Big Sister, Little Sister

Okay, it is waaay harder than it should be to get good pictures of these two together. I must have taken twenty in this session alone, and one them was always looking the wrong way, or crying, or covering up the shirt, or something. These are actually the best ones, believe it or not. But oh well, I'll just keep trying!

The Many Faces of Jenna

I have Kristen to thank for these first pics of Jenna wide awake. I was having a hard time getting any of her when she was awake and happy. She sleeps all the time, and when she does wake up, it's usually because she's hungry or gassy and then she's just mad! So thanks for catching her while she was in a good mood Kristen!

I took these next ones. She was sleeping sweetly, and then woke up mad about something, so I took some crying pictures. It may be mean, but I did it with Julia, too. Hey, they spend so much of their newborn time crying, why not get some pictures of it?!

Over the River and Through the Woods

Or just around the corner, to Grandmother's house we go! After we did the Santa thing at home on Christmas Day, we drove around the corner to my Grandma and Grandpa Gulley's house. We had lots of yummy food and played the gift exchange game that you do for white elephants, except we buy nicer grab bag things. There was quite a bit of "stealing" this year, so it was interesting! Julia got her fair share of gifts, too! Dogs were the theme, I guess, cuz she got one from my grandparents and one from my Aunt Kathy that you program with her name and favorite things so it includes them when it talks and sings. Too cool.

Great Grandma Gulley and Jenna, her fifth great granddaughter with no boys yet!

Me, Kristen and my Mom. And Jenna is nursing there under my awesome new nursing cover. Love it! I didn't have to leave the room to feed her. This thing is going to drastically improve the next year of my life!

This is the puppy Julia got from my grandparents. It came with a carrier and lots of accessories, and she loves it. I never got a pic of the leapfrog one my Aunt Kathy gave her. I'll have to get one!

Great Grandpa Gulley and Julia

Nana and Jenna

My cousin Rachel and Jenna

Grandpa lifted us like this when we were kids. Now it's Julia's turn and he's still got the guns to do it!

A Christmas of Our Own

Christmas was a tiny bit different this year. Growing families have made some changes in tradition necessary. My family has always had a big Christmas breakfast on Christmas Day, after we open our presents. But this year, my parents had a talk and they decided it was time for them to step aside and let us start our own traditions with our own families. (We still had our big Christmas breakfast together, of course, we just did it on a different day!) So, after going to our church's Christmas Eve service together, our little family of four came home to spend Christmas Eve and Christmas morning, just us. While it's a little sad to change the way it's always been, it's fun to be the Mom now, making Christmas special for my own family. And it was nice not to have more places to be than I can be in at once!

Getting cookies and milk ready for Santa. (Thanks to Gaga for the cookies. I played the "new baby" card and didn't bake anything this year! Good thing there were some leftover from our Mehok Christmas the day before.)

So excited!

Reading "The Night Before Christmas" on the night before Christmas!

Santa was good to Julia!

And he "gathered" a few things for Jenna, too!

Nice vacuum! When will she be old enough to push a real one?

Guess who suggested the tool bench to Santa? Julia is super interested in tools after seeing Papa and Daddy do all the work in the basement.

What?! The cookies are gone! The milk is gone!

Julia loves her play tent! Perfect addition to her playroom in the basement.

Playing Mickey Mouse Clubhouse with Daddy.

She loved digging in her stocking!

I get everyone a personalized ornament each year. This year, Julia's is a girl with pigtails holding a swaddled baby and it says, "Big Sister Julia"

John's has three black bears on it, one with each of our names, and it says, "Smoky Mountains" at the bottom, because our family trip this year was to the Smoky Mountains in Tennessee.

I got Jenna one, too, of course, although I forgot to take a pic. Hers is a baby in a stocking and says Jenna Hope.

Jenna spent the morning sleeping in her swing, but I thought it was cute that Julia kept bringing her things from her Christmas pile and stacking them there.

Mehok Christmas

John's family came to our house to celebrate Christmas on the 23rd. His brother, parents, and grandparents brought the gifts to us and we ordered pizza! I was thankful that we didn't have to get out.

Gaga, Jenna and Julia. Marlene is making up for the girls she never had with plenty of granddaughters!

Poppy, Nana, Julia and Jenna

Nana is watching all the smiling faces Jenna makes in her sleep.

Julia asked Santa for a sit n spin when she sat on his lap. I guess Gaga overheard!

A computer! Parents love learning toys, thanks Gaga and Papa!

Why open it when you when you can play with it in the box?

Julia is showing Gaga the calendar she got her with pictures of her in it!

John is the master at guessing his Christmas presents. You can't so much as let him see a wrapped present and he can tell you what it is, even down to the size or color or whatever. His Dad challenged him to guess this one. He's thinking hard, but he had nothin'.

A ginormous deep fryer! Nice. Now he can join the masses of men deep frying their turkeys on Thanksgiving! Or maybe it's a hint his Dad wants him to take over the annual fish fry?

Julia is showing Jenna her new toy.

After John put Julia's giraffe bike together the next morning, we found her with the screwdriver, "fixing it".

Daddy helping Julia peddle.