What a very Merry Christmas!

Christmas eve when we came back from church. Don't my renegades look sweet and adorable!

This is what happens after a full morning of opening presents for the first time.

I tried to get one last shot of the kids sitting next to the tree, but as you can see Elena didn't feel much up to it.

Elena is enjoying playing with her art easel Grandma Sylvia gave her for Christmas. It didn't take long for her to get daddy to put it together so she could get started drawing on it.

Marcus was very much entertained as he watched everyone open up presents. Then he had his fair share of being able to rip into them, too.

Enjoying some hot chocolate from Starbucks as we just got home from looking at lights! If you notice, she's got some chocolate on her shirt from drinking it so fast.

Christmas morning

Since we don't have a chimney for Santa, we have a special "Santa Key" that allows him to come in our house to make his delivery.

We had a very special Christmas this year as always, but were even more excited that Marcus was here to help celebrate. Elena remembers her Bubba just being a "tiny baby in mommy's tummy and sleeping" at this time last year. The week of Christmas we did last minute shopping, looked at Christmas lights, and tried to get ready to prepare for our big Christmas meal. We also attended Christmas Eve mass with Aunt Cindy and cousin Aaron. Marcus did good for his first time at church. He did get a little fussy, but it wasn't anything a bottle couldn't fix right away. Then we came home and enjoyed some homemade tamales and munchies.

Christmas day was spent opening gifts and then making a big late lunch for my family. I did pretty good making a pork loin and ham with all the sides. It was 'yummo'! Then we pretty much rested and recooped from our big day while watching our annual viewing of "A Christmas Story". I can't help but feel for Ralphie each year.

Then on Friday Aunt Stacy and Uncle Danny came over and brought gifts and then hung out for awhile while Jack had a playdate with his cousins Maddie and Coda. It was a nice visit, especially for Elena since she wanted Aunt Stacy to draw with her the entire time.

So another Christmas has come and gone very quickly. Our family has been tremendously blessed this year with the birth of Marcus, Elena having a great start at her new school, Analissa working tremendously hard as a 4th grader, and mommy and daddy continuously working hard at their jobs they enjoy doing.

Many blessings to all of our family and friends for continued love, health, and happy memories!

Merry Christmas!

Baking cookies at the Steele's home!

Our small Christmas gathering at our house. The kids were all dressed in their pj's for some fun, food, and Christmas cheer!

I can't tell you how difficult it was to take this! Three kids, three personalities, three hungry tummies, ONE big headache!!!

Here's my sweet boy listening to a story being read to him by his "big" sister Elena. We shrunk the picture so we could get a good look at how intent his face is as he's being read to.

Well we certainly can't believe it's already Christmas time! It seems this year has just flown by very fast. Though, it didn't seem that way only until Marcus was born. I guess the more kids that come, the faster your day seems to pass because of our busy schedules. Though I thank my lucky stars because I wouldn't have it any other way - as crazy as it may be sometimes!

We are enjoying some time at home, which is great to have (Andy says different)! Andy took this week off so it's really nice that we are all together here at home. But some kids have been getting a little 'cabin fever' because of the weather being cold and wet, so we've had a few tense moments around here. All in all, I have to take it in all slowly because before I know it, it will be time for us to go back to work and school - aauuugghhh!!

This year we are spending Christmas at home. We plan to go to Christmas Eve mass and come home for some munchies and homemade tamales from Grandma Sylvia! We can always count on some tamales each year that are literally devoured because they taste soooooo good! Then on Christmas I plan to make a pork loin for the first time. Let's hope we don't cut into it and it turns out hollow and smoke pops out - yikes!

Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!