Perine Christmas!

 We had a WONDERFUL celebration of Christmas with all the Perine's on MLK weekend.  It was nice to have a little break after the real Christmas holiday, so everyone was ready to celebrate again!!!    It is so great that with each family gathering, the kids are playing together more and more.   And we couldn't ask for a better foursome of babies.  They were so great the whole weekend.  We are so lucky!  Gumma outdid herself AGAIN this year.  After strict instructions from everyone to go lighter this Christmas (she loves to spoil everyone at Christmas time),  she did nothing of the sort.  The living room was piled high with presents and everyone even had their own stocking.  But the best present for all of us was all being together, especially with a healthy and happy Gumma!

This was a very busy living room! 

Gogo and Gumma!  (I think this was the first and only time Gumma sat down on Saturday)! 

All the Great-Grammas!!

Gogo and Coopey

Gumma's friend Barbara knitted these adorable sweaters for all the babies.  Janet, Estelle, and Dana!  Unfortunately, Emma missed the picture above, but you can see her in her sweater below!  

Our "Buddha-Emma" (as Gogo likes to call her, much to Gumma's dislike)

The definition of cuteness (in my unbiased opinion)

Our princess Isabel

LOVE the expressions from the kids this year.  They literally LOVED everything they opened.  

As I said, amazing enthusiasm!  

As you can imagine, it was quite a crowded house, so the stair landing was the home of the 4 car seat carriers!  

The older cousin stockings (including the plastic bag combo- as I said before, Gumma likes to go overboard, so the stockings are always overflowing)

And the adult stockings!  Don't worry, the 4 babies had their own stockings too.  Thanks to Aunt Kristi for making them for all the new additions!  

Kristi and Janet keeping the sledders company

The big girls! 

Too bad they didn't have any fun sledding...

Bath Party!!

It's been so fun to start bathing the girls together.  Emma is sitting up well enough to do it now and it's been a fun new activity.  We have  yet to get all 3 kids in there though, as Cooper now isn't so crazy about baths, and prefers to take a shower.  He's growing up! I just got the pre-registration for him for kindergarten in the mail and almost teared up.  Not sure how I'm going to cope come September!  

New Year's/Quinn Christmas!

We were so thrilled to have all of the Quinns make the long journey from Virginia to celebrate both a Quinn Christmas and New Year's Eve.  It gets more and more fun to have the cousins together.  They seem to be getting along better and better the older they get.  We had an action packed few days including bowling, skiing, hockey game, celebration dinner, and of course, presents!!!  The highlight of the whole trip though, was definitely getting to meet our new nephew/cousin Gabe!  Check out how adorable he is!!! 

A proud Auntie! 

The calm before the storm

New hockey outfit!  Jackson was the first to put his on, but all the boys got one.  They looked adorable.  Of course, at one point Isabel sadly says "I want a hockey outfit like the boys!"  Now she knows how Cooper feels during the Perine get togethers with all the girl cousins!  

Presents! 

Emma's new bouncy ball toy was one of the biggest hits with all the kids!  

Ryan and Jackson's first time on skis.  They did AMAZING!  I think they had a lot of fun too. 

Isabel had a hard time figuring out her balance.  She still had fun and did a couple of short little runs.  We weren't able to get her on much of an decline.  But she did better than I thought she would the first time.  Her attention span for anything she's not comfortable with is pretty slim!  

Unfortunately we don't have a video of Jackson, but he did great as well.  Able to stay up on the skis almost as well as the older boys.  

The bystanders! 

We just skied on the little climbing hill which only lasted probably 45 minutes.  But that was enough for the kids, and the adults who had to drag them up the hill each time!  Maybe next year we'll get them up on the lifts! 

Isabel sporting her new ski helmet.  I'm just glad she agreed to wear it. 

This was our night out at Fire & Ice to celebrate Grammy's 60th birthday and Grammy & Gramps' 40th anniversary!!!  It was a great dinner, but let's just say I don't think they were sorry when we finally took our kids home!  

Daddy and his girls! 

The first cake...

...the second cake! 

The plan was to do a large group picture with all of us, but at the last minute, we had to settle for just Grammy, Gramps and the kids.  

The goofy version

Happy New Years! 

Accessory girl! 

The hockey game.  Ryan proudly sporting his new puck!  It was Ryan and Jackson's first hockey game. I'd say it was a big hit! 

Prime seats, right up against the boards!  

All in all, a WONDERFUL time!  Despite Emma and Josh being very sick with colds and not sleeping much at all. The cold seems to have made it's way through all the kids now, and Aunt Casey (sorry Case!).  I seem to have avoided it...knock on wood!  We hope they all come back soon! 

Isabel's First Day of Preschool!

Well, I must say I was getting a little nervous for Isabel's first day of preschool.  We've talked it up for a while and she's gone back and forth between wanting to go to school, and still go to Pat's house.  And we're all a little "hung over" from the holidays, so that was another possible complication.  But I'm happy to report she did great!  She was happy to get to school in the morning, was cooperative with the pictures, and after getting her settled we said a nice tear-free goodbye!  I called about midday and her teacher said she was doing great.  She was a little quiet, but she was participating in all the activities (except didn't want to dance in the middle of circle time when her name was called!), and made her way around to lots of the different activities in the room.  

So I decided to pick the kids up an hour early, figuring that Isabel would have had a long day and would be happy to see me.  Um, no.  As soon as she saw my face in the door she said "I don't want to go!"  Then proceeded to run into the bathroom in the back of the school and close the door!  So funny!  While it took me some haggling to get her into the car, I  must say it was a good sign!!  So here's to a great first day at school!  To be continued...

Thanks Aunt Casey for the adorable outfit!

Christmas!

We had a wonderful, fairly quiet low key Christmas this year.  It was a good start to the long Christmas holiday we have scheduled.  We're celebrating Christmas again with the Quinns at New Year's, then the Perines later in January.  

Setting out cookies and milk for Santa on Christmas Eve

Emma loved the presents...

...at least the wrapping paper!

My littlest lady!

Fun with the new toys.  We only did a few small gifts for the kids this year, but you would have never known.  The kids were very excited about their new toys.  

Hugs for Daddy!

Christmas morning breakfast with Gogo and Gumma

Snuggle time with Daddy.  This was the cutest thing ever, she was so sleepy and cuddly!

And now she's out! 

The sisters

Emma in her Christmas outfit.  She was SO cute!!

Now snuggle time with Mommy!

Impossible to take a good picture with the kids these days (I think that last good one of all 3 was our Christmas card).  

The tree Christmas morning

Cooper with his eyes closed heading to the tree!

Hanging with Gogo at Gramma Ali's house Christmas evening.  

And ready for bed!  What a great Christmas!