Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Christmas is such a fun time of year with the kids! Here are some highlights from our Christmas celebrations.

Christmas Eve at Home We celebrated Christmas Eve at home.


We had plenty of loved ones to share the fun evening with. Here are Nana and Rene.


Uncle Dan and Lily

Grandma and Poppie

Auntie Kris and Unkie Bri Bri

Charlotte and Lily

Danielle and Charlotte snuggled up to a good book.

Angela, Randy, Baby Rocky and Amanda

Charlotte and Lily setting out cookies and a carrot for Santa and the reindeer

Christmas Morning

Santa left some pretty fun stuff.

Charlotte and Lily waking up in the morning

Sammy checks out all of those gifts under the tree. There were no presents under the tree until Christmas eve (we wanted them to stay wrapped until Christmas morning)...so it was a big surprise.

What's inside here?

Polly Pocket Roller Coaster was the most requested toy from the girls, and Santa came through for them. Those elves sure are good at putting together tons of tiny plastic parts.

Christmas Day at Grandad and Gram's

After opening gifts in the morning, we headed over to Grandad and Gram's house for Christmas dinner. Here are the girls with Great Grammie Elizabeth.

Charlotte, Auntie Heather, and Greg

Gram and her boys, Nick and Simon

After coming home from Grandad Corbitt's house, we headed out for the weekend with Nana and Rene. Unfortunately, I didn't seem to take any pictures out there. But, we still had a great time visiting with everyone!

Celebrating with Great Grandad Corbitt at Auntie Lisa's

After two snow cancellations, we finally had the annual celebration with Great Grandad Corbitt, at Auntie Lisa's house. Here are Lily, Lindsay and Alden.

Four generations of Samuel Corbitts

There really is nothing quite like Christmas with kids. Every part of it is so very magical.

Visit with Santa

Our MOMS club had a wonderful Christmas party this year. There were lots of friends, great crafts, and of course... treats.

Then the big man made a surprise visit.

Gingerbread Houses with Auntie Cherie

About a week before Christmas, Auntie Cherie came over armed with LOADS of candy and all of the necessities to make delicious gingerbread houses. The kids were so excited!

Nice house, Charlotte!

Yummy!

The kids loved spending some extra special time with Cherie.

Tangerines

Apparently, Sammy doesn't really care for tangerines. I have to wonder why he asked for more several times, only for it to end this same way.

Nutcracker Ballet

Last weekend marked the girls Second Annual trip to see the Nutcracker in Boston with Nana. This year, I was lucky enough to join them. Last year Sammy was too little to be left for very long, and we thought that at 5 months, he wouldn't appreciate the wonder of the nutcracker:)

The girls at home getting ready to go.

Charlotte and Lily with their Sugar Plum Fairy crowns waiting to be seated at the Opera

House.

Lily and Nana enjoying a treat during intermission

Mama and her wonderful girls

I had forgotten just how magical it was. The girls were completely enthralled by the performance. As each character came on the stage they were delighted with ooh it is Mama Ginger, or the Sugar Plum Fairy, or the little sheep. They have been requesting the Nutcracker as their bedtime story for the past couple of weeks. We were lucky that there was a very nice group of young women seated behind us, who instead of being irritate by the constant chatter, where actually quite taken by the girls and how much they knew about the story.

Winter celebration

Charlotte's school had a family winter celebration a few weekends ago. They were thrilled to meet Santa and tell them all about their very interesting wish lists. Both girls include the typical toys and crafts to their list, but once again request farm animals... Isn't our house wild enough for them? Apparently not.

Sammy liked Santa so much, that he went back to visit several times.


Of course, no celebration is complete with out tons of sugar. Here they are decorating tasty gingerbread cookies.

Yummy!

Sammy enjoyed the inflatable presents. Penguins and snowmen popped out of some of the gifts, which offered endless entertainment for him.

Lily and Lauren.

Lauren is one of Charlotte's classmates, that Lily has become tight with on the playground after school.

Thanksgiving

This year, as all years, we have had lots to be thankful for. Wonderful family, Healthy minds and bodies, and lots of love! We celebrated a nice Thanksgiving at the Donohoe residence, and there was lot of family, delicious food, and good conversation to enjoy. The college kids...my niece and nephew, Danielle and Sean.

Samuel Charles and Charles, of course it is Poppie to the kids!

Yummy Dinner! Charlotte has been a very outspoken vegetarian since last Thanksgiving when she made the turkey/animal and the turkey/food connection. This year her dedication waned, when she gave it a try...and loved it!

We got to meet my brand new great nephew, Rockwell. (Seriously...I can't be so old that I am a Great Aunt!) Here he is with my niece, and wonderful new mama Angela. Many generations gathered together gave us much to be thankful for this year!

Thanksgiving Feast

Each year, Lily's school has a very sweet Thanksgiving Feast.

The children gathered on the stage to perform a song about being thankful! You can see Lily in the center between some of the moms.

After the song, the children joined the parents at the table to feast on some home made bread and butter. Lily loved the cinnamon bread that she made with her classmates.

On an earlier date, she made a place mat with hand print turkeys on it.

Lily and some of her classmates! I sure am going to miss these sweet performances next year when Lily goes off to Kindergarten at the big school!

Disney with Dad

Sam and the girls took a special long weekend to Disney over Halloween. The girls missed out on trick or treating on our street, but they didn't seem to mind!

On the first day, they were up and ready to go see Mickey...at 5 am.


When they got to the park, they headed right to the It's a Small World ride.

It's a Small World is one of Charlotte's favorite rides.

On to the teacups

Next was the Winnie the Pooh ride. Sam said that the day after Halloween, there was hardly anyone in the park. He said that they didn't wait any more than 5 minutes in every line! They were pretty lucky, and hit all of the rides that they wanted to, on the first day!

All wet after Splash Mountain

The girls were dare devils and loved Thunder Mountain, Splash Mountain and Goofy's Barn Stormer!

Aladin

River Boat

Carousel

Tasty cotton candy

Two princesses in front of Cinderella's Castle

Spinning Teacups

Minnie's House

This was one of the girls favorites last year, and Sam said that they spent a lot of time in there again.

Minnie's sewing machine

Cool treats

It was pretty hot the second day that they were there.

Pooh Bear Playground

Lily with the Sword in the Stone

Charlotte with the sword and the stone.

They can't stop talking about how much fun they had. It was a really special time with their Dad.