiday Santa on film. This is Santa visit #4 for the kids and all of our other visits have been pretty uneventful. The visits were tear free and although Annelise isn't sure about Santa her brother doesn't seem to mind him at all. Until yesterday that is! We showed up during Santa's lunch hour and were forced to wait a solid 45 minutes for his return. Then the line grew so fast you would have thought they were giving out free drinks for the parents. No such luck! By the time we were front and center for Santa Claus he had already spoke to the babies and they were just fine with him so we remained hopeful. The second we put the twins on Santa's lap both Bodie and Annelise acted as if they had been pinched or abandoned forever. I have to tell you that it was hilarious! Santa tried his best but the babies were not buying whatever holiday cheer he was selling! The very second we touched the babies they completely quit crying and were fine only an inch off his lap. We love the tradition of visiting Santa and are certain that our future visits will be filled with excitement. Until then, we thought this photo would remind every single one of you of your child at the curious age of one and the days when no one was more safe than mommy and daddy.

MaeZee makes our day!

It must have been hard to move but they still loved it!

Early morning entertainment. The MaeZee and Lucy show!

She beat the sun outside this morning!

What a great weekend! We were so lucky when cousin MaeZee came to play. The babies and MaeZee spent about an hour playing in the tub and I'm pretty sure there were equal parts water in the tub and on the floor! They laughed at each other and played so nicely the entire time. It started snowing super hard yesterday and by this morning all the children just wanted to get out there and play! MaeZee was sooooo excited that she was literally outside by about 7:15 a.m.!! Seriously, it was still dark but MaeZee and Lucy, her new BFF, just kept the babies entertained and made sure to throw lots of snow at the glass and make the babies laugh. We did a little shopping and had hot cocoa after round two in the snow. We love to have her over and just get such a kick out of her funny expressions!

Mrs. Claus pays a visit to the twins!

Annelise listening contently to Mrs. Claus read one of many stories.


Leave it to Bodie to find a cute older girl to share his raisins with.

Barnes and Noble is one of our favorite places. We appreciate the free story hour for kids every week and the opportunity to embrace my children with books. This holiday Mrs. Claus made a very special stop and read lots of Christmas stories and even brought her husband Mrs. Santa Claus himself. They did take pictures for us of the children sitting on his lap but with the two of them it was hard for me to take my own photo. It was a great Saturday outing and the kids are sure curious about this red suited fella with a beard they keep running into.