Goodbye 2009

Well, we had a pretty uneventful close to 2009. This is honestly the first New Year's Eve ever where we haven't really had any plans. We were o.k. with it, and tried to make it a fun day & night for the family. Ben, Taylor (and Zach for a little while) built an amazing snow fort and snowmen/women during the day.. and then we decided to "dress up" and take our little family out to Carraba's for a special New Year's Eve dinner. The kids actually did great, and we enjoyed a fun time out together... a rarity these days. We then came home, put the kids to bed and Ben and I busted out a bottle of wine and played some games to bring in the new year! Enjoy some pictures from our last day of 2009.
The most awesome snow fort.. EVER!
Frosty & Crystal...So proud of their work!
Daddy & Tay-Tay
Taylor and Crystal the Snow-woman..

We are on Barbie & The Nutcracker overload here... Taylor constantly wants to watch this and she dances around the room (generally in some kind of a princess dress and ballet shoes). As you can see, Zach just likes to hit things with his big stick... or pretend it's a sword or something.

Daddy & his girl..
Daddy & the kids...
Mommy & the kids...

Christmas 2009

For Christmas this year we started out the day at home, opened stockings & gifts and enjoyed a breakfast of scrambled eggs, sausage, toast & O.J. courtesy of Daddy. I attempted to read Luke 2 while at the breakfast table, and this resulted in both of us scolding the kids to be quiet, Zach crying hysterically, and Lauren crying because Zach was crying... I did finish, but it kind of felt like we had lost the point. :) The kids were able to play with their new toys for a bit, and then off we went to Grammie & Papa's for our 4th Christmas of the year with Aunt Christy & Uncle Mark, Grammie & Papa. My parents are always beyond generous with their gift giving, and we were all blessed with many incredible gifts. We spent the day as a family, eating lots and lots of food, talking & watched a movie once the kids were in bed. I'm so thankful for the family God had blessed us with.
Waiting on the steps to see if Santa came...
An empty glass & half of a cookie...
It looks like the reindeer left quite a mess!
Santa was here!!

Taylor ran right for the stockings...
Zach ran right for the gifts....
Stockings first....
What's in here?
I think she might have been a little bit excited...
Zachie opening up his BIG gift from Santa... Hmm. What could it be?
The shake n go extreme raceway! Thanks to our friends Jen & Chad for this awesome tip... we bought this for Zach (or Santa did) for $27.99 out the door from Amazon. This was an amazing deal, considering they were selling it in the stores for $60 on up!
Christmas Jammies...
Christmas at Grammie & Papa's...L0-Lo playing with her new toy!
Taylor wearing her new apron... "Hostess in Training"
Papa in his chair...
Lo was even joining in the fun!
Opening MANY, MANY presents... :)
Lauren- 15 weeks old
Aunt Christy & Uncle Mark

Christmas Eve

We had a very busy, but fun Christmas Eve this year. The day started out with a trip to the Dr. for Mr. Zach... who has yes, another ear infection. So, it was off to the store for another dose of antibiotics and one cranky kid! We then celebrated Christmas#1 with Ben's family at our house. Uncle Jason wasn't able to make this year because he was working, but Grandma Terry, Rod, Leeanna, Uncle Tom, Angie & Kyle were all able to come. We enjoyed pizza & lots of great presents! After Christmas, we rushed out the door for Christmas Eve service at church, and after that over to Uncle Dan & Aunt Dianes for our 2nd Christmas with the Gilligan's. From there we rushed home around 9:30. We still had to put out the milk & cookies for Santa & leave carrots for his reindeer! Taylor was SO excited for Santa this year. So excited in fact, that she had woken us up at 3am the night b4 Christmas Eve claiming she heard bells... and she went so far as to go downstairs and check to see if Santa had been there... We had to explain Christmas Eve didn't actually start until the sun came up! She was jumping the gun just a little bit.
Kyle, Zach & Taylor
Playing with Grandma Terry...

Tay got a new Barbie!
Zach opening up the color wonder!
Bailey & Taylor
Grammie putting Lauren to sleep.
Our Family... Yes, Lauren is completely asleep. How nice is it when they can sleep anywhere?
Milk & Cookies for Santa
Carrots for the Reindeer...

Christmas Cookies

Sunday was our 3rd annual Christmas Cookie night at the Leonard house. Taylor and I went to work on cut-out Christmas cookies, and Ben went to work on his peanut butter fudge, no bake cookies and chocolate chip cookies. Taylor loves rolling the dough, and she loves eating... I mean decorating the cookies...
Before...
After... as you can see, Taylor was sneaking a little taste of frosting. Where does she get her sweet tooth? Daddy...
Decorating the cookies..

The finished product!

Meeting Sydney Jude

So, yesterday my awesome husband let me drive down to Chicago to visit my good friend Jen, and her new baby Sydney! It was so nice to have some time to spend with Jen, and to meet her beautiful baby girl! I was beyond excited that she had a girl just 10 weeks after I had Lauren. It is going to be so much fun to have boys and girls the same age. Thanks Jen, for having me.... I miss you and only wish you lived closer. Congratulations Harris Family on an adorable little girl!
Pretty Sydney...
Already BFF's....
With Taylor & Zach at home with Daddy, I actually had some free time to hold her. :)
Jen and her 2 kiddos!!! She handles it much better than I did. :)
Mommas (exactly 2 weeks apart) & Baby girls (exactly 10 weeks apart)

Christmas Concert

On Friday, we had Taylor's annual Christmas Concert at St. Mikes. Taylor has been practicing her songs for the last 2 months and she was VERY excited to perform for us. I was also very excited, because I'm not sure how much more of "Go tell it on the Mountain", "In a little Stable" & "Oh Come All Ye Faithful", I could take :)
She loves to sing, and I was so impressed with how quickly she picked up all of the hand motions this year. Ben and I were joking in the car about how she was the best one up there, of course! (Isn't that just how it goes as a parent sometimes?) Truthfully, I wouldn't know if she was the best one because I never really looked at any of the other kids. My eyes were pretty glued to 1 sweet face. In other news, she actually fell asleep in the car on our way to the program. She was completely exhausted from waking up at 6AM that day, she was coming down with a cold, and she had pre-school that afternoon and therefore, no nap!
The group! This is 1 of the 3 groups of kids that sang, I believe Tay's group was a combination of 3 classes of Pre-K (4 year olds). St. Mikes does such a great job of putting on this program. It's so much fun to watch these little kids pull their dresses over their heads, slide down the risers and turn in circles. Seriously, we were cracking up.

3 month changes

Lauren is 3 months old, and with quite a bit of prodding from my husband she has officially made the leap from her bassinet right next to Mommy, to her own crib in her own room. (Sniff...Sniff...) I was slightly emotional about the whole ordeal. I'm not sure why, maybe because it's my last baby.. maybe because I've had her right next to me for the last 3, well actually, the last 12 months. She is a quiet little sleeper, and I loved knowing she was safe right next to me. As you can see, she didn't seem to mind one bit.
Her new bed...

Here are some quirky things about Lauren at 3 months:

• She is scared of loud sneezes, and will generally burst into tears when someone sneezes really loud.
• She is scared of my new camera, and often gives me the above look when I approach her.
• She LOVES to be held. She is totally a snuggler.
  
• She already seems to like the silky part of blankets... just like her sister and brother before her. Yesterday she accidentally grabbed her blanket and pulled it to her little face... and almost immediately her eyes started to blink, and she fell asleep.
  
• She loves to chew on your shoulder and slobber all over you until your entire shirt is wet.
• She was our "surprise" baby, but she is by far the one I have let myself enjoy the most.