Merry Christmas!!!

I can't believe that Christmas  is here. With the medical issues that we have had recently, it seems as if time is just flying by! We did get cookies made on Friday and the girls had a great time decorating them. I found a wonderful allergy free recipe and they roll out and taste great!

Julia always seems to be eating, here she is with plenty of sugar, a candy cane and an applesauce. Oh, this is her new cheese face.

 

 On Christmas Eve we always get together with my parents to exchange gifts. This year we celebrated at our house. We got together in the afternoon and then had dinner. You can tell by all the gifts that it was very merry at our house!

 

I love this photo of my girls.

Here is Julia in her new cow boots. Of course, Pa Pa has cows and Julia just loves them.

My brother got me this wine glass. Its says it holds an entire bottle of wine....hmmmm....

 

Yea!! Julia got more bubbles!!

Here is Mom in her new coyboy slippers. She loved them and they will be perfect at the ranch!

Natalie fell in love with this dress that has a matching dress for her doll. Of course we immediately had to change clothes.

Julia and Mom.

Jared and one of his great gifts.

I made some Rhodes Red Angus sweatshirts for all of us and they were a hit!

Natalie and her pink stuffed dog from Jared. She of course named it Riley.

Love the girls in their jackets.

Julia in Mi Mi's slippers.

Jared with his awesome handmade gift.

 

Julia cruising on her new ride on.

Julia and her new baby doll. It has a paci and pig tails just like her!

Here is Julia with me showing off our homemade Buche de Noel.

Julia with her new purse. I am pretty sure this is the, I am done with photos, look.

And what good is a sweatshirt without a matching hat?

I am not sure who was more excited for Christmas, the kids or us. The night started out rough. We knew that Natalie would get up and we wanted to be sure and see her face when she saw the gifts. I told Jeff I would sleep on her trundle in her room and then I would just text him when we were awake. The plan went flawless until midnight when Julia decided that she wanted to get up with a low grade fever. Her and I ended up sleeping in my bed and Jeff ended up on the trundle. It was so cute, when Jeff called to wake me up I heard Natalie ask if he was talking to Santa. Evidently, Jeff had to say that he would have to call Santa on his cell phone if she wouldn't go to sleep. Too funny. Anyway, here is Julia's first look at the gifts!

And here is Natalie's.

Here is Julia opening up a Winne the Pooh puzzle.

 

Here is Natalie opening up some new stamps.

Just opening up more gifts.

We opened a couple and then took a break so I could get breakfast going. Here are the girls watching Julia's new favorite show, Melmo.

Because of Natalie's no wheat diet she couldn't have the cinnamon rolls that I made. I asked her what she wanted as her special Christmas morning breakfast and she told me mac and cheese. Wish granted. (Rice noodles of course.)

Julia LOVES candy canes. In fact she almost knocked the tree over trying to get one off! She doesn't suck on them at all, she just takes bites off and chews them.

 

More gifts. A bubble wagon!

Jeff, in his ridiculous Rudolph footie pj's the girls picked out, with his new belt.

Jeff and Natalie.

Don in his Rhodes Red Angus hat!

Natalie got a princess alarm clock and Julia was mesmerized by it. I think I know what I will put on her birthday list!

Me and my baby girl. Yep, she is opening my gift.

Natalie and Jeff with his new shoe organizer.

Me and my new purse. Yep, that is Julia on my lap pinching my armpits. I don't know why she does it, but it is the way that she soothes herself. It is pretty funny.

Yea!! My surprise gift!!

Julia hates to brush her teeth. I thought that if I got her a doll that comes with a tooth brush and toothpaste it might help. Not sure that it has, but I am sure that it is adorable to watch her take care of her baby.

Jeff with his new watch organizer.

Don gave the girls a teeter totter and they loved it!! Natalie has wet hair because she had just gotten out of the shower. We had a small incident at lunch where she ate too much too fast and got sick.

I think this photo sums up the day. 

Don also got the girls this play market and they love it. It is so cute to hear Natalie say, "What may I help you for today?" The girls have bought all kinds of things around the house!

We hope that everyone had a very merry Christmas!!!

Please Don't Pass The Wheat (milk, peanuts or soy...)

I can't believe that it has been almost a month since my last post. Things here have just been crazy. With the holidays around the corner and Natalie being diagnosed with a wheat allergy, things have been a little out of control! Anyway, more on that later. Here is what we have been up to!

I love being able to eat lunch with my kids. Here they are just hanging out at the table. Julia is just my silly goose. She is always making some silly face. Natalie of course just eggs her on. They recently had their dental check ups and the dentist told me that Julia is advanced on her teeth, she has tons!!

 Natalie had her Christmas program at preschool. It was so very cute. Abbie isn't in her class, but they had the performance together.

Natalie loves to wear dresses and she has just been waiting to wear this one! I thought she looked so cute and even gave me a great smile!! Yea Natalie!!

Here is Ethan, Abbie's little brother, hanging out with Grandma, playing peek-a-boo with Jeff.

And here are our sweet girls singing their hearts out.

And here are all her admirers. Of course MiMi brought her flowers...

And here is Natalie with one of her best friends, Abbie.

With getting ready for Christmas, we have a few gifts under the tree! Julia has just decided to make good use of the gifts while we have got them!

We had a great night exchanging gifts with our friends the Brown's and the Couture's. Below Natalie had opened her gift so fast that the present fell out of the bag and she was looking for it, Such a goof ball.

 Here are the big girls opening up their gifts with some of the babies watching!

I love bows. Mom got the girls this one and I think it is just adorable.

Here is Julia playing peek-a-boo with Jeff in the kitchen.

Julia currently loves two things, Elmo and Santa. I found these overalls at a craft fair and I knew she would love them!!

The other night I asked Jeff to watch the girls while I run downstairs for a minute. When I came up I saw that she was decorating my while with Dora stickers. "Jeff!!!"

This is just my girls being goofy. Something they are really good at!

So, Julia loves everything about Santa, except for the "real" thing. I thought we would go down the road and get a photo taken at a local church. I loved that we were in our coats and I thought that they turned out great! Oh, did I mention that they were FREE??

Of course the girls have lots of Christmas PJ's, but when they saw these in Jeff's size at the store, they had to get them for him!

Julia is such a big help. Here she is helping me wit the dishes.

And here they are helping Jeff make garlic bread. This is of course before Natalie's diagnosis. Natalie had gotten her face painted to look like a reindeer. It was so cute.

Darryl retired this year. Here he is at his retirement party. It was pretty emotional. I know that he is going to miss it. So, what is he going to do with all his free time?

www.rhodesredangus.com

On Friday Natalie had her Christmas party. Here she is at her table eating her cookies that I made.

Natalie went shopping with Daddy today so Julia hung out with me. We decided to make cookies. Julia's favorite part is rolling the cookies out. We tried them wheat free and they turned out really good!!

Kendra came by tonight to do a gift exchange with us and Julia loved what she got. She has the best Godmother ever!

So, on Friday, December 9th, Julia had her allergy check up. I chatted with the nurse earlier in the week and we decided to test Natalie due to chronic stomach pain. Julia seems to be doing OK, but isn't growing as fast as she should be, but other than that she is great. We found out that Natalie is allergic to wheat and they thing that she might have a GI issue. We have pulled wheat from her diet and she hasn't complained about any stomach pain. We see the GI doctor on Monday, I am hoping they think that it is silly that we are there. Cooking with all the kids allergies is a challenge, but I know that we will overcome it. So, if we decline a dinner date, you know why!

We are so excited for Christmas. It is going to be so much fun with the girls I can't wait.