Happy New Year

We always stash a present or two for New Years Day - it makes for a great pajama day. We stayed in all day and enjoyed what the kids opened.

Xander opened his pirate ship from Grandpa Jimmy first - he was so cute - he said "It's okay Santa forgot my pirate ship - look I got one!" He was so excited. After a mere half hour or so Mommy and Daddy managed to get it, all the men and swords, and extra accessories out of the box. He pushed it around the house all day yelling "Ahoy Matey" and "Ha Ha Ha - I'm the mean person on the pirate ship."

Mikaela adored her new Barbie Island of the princess Cd player - it plays nine songs (three per Cd). By the end of yesterday, we could all recite them! She knows where the song is in the movie and what Barbie is doing when it is playing!

Next were the Tinkertoys - check out that Ferris wheel that the kids and Daddy built. So cool! Daddy loved the retro toy. We were surprised to see that tinkertoys are now made out of plastic - colorful. Xander built a cross and a sanctuary - we see a little evangelism in his future.

We all enjoyed the new games. Twister was the favorite of Xander (look Mommy how my heiny is in the air!), Mikaela liked Trouble (she is fast with that popping), we all loved Cariboo (a little shapes, letters and numbers for mommy and daddy - and a cool key for the kiddos) and Tinkerbell - well who doesn't love a game that comes with a DVD!

We had a great day - we played with all the new toys all the way until bedtime!

New Years Eve!

The kids were so excited about it being the last day of the New Year. We got out our calendar and showed them how the calendar ends with this day - a whole new year starts on the next day.

We began what we hope will become a new Thrailkill family tradition. We took the kids to a movie and dinner.

We saw The Bee Movie at the dollar theatre in Athens ($2 for all four of us to see the movie, $10 for all 4 of us to share 1 popcorn and 1 soda!).

We ate out at Logan's steakhouse - what a treat! We even splurged for dessert in these tiny to go buckets - nutter butter surprises - YUMMY!

Nana Barbara and Grandpa Rod Visit

Nana Barbara and Grandpa Rod came for a visit the Friday following Christmas. Mikaela LOVES for Nana Barbara to come visit - she knows how to fix Barbie doll hair, dress Barbies in the latest fashion, and is willing to wear dress up clothes too. She couldn't wait to show her new vanity and share her latest lip gloss.

Xander adores Grandpa Rod - always has to know what he is doing, where he is going, and when he is coming back!

Mikaela loved her new angel music box and ballerina necklace. She wore her necklace out on New Year's Eve! Xander is still finding new superheros that can ride in the Rescue Heroes police car.

Tommy was thrilled to have a new competitor in his Guitar Hero game - watch out for the Rockin' Nana!

Christmas Continues

A few days after Christmas, we opened our gifts from Elizabeth and Eliot.

Mikaela adored all her new Tinkerbell art supplies. She got right to work on a thank you note for Elizabeth!

Xander was very excited about his Diego color wonder supplies. Daddy was amazed that he could fingerprint on the couch without making any mess:).

Merry Christmas from Mommy and Daddy

Another Thrailkill tradition is that we don't open all the presents on Christmas day. The kids are off for a week - and we try to spread the gifts out a little!

We gave the kids gifts from us a few days later - new video games.

Mikaela received a Leapster L-Max - with two games. She loves the drawing game that came with it, and the Clifford game (especially the part where Emily Elizabeth tells jokes).

Xander received a V-Smile Pocket - with two games. He loves the Wiggles music game, and the Wiggles music game.

Guitar Hero III

Santa brought Tommy Guitar Hero III - which turned out to be the Christmas morning hit!

Everyone got in line to be the next rock star - and Tommy has been rocking out all week!

Christmas Morning Continues

Our Christmas morning celebration continued with my parents coming up to visit with the kids and see what Santa had brought.

Mikaela had been waiting all week for Nana's yummy pancakes - shaped like Christmas ornaments of course! We had sausage, grits casserole, scrambled eggs and Christmas coffee (and OJ for the kiddos) with our pancakes.

The kids made new coffee mugs for the Nana and Aunt Ashleigh - and a new birdhouse for Papa.

Nana and Papa gave us a Ratioulle night - the movie, stuffed animal characters, cooking set and apron and mitt for daddy! We had our Ratioulle night a few nights later and much fun was had by all!

Merry Christmas!

We were awakened very early by the pitter patter of little feet - little Xander feet. "Mama - I did not hear jingle bells - I think Santa didn't come yet." I reassured him that of course Santa visited him - he just was sleeping so good that he missed the bells. "Mama - I don't think he ate his cookies - maybe he was too full from eating everyone elses cookies." Even Santa with a full tummy from eating cookies all night, had room in his tummy for our homemade sugar cookies - I am sure of it. Xander, Daddy and I spent an hour or so thinking about all the Santa wonders we could - and then we woke up sissy.

The kids rushed into the living room - and both went straight to Mikaela's pile of presents. Xander was anxious to help her start opening. Tommy and I giggled and directed him to his own stash. "Santa brought me a talking bird - a talking bird!" Xander tore through all his presents quickly - opened none to play with, just kept unwrapping. Along with the talking bird, Santa was kind enough to bring Xander a firehouse (very cool - with doors that open and close), a dinosaur mountain (for dinosaurs to live in), a batmobile with action figures (so far, no one is crazy about Aquaman - but Superman with his rocket ship is a favorite), and his first Superman comic book.

Mikaela daintily opened each gift. No wrapping paper was torn. After opening a gift, she took it out of the box, admired it, showed it off, and found a spot for it on her vanity. Santa brought her a vanity (a big girl one!), new dress up clothes (the fancy Cinderella dress is the biggest hit), more lip gloss than a girl should wear at one time, and a music box (complete with a spinning ballerina). The littlest pet shop diary was a big hit - it even barks at your little brother if he tries to open it instead of you. She exclaimed quickly "Santa brought me everything I wanted!"

Tommy and I thoroughly enjoyed watching them, playing with them, and enjoying their sheer excitement.

Christmas Eve

As a Thrailkill family tradition, the kids open gifts from each other on Christmas Eve. We take a nice bath (Santa doesn't visit stinky kids), slide into our cutest Christmas pjs (don't they look adorable matching this year - ahhhhh), and crawl up in front of the Christmas tree.

I like how opening the presents apart from the rest of the present madness makes those presents special - the only ones that they open.

We learned last year that the kids can't keep a surprise - within moments of arriving home from Walmart with their selection, they had already shared their enthusiastic purchases ("Sissy - I got you a Barbie toy!).

This year, Mommy did the shopping and hid the presents. After our baths, the kids wrapped their presents for each other, and promptly exchanged them.

Xander is still sleeping with his talking Spiderman - it not only does the Itsy Bitsy Spider dance, but it also plays a spiderman theme song!

Mikaela loves her castle floor puzzle - it is HUGE! She adored her diary and matching pens as well.

Mommy and daddy loved those few brief moments where the children loved each other - and were kind:).

Rosi and Toni's first Christmas!

Rosi and Toni (our American Girl dolls) celebrated their first Christmas.

A friend of Nana's was kind enough to loan us matching outfits for Mikaela and Rosi for Christmas this year - don't they look ADORABLE?

Mikaela loved dressing the dolls up in their Christmas outfits and toting them around.

Some of you may remember that Rosi and Toni also visited Santa this year - think me, two kids, a little rain, a double stroller with two baby dolls and a mall the week before Christmas. I have been told that these are the moments that I will reflect fondly on in future years..........

Rosi and Toni must have been great this year for they received dress up clothes from Santa - a princess costume for Rosi and a prince costume for Toni.

Darling - I assure you!