This year was a fun Christmas with Anna Kathryn. She was excited about absolutely everything, and eagerly helped us decorate the Tree. She had to go to bed right after we pulled the tree down from the attic, and could hardly sleep all night. She knew she was missing out on something. We decorated the tree with her the next day.

She spent hours this month pressing “play” on the piano playing Frosty we got from Hallmark last year. She knows every song he sings, and requests me to sing them with her on a daily basis.

She also enjoyed playing with the Little People nativity we put up under the tree. “Dis Jesus, Dis Mary, Dis Joseph!”

The Friday before Christmas, Anna Kathryn and I made “treats for Daddy.” He requested Cathedral Windows, so we made them along with Mommy’s favorite–Special K Bars. Here’s AK stirring the peanut butter syrup:

Note my Christmas Letter Door behind her. I put up all my photos and letters on my pantry door, so we could enjoy them. I really hate storing them away–you never see them again. AK loves asking who is who. Thank you to everyone who sent us cards, letters, and photos. They were just about our only decorations this year, as I was trying to make things as simple as possible.

Here’s the extent of our Christmas decor:

On the last day of school for the semester, I took the twins to the tutoring center to visit my coworkers and hand out Christmas cards and baby gift thank you’s. They had pooled their money together for us, and we were able to buy the boys’ papasan swings with it.

Here’s William with Mrs. Phyllis, a retired public school teacher. She and I started tutoring there about the same time. She’s a great mentor to me. When she’s not tutoring, she volunteers at the performing arts center sewing costumes–I plan to join her in a couple years when my babies are out of diapers. What a fun job!

This is Stephen with Phyllis’ good friend Mrs. Diana. She’s been working there for the past year or so. In her spare time, she rides her horses–another hobby I would love to have time for! These two ladies are such a great inspiration to me.

We had a great time with the Singing Christmas Tree. It was a big production getting out of the house, but once there it was a delightful experience.

AK spent each night in the nursery, playing with her good friend Darby (and Emerson, once or twice). They’re a great duo–on Sunday mornings, it’s AK and Darby who stand up at the front of the class and sing at the top of their lungs. AK teaches the signs to the class, and Darby follows along. Unfortunately, she doesn’t come home and tell us this stuff–we get updates from her teachers and Darby’s parents. Recently, Darby went on vacation and asked her parents to help her sing “the Anna Kathryn song.” After several days of trying to figure it out, they finally realized she wanted to learn her “ABC’s” just like AK does. She came back from vacation singing them on her own!

Miss Martha was the backstage mother for the babies Jesus. She was in charge of watching the monitor and making sure Jesus got onstage at the right time. Mostly, though, she talked to the babies and held them and loved on them. She never talked to John and I directly–always indirectly by telling the boys something or other. It was sweet.

Here’s Miss Martha holding William:

He obviously thought a lot of her!

Here’s a picture of William with Mary and Joseph backstage:

And here’s Stephen’s photoshoot:

My job was to dress up in a gown and wimple and stand backstage while one of the babies went out. If they were to cry excessively, I was to unobtrusively rescue the child from Mary. It never happened, but if it had, I’m still not sure how I would have pulled it off. I really don’t think Mary had a maid–or a midwife! Oh, well.

Julie got a couple images off the web feed for the last performance–Stephen was the star that night.

AK’s cousin Brayden had a birthday in December. We went up to their farm in Ripley, and the children embarked on a Dinosaur Hunt Safari. There’s Anna Kathryn in her “Baby Jaguar Coat”.

The 4-5 year-olds at Brayden’s party (Brayden himself was turning 5) believed Uncle Matt’s story of the Dinosaur mother who lived on the farm and laid the eggs. Austin refused to pick up an egg when they found them, so Uncle John carried his back to the house for him. One boy’s father spent the rest of the party explaining to his son that the big Dinosaur didn’t come out of the woods during the day–just at night. I didn’t see a reassured look on his son’s face, to be honest.

The kids came back with their eggs and painted them. Aunt Jen helped AK with hers.

Sarah and Steve had to open Austin’s paper mache’ egg with him when they got home, because he wouldn’t sleep in the same room with it. (It contained a little toy dino!) Methinks this will be a birthday party those little boys will remember for years to come!

Poor little fellas. I think the Uncles had the most fun.

AK’s cousin Lauren is such a great little momma. She enjoyed holding Stephen and helping him with his bottle.

It’s been a while since I’ve posted, so I’m going to try to catch everybody up with a series of posts and photos of what’s been going on with us lately.

First of all, we had a lovely Thanksgiving. It was disappointing not to be able to travel up North to see my family this year, but we’ll make up for it in years to come. I keep reminding myself that there is a season for everything, and right now is my season to care for small babies and toddler. It would have been very tiring on me as a nursing mother to travel this soon after giving birth to twins. Not to mention the logistics of travelling with three children in diapers!

So, we spent Thanksgiving home in Memphis with John’s family. It was nice, though, to be together here, since Matt will be leaving in January to take a year’s tour with the Army overseas. We’re going to miss him. Here’s all the cousins with Uncle Matt and Aunt Jen holding the twins:

Grandma and Grandpa did send us presents at Thanksgiving, and because the day was so nice, we opened them out in the backyard.

Anna Kathryn wanted to hold on to William and Stephen’s books until they are old enough to wrench them from her cold dead hands, but Daddy took a stand and put them out of her reach. She was very excited to open her first presents of the season, especially since her cousins have been having birthdays lately, and she’s been watching a lot of gift opening lately.

The twins were born at just the right time of year to play Baby Jesus in the Singing Christmas Tree in Memphis at Bellevue Baptist Church. Their daddy is very proud, and their mommy is going a bit batty with all the flurry of activity, but we see it as something they can look back on someday as a neat thing to have done.

It turns out that Memphis’ Commercial Appeal thinks it’s a neat thing, too. The twins were featured in the Metro section today with a lovely 9×7 inch photo and article. Their batty mommy is now swooning to have two local celebrities in her house. She can’t wait to teach them to sign their autographs!

We spent Thanksgiving with John’s family this year. Usually, Thanksgiving is reserved for my family and John’s family gets Christmas. But this year we felt it best not to try travelling with 8-week-old twins. Besides the fact that our travel and entertainment budget just got swallowed up by our diaper budget, I am breastfeeding 
and concerned that I not lose my milk due to travelling. So we console ourselves with the fact that the twins are Baby Jesi in The Singing Christmas Tree this year, so we’ll be staying busy in spite of missing my family. (That was a clever little plug, wasn’t it?)

We had a nice Thanksgiving at home. John’s parents hosted all of us, and everybody brought a dish. Everybody, that is, except for me. I know it was my newborns and not my bad cooking that had me on the list for Sister Schubert rolls while everyone else brought a yummy baked dish, so I appreciated the gesture and brought what I was asked. And John pitched in by frying an extra turkey for the bunch. We stuffed ourselves with turkey, stuffing, cranberries, and squash, then played a game of Cranium while the grandkids played with the racecar track John set up for them. We all went home to bed fairly early to be ready for family pictures Friday morning.

Last year the day after Thanksgiving, we had family pictures taken on my side:

Here’s one of my parents with their three grandchildren at the time (amazing what a difference a year makes, eh?):

Laila, Jack, Anna Kathryn, and my parents.

This year the day after Thanksgiving, we had family pictures taken on John’s side:

John’s Parents

John, Kari, Anna Kathryn, William (with Kari) and Stephen (with John)

Steve, Sarah, Austin, and Elaine

Matt, Jennifer, Brayden, and Lauren

Omie and Papa Bill with their seven grandchildren all under the age of five.

Anna Kathryn, age 2 1/2

This morning, I gave Stephen his blue pacifier, and William his yellow one. When I went in to check on them a half hour later, Stephen’s blue paci was under his arm, and William’s yellow paci was in Stephen’s mouth. I have no idea how that happened. They don’t even have hand/eye coordination yet!

Hugs all around!

An orchestra plays in my head, a choir sings, a blinding light warms the November evening, and it’s all because for the first time ever. . .

My little William smiled at me tonight. I think this must be what heaven is like.

It’s a big day of firsts, actually. William rolled over twice from front to back–a first. And Stephen undressed himself–also a first.