Christmas Night

Uncle Grant reading to P & Thomas

Gus and Tony

Peyton and Tommy

Christmas night was spent with my family coming over for dinner. Things are quite different than just 3 years go. We now have 4 toddlers running around, Louis crawling after them and Ashlyn and Braden on the verge of moving around. Peyton loves her cousins and I love watching them interact. We had lots of great food. We didn't exchange presents (except with Nan and Bill) or even do rob-your-neighbor this year but just simply enjoyed hanging out.

Christmas Morning

Louis, Peyton and Braden

Pillow Pets!

Our White Christmas

We broke tradition this year and instead of going to Mom's for brunch, Mom, Papa and Betty came to our house. Ashlyn and Braden get up pretty early (by 6 am), so they are ready for their first nap by 8 usually. With all the hype Santa has been getting around here we thought that Peyton would be up looking for presents. But, we had to go in around 7:30 to start getting her up so all the kids could open their presents together. She finally figured out it was not an ordinary morning when we showed her that Santa had eaten the cookies and had drank the milk. Last year she stopped after each present to play with it. This year she couldn't get the paper off fast enough and then was on to the next one. Ashlyn and Braden did pretty well ripping their paper and of course liked the paper better than the gifts. Peyton and Ashlyn's big gifts were a vanity and a dollhouse. Braden got his first "boy" toy - a truck that carries a little car and makes lots of fun noises. Other gifts included snow boots, Barbies, coloring books and toothbrushes. Peyton also got a "big girl" hair brush and comb and handed her old ones down to her brother and sister.

Mom got Peyton a pink trunk with dress up clothes. Ashlyn and Braden got clothes. We started the morning eating a yummy breakfast and then got an early start on the cookie eating as we prepared for my whole family coming over that afternoon. Bob, Steph and Louis came over a bit early to open presents. They gave the kids the cutest clothes, including a teal tutu for Peyton. She loved it!

Merry Christmas Eve!

P, Dakota and Desi coloring

Greg, Nicki and Shannon with Dominic, Braden, Jake and Ashlyn (the first Christmas babies)

After tredging through the snow, we spent Christmas Eve with Greg's dad's family at Aunt Marsha's. This included eating Aunt Marsha's fabulous cookies with Lauren in the dining room over Skype. She is still in Australia but we hope she will be home soon. She lives in the city and showed us around from her balcony. Pretty cool. Peyton had fun with her cousins and loved passing around the rob your neighbor gifts. She also did everyone a favor by opening their presents as well. We left around 10:30 and she stayed up the entire ride home and wanted to watch Dora when we got home. We managed to get her in bed after we put out the cookies and milk for Santa.

Seems like old times

Way back when I was a kid (and long before I was around) my grandpa had a successful furniture store in Florissant where Old Time Pottery is now. Whenever people from North County hear our family name or my grandpa's name, Lou Gianopulos, more times than not we hear "oh, we have some furniture from there". For Christmas my brother had shirts replicated that look just like the shirts we all used to have from the store. Brings back memories of when I was a kid and my mom used to take me in to work with her on days I didn't want to go to or didn't have preschool. I used to help clean the glass tables, showed off my counting skills to the office ladies (poor things had to listen to me count to 100 numerous times) and took naps in Papa's office or under my mom's desk.

Since we didn't get to go Christmas Eve when he gave them to everyone, Bobby gave us ours early and I took a picture for him to show Papa that night. Here's our cuties in their Cousins shirts!

Sisters!

Peyton loves being a big sister and always wants to hug and pick up Ashlyn & Braden. Here she is holding Ashlyn.

More conversations with Peyton

Coming home from school I asked what Peyton was going to make me for dinner. She said, "I can't make dinner because I am too little to make dinner because I am not big enough to reach the cookies yet. We can have one cookie now and one cookie later."

Ashlyn wants her two front teeth, too!

Ashlyn got one of her bottom teeth! She was so low-key that we almost didn't notice it. I feel her gums every once in a while to check and one day about a week ago I felt it poking through! She has had a bit of a runny nose but other than that no real problems.

Peyton-Speak

Peyton has a great (sometimes too great) memory and comes up with the funniest and most random comments. We will be doing something totally unrelated and she will bring up something like:

Daddy has a crack in his windshield. He needs to fix it.
There's a hole in the wall. We need spackle, a smoother and paint. (regarding a nick in the drywall downstairs)
I ride the school bus with Nana and Papa (something she did at an event in April 2010)

This morning's conversation as she was giving hugs and kisses bye-bye, all in one breath:
We don't sit on the table...I don't have pockets in this (regarding her shirt)...(there was one other thing now I can't remember!)

Thies-Niehaus Christmas 2010

to quote Jess, a dozen cousins! From the top, Peyton, Durham, Dominic, Dakota, Braden, Burton holding Ashlyn, A.J., Newport, Flynn, Grier and Gannon

Another crazy night at NaNa and Grandpa Niehaus'. After a great dinner and the annual picture, the kids couldn't wait to rip open their presents. Peyton, Ashlyn and Braden made a haul. Peyton's favorite gifts were her Baby Alive doll and hand mixer. Ashlyn and Braden love their Little People school bus and cell phone. I am still figuring out who got what, it was hard to keep track that night! We had lots of great appetizers and sweets and all stayed up too late of course, including the kids, and then got up too early for more sweets and breakfast! We look forward to this weekend every year.

Tea Party

Peyton and her cupcake

Peyton listening to instructions on how to hold your tea cup.

Using good listening skills today!

Dabbing her mouth properly with her napkin

Her "say cheese" smile.

My friends mostly have girls, so Alicia organized a luncheon at Aggie's Tea Room. It is a very cutesy place. The attic is full of dress up clothes, so the girls got to go up and put on pretty dresses, crowns, jewelry, purses and pick out their own wands. Miss Aggie showed them how to properly hold their tea glasses and pour their tea (pink lemonade). They ate little sandwiches cut out like Christmas trees and such and had fruit and goldfish. Alicia made them the cutest reindeer cupcakes, she is very thoughtful and creative. The girls had such a great time and really did behave quite well. Aggie read them a story about Cinderella at the end. It was a great afternoon!

Ashlyn is 7 Months Old!

Another month has flown by. Ashlyn is now sitting up, starting to rotate on her belly and actually rolls onto her stomach to play. She loves to blow raspberries and make little noises. As long as she has a full tummy and enough sleep, she is generally a very happy girl and gives us the cutest smiles. People comment on her cute cheeks and her dark, curly eyelashes. I felt last night and there is something sharp under her bottom gums! When I try to look, she sticks her tongue out so I can't see. That is another new favorite activity of hers - sticking her tongue out. It is too funny! She takes two long naps a day (1.5-2.5 hours each) and needs a third cat nap in late afternoon, but doesn't always get one. She is eating solids three times a day and gets milk 4 times a day. She is getting the hang of the sippy cup, we have just put water in it so far since she only gets a bottle at night still. I can't believe we are past the second half of her first year, time can slow down a little now, please!

Braden is 7 Months Old!

Braden turned 7 months old! As I have said before, he is our mover and shaker. His new activity he enjoys is rocking back and forth when sitting up and rubbing his head back and forth against his high chair. He is very ticklish and loves to laugh. People comment on his long eyelashes, hair that stands straight up and cute smile. He loves to play on his tummy and will do his best to get to whatever toy he wants to play with. He still can't move forward very much but can move a full 360 degrees. He can be very vocal, especially when eating. He goes "ummm" after most bites. He is eating solids three times a day and gets milk 4 times a day. He also has started on the sippy cup and does well if someone holds it for him. He is a very happy boy as well as long as he gets his two long naps. He also needs a third nap but usually fights it, so he goes to bed pretty early, by 6:30. He is very curious and rarely falls asleep in the carseat anymore, since he is too busy looking around.

All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth!

Braden got his first two bottom teeth this past week! We had a rough couple of nights while they were coming through but we made it. Here he is trying to get the tree and village underneath it.

Breakfast with Santa

Peyton with her cookie she decorated.

We had breakfast with Santa today with the Mothers of Twins Club. The pancakes were fabulous, Peyton actually sat on Santa's lap without crying and they had lots of cute activities and games. All three kids even got their own gift bags with nice books, crayons and other goodies. We had lots of fun!

Mover and a shaker

I can already tell that Braden is going to keep me trim. He started out right next to Ashlyn and take a look where he ended up and got mad because the chair is in the way...

All bundled up!

It's getting cold outside! I just love this pic!

Trip to the Tree Farm

Greg, Peyton and I went to cut down a tree again this year. Ashlyn and Braden stayed with Nana Jean and Grandpa Terry (note that Peyton did not get to go either when she was their age!). We had to make it a quick trip since we had a few other errands to run and had to be back for their next feeding and amazingly one of the first trees we found was perfect! It is the best one we've had in recent memory. It also ended up being the last nice day weather-wise, so we got very lucky. We better get to the gym to prepare for pulling Ashlyn and Braden up those steep hills next Christmas!

We can sit up all by ourselves!

I've been waiting for this day to come. Ashlyn and Braden can now sit up by themselves. They love the new way they can play together now. If I sit them together, Braden does tend to steal the toys and sometimes Ashlyn's paci right out of her mouth, but she is getting tougher by the day!