Christmas Morning

I love the fact we are able to spend Christmas morning at home. We opened up our gifts and relaxed and let the girls play with their new toys before heading out that afternoon. It really worked out great! Ben & I had so much fun watching Claire & Anna open up their gifts from us and I definitely had a lot of fun shopping for them! I found an amazing deal on a wooden doll house for the girls. I've always wanted a wooden house for them. This is something I hope one of the girls will be able to pass down. It's really that nice! Claire squealed with delight when Ben carried out the doll house! It was priceless!!!This is one of my favorites of my girls on Christmas morning, in their matching Christmas jammies in front of the Christmas tree!

Sooooo excited!

Claire is really into games and loves the Candy Land Castle game!

Our budding photographer really likes her "kid tough" digital camera. Hopefully she will leave my camera alone now!

Claire loves children's classic books the best! Her favorite is anything Dick & Jane. She wanted to stop and read her new Dick & Jane book more than opening up her other gifts! Good girl!!


Helping Anna open up her gifts!


I'm pretty sure Claire was more excited about Anna's gifts than Anna was!


Claire "helping" some more!


Claire showing Anna her new Elmo toy!



"You like it, Anna?"

Anna likes it!!

Love that look of surprise!!

Oohhhh... a Curious George stuffed animal and book!

Unfortunately, George was welcomed with a headlock. Shortly later, Sophie got a hold of the poor guy and with surgical precision, she removed his left eye. It's rough at the Cutting's.

I think her smile says it all!

Such a neat house!! Ben was such a great Daddy to put it together!!

(Yes, that's Soph passed out on the couch. She was completely unphased by all the excitement!!)

The sweetest part of the day for me was watching Claire & Anna play together with their new doll house! It was all a mother could ask for on Christmas morning!

Ahhhhh... look at that! Could it be any cuter?

Christmas Day

We spent Christmas day with Grammy, Papa, Beth, Brad & Sharon! It was such a fun, relaxing day with our family and Grammy totally outdid herself with gifts for everyone (especially if your name happens to be Claire & Anna!)!!! I have to thank everyone for all the wonderful, heartfelt gifts! Thanks Grammy & Papa for making Christmas so special for our family. We really appreciate all your hard work!!!

One of the really fun traditions that Grammy has always done, is hunting for Christmas gifts. Grammy & Papa hide the presents all over the house and we all go search for them. This year, Claire really got into the hunt! It was so cute to watch her run all over looking for presents. I think she had more fun doing that than actually opening them!

Papa & Claire

This was Anna's favorite gift! Aunt Beth made sock monkeys for Claire & Anna and stitched their initial on it! We LOVE hand made, personalized gifts! THANKS Beth!! This will be something they'll always keep!

Anna opening up her gift!

Miss Smiley!

Mommy & Aunt Beth with our girls!

Grammy loves her Christmas baby!

Uncle Brad & Sharon watching Claire open some of her MANY gifts!


Grammy's turn to open a gift!

Such a little Mommy! Claire played with her baby doll from Grammy more than anything!

The "Silly Hat Boys". These were actually Christmas gifts!!

Hmmmm.... is that Tiffany blue??? Yes, it is! Good job Bradley! Sharon received a beautiful Tiffany necklace!

Amidst all the presents!

The tree and fireplace looked beautiful!

Anna was very interested in Daddy's laptop!

I'm finally walking! YAY Anna!!!

Grammy reading Claire a Dick & Jane Christmas book! There is nothing Claire or Grammy like better!!

Christmas Eve

My family has always celebrated Christmas on the Eve. It's always been such a fun and festive time. My mom does a great job with the food and decorations and this year was no exception! It was a delightful time and of course, Claire loved opening all her gifts!!

Anna is now old enough and big enough to sit front facing in her car seat. The trip over for Christmas at Nuna's was the first time she sat front facing and she loved it! She kicked her legs and giggled the whole ride!

The food was delicious and Claire made several trips around the table... helping herself. That's our Claire!

Claire showing Uncle Craig all the pretty decorations!

My mom had the upstairs decorated sooooo cute. The kids opened up all their gifts upstairs FIRST THING! After we ate, the adults were able to open their gifts downstairs at a slow, leisurely pace! Worked out perfectly!

So festive!!


Anna is truly our Christmas baby!! Look at that sweet ONE year old!


MY adorable nieces, Lauren & Jillian with Anna! One of my favorite pictures!! The girls love their big girl cousins!


Mommy & Anna! My all time FAVORITE Christmas gift. I'm confident she will hold that position for a lifetime! :-)

Connor tempting Miss Anna with a Coke. Paybacks I guess! I've been accused of giving Connor his first taste of pop at the young age of 9 months. GUILTY!!! That's what aunts are for, right?!?!?

Cute, cute, cute! What else can I say about these two??

I just adore this picture of Claire and her Great Grandpa Stephens. I'm so sad it's off centered. Need to do some cropping. It's priceless and this how these two always are when they're together. Such a connection!

Claire opening up all her gifts!!

Aunt Kristen & Uncle Shawn!

Great Grandma McDowell had so much fun watching all the kids open their gifts!

Uncle Scott & Aunt Heather (Nuna & Catherine, too!!)

Daddy holding our Anna Banana!

Nuna & Papa (I somehow didn't get a picture of Papa... sooooo very sad. Sorry Dad) got Claire & Anna a red wagon for Christmas. This was the only gift on Claire's wish list (besides a "kitty cat to come live at my house"). Claire LOVES her wagon, and... NO, she didn't get a cat!!

Caroline & Catherine got a wagon, too! The girls had so much fun playing "picnic" in the wagon!