Baptisms & Christmas

Pardon my appearance in this picture! Hadlee was supposed to be helping me wrap Christmas presents; however, she prefered to climb on the boxes and tear-up all my tissue paper. Kooper was also in the room and was't much help either.
I love, love, love this picture of Kooper! It was one of the first nights we had the tree up & the lights on. He was in such amazement! The quality of the pic isn't wonderful b/c it is off of Nick's cell phone, but I actually really like it!
My cousin, Bret, lives about 3 hours south of us in SC. He drove up on Dec. 22, to get a little bit of a head start on the long drive up to IN on the 23rd. I was extremely busy trying to finish up packing everything for our IN trip as well, so thankfully, Bret kept the twins entertained. They still had a few Christmas gifts to open from us, so Bret helped them tear into them too! They had already opened their catepillar tunnel from Santa since it wouldn't fit into their stockings :-). That was definitely their favorite present out of all their gifts!!! I love watching them play with each other, crawling in & out of the tunnel; giggling with each other. It is too sweet!!!

Nick had to work until the afternoon on the 23rd, so we didn't get on the road for IN as early as we would have liked. We ended up not getting to my mom & dad's until 1am or so. When we were all little kids we would start opening gifts easily by 5am, but now that we're all older & with our own kids, we weren't starting Christmas on Christmas Eve until noon. So that morning, Trista & I went into the salon that she works at and she did my hair & then we went back to mom & dad's to get cleaned up. Once we finally got back home, Tera, Alex, and Bray & Bryn were already there playing with the twins. My mom did really well again this year with her Christmas. It was great food, great presents, & lots of laughing! It was a bit emotional though, as we all knew it was most likely our last Christmas in the house we spent most of our years growing up as kids. As my parents were in the process of either buying a new home or building on some of their property. Since Nick & I most likely won't be in IN again until after they move, this Christmas was the last time I would be in that house.....so very sad! But, I am very happy for my parents, who have always worked extremely hard, to get a new house that they deserve!
Here is a picture of the twins opening their stockings & gifts from my Mom & Dad. Kooper is laying in Nick's lap so you can barely see him. He had just woke up from his nap.
Kooper especially liked the horse from his cousin, Braylee. (that pile of gifts surrounding us, is only a fraction of what they got from everybody...craziness!)
Both the twins loved the zebra walker/rider/scooter that they received as well. At first, they prefered to use it in the walking stage, but then they realized if they put it in the rider position, that other people would push them around on it. They thought that was fantastic!

Here is a pic of my nephew, Ely, and the twins. He will definitely be able to teach Kooper how to fish, hunt, rope steer, farm, drive tractors, and anything else boy-like!
Our last family Christmas at our childhood home.... my parents with their grandchildren.
All of our family, including my Granny & Pa, my Grammy, and my Uncle Tom.

On Christmas Eve night, we went to the church I grew-up & was a member of, Saron United. During the Christmas Eve Candle Light service, we had the twins' dedication along with my cousin's (Broc & Sara) son, Coen. It was a very emotional evening and we were so happy & blessed to have almost all of our family able to come. It was a very special night in so many ways! Here is a pic shortly before the service of all 3 babies.
Hadlee being baptized
Following the 3 baptisms, our Pastor asked 3 member's of our congregation to walk around with a baby to show everyone. It meant a lot to me that Denise Brochen was chosen to walk Hadlee around. Her daughter, Dara, was a great friend of mine. She attended Saron with me for many years, completed her confirmation along with me, and ended up going through Elementary Educ. at USI with me as well. Although Dara was not at the baptism, I was thrilled that Denise was there.
My beautiful niece, Emilee, with Kooper just after their dedications.
Nick with Kooper, Me with Hadlee, Sara with Coen, and my cousin, Broc after the baptisms
Our small little family
My older sister, Tera, her oldest daughter, Braylee with Hadlee
Although a few family members were not able to attend & a few left before we got everybody together, here is a picture of almost all of us. I love it!!!
On Dec. 26th, we celebrated Christmas with my Grammy & my Mom's side of the family. Here is a picture of all the great-grandkids in front of my Grammy's fire place. Don't mind Ely. He is allergic to lots of stuff and the dogs were really bothering him at that time. He took his inhaler a few times & was just fine....he just looks silly in this pic.

4 Generations: Me, Hadlee, my Mom, & my Grammy with Kooper...wish my Gramps was here to meet the twins too.

Opening stockings & gifts from Grammy

Twins taking a lunch break....while I helped pass out presents, my Dad & Nick fed them some bananas.

Nick, Hadlee, Me, and an angry Kooper :-)

My sister-in-law, Heather and my brother, Travis along with my niece, nephew, and our twins.

This was hilarious & I did get a short glimpse of it on video that hopefully I can figure out how to up-load on here too. My niece, Braylee, was dancing & singing like a crazy lady and little Miss Hadlee thought it was hilarious! She just giggled & giggled & giggled....which of course meant Braylee just kept acting crazier & crazier! Too cute!
And as almost every family event at Grammy & Gramps ends, this is what most of us end up doing at some point: my big bro, Travis snuggling with Kooper....sooo sweet!

Later that night, Nick & I went to the Ladson's. Broc & Sara are temporarily living with her Mom & Dad (due to Broc changing jobs) so we had a small get-together with the babies & parents! It was a great night, enjoying some refreshing drinks & playing some hilarious games with great family! Before the babies headed off to bed, Coen showed the twins how he runs his Mamaw's kitchen (he had all kinds of bowls & spoons out)...and Nick participated too :-)