It's been pretty hectic this week, so I'll catch everyone up on our Christmas. We had a pretty low -keyed holiday. We didn't have any family come, so it was all quiet with just us (and if you believe the 'quiet' part, I've got a bridge to sell you!). I guess I'll back up to the week before Christmas, when the kids were out of school and Deren was at work. We had a traffic jam of boxes in our front hallway, so I started opening (doing away with Rachael & Abby's playground in the process!). Rachael just loved the dress-up clothes she got from Grandma and Grandpa. Her favorite is a purple princess dress and matching hat. Jacob and Abby joined in on the fun. Jacob picked out a pair of heels that he is quite partial to. I'll say "Get your shoes so you can go outside, Jacob," and he'll come running with his pink & purple heels in hand! And for the record, I think it's really cute! If he was 20 yrs old and still partial to heels, I would be worried. But he's my big cutie for now.

We also finished putting together our "geo-dome" for the kids in the backyard, with Deren doing most the work. Jacob really enjoys climbing, so he likes it. The girls are still a bit little for it, but with daddy's boosting hand they are right there with big brother.

So on Christmas day we still had 2 boxes full of wrapped presents from Grandma and Grandpa, as well boxes from Mamaw and Papaw. Rachael got some more horses - about 15 in all. And, of course, she horded them all in a corner, and snarled at Abby every time she got in the vicinity. Deren & I got some neat electronic presents from his parents. I got a digital photo frame, which in theory is really nifty. But, so far Mr. Jacob refuses to let it cycle through the pictures and keeps turning it off. Deren got an ipod and a play station portable, so he's good to watch movies anytime anywhere. Just yesterday Jacob figured out that the small little ipod can play movies. Needless to say, it's currently hidden in my underwear drawer! That child would take it out for sure.

Soooooo, after all the unwrapping, Jacob figured out he didn't have any dvd's under the tree, and he started bawling and throwing fits. A pretty typical Christmas, all-in-all, wouldn't you say? With the kids tearing through their gifts and then crying because they didn't have more?! At least that's what I did when I was younger, and it's apparently coming back to haunt me!

Mr. Daniel update. Our little/big man turned 2 mos old 2 days ago!! Time sure is flying. He is turning into such a little cutie pie socialite. He smiles and cues quite a bit now. His other love (besides nursing) is his baby swing. The swing we have swings side to side or back and forth. He likes going side to side, with the music on and the mobile going - he's an all out kind of guy. The more noise the better, in fact. The other kids will be making such a ruckus, and Daniel will be asleep - happy as a clam. When the noise is gone and the swing stops, he is not happy. Speaking of which, the girls are down for a nap right now, and the boys are off watching movies, so it's quiet and Mr. Daniel is fussing at me, so that's all for now!