New Year's Eve 2009

We spent a quiet New Year's Eve with Mom and Pete playing dominoes at home. I only took a few pictures, mostly of Andrew. But, what an adorable face to welcome us to 2010!

Bye-bye 7 inches

Olivia has had her hair "trimmed" several times, but this was her first official hair cut. After all was said and done, her hair was about 7 inches shorter. Thanks, Kellie!

Zoo Lights 2009

Olivia wore this same penguin outfit for her first Zoo Lights. Click here to check out Olivia as a penguin.

Our attempt at a family picture Our annual Christmas time tradition is to go to Zoo Lights at the Denver Zoo. This time we had a whole crew ~ Mom, Pete, Dad, Kiki, Paul, Angie, Garrett & Preston.
It was a cold, but festive night!

Go Broncos!

Mommy & Andrew ready to cheer on the Broncos. Mommy's sporting throw-back blue!

The Princess and the Frog

We took Olivia on a special Mommy & Daddy date to see The Princess and the Frog. We sat in the middle of the back row of the very crowded theater and Olivia needed to go potty at least ten times. Needless to say, next time we go to the movies, we will be sitting at the end of the row right by the exit! That way, we won't have to say excuse me 25 times during the movie. Ugh!

Merry Christmas!

My favorite gifts under the Christmas tree ~

Olivia Grace & Andrew James!

Christmas love from the Stephens

Christmas Jammies

The last present of the night.... Christmas jammies. We bundled the kiddos up and got them ready for bed in their new pj's. And then we headed home to sleep so Santa could deliver goodies to our house!

Our Little Reindeer

These are a few of my favorite things...

3-year-old = Cindrella Princess dress 7-month-old = wrapping paper

Christmas Eve Church

Taking a moment to remember the true reason for the season.... the birth of Jesus.

Sugar Cookies

One of our favorite Christmas Eve traditions is baking, decorating and, of course, eating sugar cookies. We struggled a little this year with the baking part of the process. The cookies were HUGE and looked like blobs, not cute Christmas shapes when they came out of the oven. They were still fun to decorate and delicious to eat!

Andrew sleft through the cookie making. Next year, I'm sure he'll be ready to help with the fun, especially the eating part!

Alice

Olivia did NOT want to watch Alice in Wonderland, but from the moment we turned it on she was completely enraptured!

Cheers!

One of Olivia's favorite holiday treats - Egg Nog! Cheers!

Andrew's First Christmas Eve

We were so thrilled to celebrate Andrew's first Christmas! He is such a happy little one. His days are filled with snuggles, smiles and giggles. Having him here made our Christmas festivities even more magical and wonderful. Lily, Dad and Kiki's dog, loves having Andrew as a part of our family too. She adores babies! And, she loved giving Andrew kisses and he didn't seem to mind too much!

Princess Phone

Oh, the three-year-old drama! When we were visiting our friend Cameron, Olivia discovered his yellow Belle princess phone. (Let me clarify that Cameron has three girl cousins and he received this phone from one of them.) As we prepared to leave their house after playing for a while, Olivia was convinced that Cam should give her his Belle princess phone. I'm sure you can imagine that display that followed when I, of course, said no. Tears. Kicks. Screams. Time out. The works. And the three-year-old rationalization through her tears, "But, Mommy, Cameron has four phones, so I can have one of them." She seemed to have momentarily forgotten that she has at least five phones at home.

Later that evening, Olivia told me that she wanted a pink Cinderella phone for Christmas. She went on to say, "Actually, I think that the Cinderella phone is blue because her dress is blue. And, the Belle phone is yellow because her dress is yellow. So, I want a blue Cinderella phone." What a brilliant little mind. The connections she makes just amaze me!

Now, I already knew that Gigi had bought Olivia a Cinderella princess phone for Christmas, and so the first gift of Christmas on Christmas Eve Day - the blue Cinderella princess phone. Yes, she was right - it is blue. There are already talks of a Cinderella phone and Belle phone play date at Cameron's house. And, clarification that the blue Cinderella phone is Olivia's and the yellow Belle phone is Cameron's.

Happy Festivus!

On Festivus, we went to Auntie Patti and Cindy and John's house to celebrate Christmas with our dearest friends. We baked cookies, ate yummy dinner, sang with Santa, exchanged presents and watched Up. What a delightful evening - delicious food, lots of laughs and love and wonderful company!

We love you, Auntie Sena and family!

Tudi's Here!

My sister - aka Tudi - came to visit from New York for Christmas. Dad and Kiki picked her up from the airport and came straight to our house for lunch and a little visit. The kiddos love their Auntie Tudi!

Friends

Christmas Eve Eve was a cold winter's day. We headed over in our jammies to see our friends, Sara and Cameron. The kids had fun playing and Sara and I exchanged Christmas presents. We love our SW and Camo!

Football Sunday

One of our favorite ways to spend a Sunday afternoon is snuggled up at home with our little ones cheering on our favorite teams. And, on this Sunday our little Andrew showed off his sitting-up skills. He still takes some tumbles, but he's getting there! He'll be sitting on his own before we know it!

Craft Time with Daddy

Gramma & Papa Mark sent Olivia a Nativity craft project. Daddy graciously spent the morning helping Olivia put it together. His solution to the tediousness of the project was to use Super Glue! Olivia actually supervised the project while Daddy carefully glued the foam pieces together. Thankfully, we didn't have any accidents with the glue and Olivia had a fun morning with Daddy!

Happy Birthday, Papa!

For Papa's Birthday we went out to dinner at 3 Margaritas. We enjoyed yummy cheese dip and sopapillas along with our delicious dinners.

After the servers serenaded Papa, I stole the sombrero!

Buddies

We hung out with our buddy Cameron while his Mommy and Daddy, our friends Sara & Josh, went out to dinner. The kids had so much fun playing football, watching Rudolph and making music. We love our friend, Cam!

Isabelle's Christmas Party

A few weeks ago Olivia received an invitation to a Christmas party given by our friend, Isabelle. Everyday, until the day of the party, Olivia asked me in the morning if today was Isabelle's party. Finally, the day came! Here are some pictures from the Christmas festivities.

Santa even made an appearance!

Making handprint ornaments.
Andrew's turn...
Our happy guy just took in the sights and sounds during the entire party. He didn't cry once and he never slept either. He's such an easy baby!

Decorating the Christmas cookies.

The Girls - Al, our hostess and Isabelle's Mom, Kristin, Abby, Katie and Heath