Laughter!

Is there anything greater than the sound of wonderful laughter....especially when it comes from both of your children playing together.

Finally our day in the snow!

We were the lucky recipients of over 12 inches of snow last weekend....however with our traveling for Christmas and then some rather chilly weather we had not yet had a chance to PLAY in the snow!  Temps reached mid to upper 30s today and so it was our chance to get out and check out the fluffy snow.  After 15 minutes to get everyone in our gear, we were off.  Lillie seemed unsure at first but then didn't want to come in when we were done....I call it a success.

Snow princess....

 Love these kids!

Snow angel from Paul....

Lots of fun was had by both kids using plastic scoops and containers from the kitchen.

Have I mentioned how LOUD our little ladybug can be?  Here is just a flavor of her ability to shatter my eardrums.

 Cool flock of geese flew overhead in a decent V shape.

 Standing on a huge snow drift.....

 Cute to the extreme....

Running through the snow....it's tough work.

And then it was time to bury daddy in the snow....bucket by bucket!

A pile of the people that I love.....

Then it was Paul's turn to be buried in snow....but daddy cheated and didn't use the bucket!

 HUGS for daddy!

We made the obligatory snowman....a party snowman for New Year's!

Paul decided to get into the action and help daddy with the shoveling!

 And what better to do after playing in the snow.....hot cocoa!

I would say our first romp in the snow as a family of four was quite the success!  I look forward to many more of these fun times to come.

Let's make some pizza!

We had some fun tonight making home made pizza....always fun to pick your own toppings.  We had plenty to choose from....

Paul chose pineapple, canadian bacon and pepperoni.

While they baked, it was time for a little Zingo (a daily occurrence around here these days).

Lillie loves to scream Zingo!

Mommy, she is hurting my ears with all of her Zingo screaming!

And then it was his turn for the yelling.....

The game was fun, the pizza was yummy....a fun night at the Marchik house.

Santa surveillance photos

To amp up the excitement and "realness" of Santa, we print copies of pictures that catches him in the act of visiting our house.  The pictures are left next to the empty plate so Paul can find them on Christmas morning.

Testing out the monster truck.....

 Admiring the most special ornaments on our tree.....

It is fun to see the look on Paul's face when he sees Santa in OUR house with HIS toys.

Christmas 2012

We are so lucky that even on Christmas morning Paul stayed in his room until 7am!  By the time we got Lillie up, diaper changed, etc, etc it was 7:30....and we headed downstairs to see what Santa had left.  Each year the kids get one gift from Santa - typically something bigger and exciting and it is always unwrapped.  Paul's Santa gift was a remote controlled monster truck and Lillie's was a set of building blocks.

Here's the video of the kids seeing their gifts for the first time:

Someone really liked his new truck.

And Lillie seemed pretty pleased with her building bricks!

Considering this was our third Christmas, it seems a little crazy how big the stack of presents was....but Lillie was much better at opening her own gifts.

Hey mom, THIS one is my stocking!

Look, I got coal in my stocking....and yet he seemed pretty excited about it since it was chocolate coal!

Enjoying her stocking stuffers too!

Some video of MORE gift opening:

Our little ladybug opened a ladybug pillow pet!

HUGS from mommy!

Cool new dinosaurs....

Angry Birds car set from Mimi....loved this!

Loving his abominable snowman....

Paul even got in on the clean-up action.  I love this boy!

A little tea anyone?!

Checking out his new marble game.....flash from the past.

Our yummy Christmas breakfast....banana blueberry pancakes, canadian bacon and sweet rolls.

Think she was excited for her breakfast?!?!

Who knew my lap was big enough for 2 kids and a cat!

He loved the silly putty in his stocking.  This was a leap of faith for this mommy!

Snuggles on the couch.

Celebrating the true meaning of Christmas while we ate our lunch.  I found these great decorations and cups to make things more festive this year!

Our birthday cake for Baby Jesus.

Paul got to blow out the candles:

The cake was a hit with everyone....

Our yummy Christmas dinner - ham, corn casserole, steamed broccoli and biscuits.  We definitely know how to eat at the holidays!

What a blessing to be home as a family of four for Christmas this year.  It was such a long road to bring Lillie home and now that she has been here for four months, it seems like she has been here much longer.  She is the perfect fit for our family and we treasure all of the happy moments we have had.