Christmas!

We spent Christmas Eve cooking and looking forward to the grandparents' arrival!  While we waited on both sets to arrive, Jackson helped me bake a chocolate cake while Katherine napped, and later in the afternoon, Katherine helped me frost the cake while Jackson snoozed.  It's obvious our little lady has a sweet tooth.

Chocolate just makes me even cuter

Jackson woke up to find Katherine a mess and decided he needed to help her clean up

"Mom, isn't this your job?"

Fast-forward a couple of hours and all dressed up . . . the best picture I could get of K

being silly

Getting started!!

Katherine after Jackson's fire truck.  She is obsessed with his fire trucks!

Finally getting her hands on his truck

They apparently like each other's toys better than their own.  After Katherine nabbed the fire truck, Jackson swiped some of her stuffed toys to use as trash in his "trash truck"

"You are going to give me some of that, aren't you?"

"Now that's more like it."

Later that evening it looks as if Santa remembered to fill the stockings with some extra goodies

Christmas morning

Life doesn't get much better than this--a train hauling construction equipment

Our sweet babies enjoying Christmas and each other

Christmas morning and still in our pjs . . .

we hope you had as merry of a Christmas as we did!

Merry Christmas!

Almost, But Not Quite

What it takes to get a decent picture for our Christmas card . . .

First off, at this age, Katherine is a piece of cake to get a picture of!

 Except, of course, when she finds leaves and refuses to let go

 Jackson decided to "help" even though on this particular day, he refused to change into picture clothes and participate

 The runner-up for Katherine's picture

 All it takes for a smile like this is for Katherine to see her Daddy.

On to the second round of shooting and trying to get Jackson and Katherine together.

The first picture I took of the two of them actually turned out to be their runner-up.  Not my ideal picture, but at least Jackson is looking and neither one have a ridiculous expression!

 Then it went downhill

 At this point, we're bribing Jackson with candy, but Katherine is feeling a little left out

 Trying a different pose and Jackson is getting disgusted.

 Really disgusted.

 The new pose didn't go over well, so we're back to Jackson holding Katherine

 And she's spotted that Snickers bar, again

 Jackson realizes what she's after and makes sure it's out of reach

 So, we give up on pictures with the two of them, hoping there is just one decent picture, and attempt to get just one picture of Jackson. 

As usual, refusing to look at the camera.

 The Snickers bar wasn't working well, so we turned to 'Nilla Wafers for a little help.  They apparently didn't help too much either.

 Finally, a little smile and a glimmer of hope

 My heart dropped when I saw this picture . . . perfect, except that he's blinking

 If only he would look at the camera

So, those are a few of our Christmas card outtakes and here's hoping that next year's attempt(s) isn't quite as stressful!

Vaughn Christmas

We traveled to Alabama this past week for Christmas with Zach's family.  There are a ton of pictures, so I'll let the pictures do most of the "talking"

Katherine opening her first Christmas present!

 Ohhh, a baby doll!!

 Trying to get a picture with Emma, Katherine, and Jackson

 Oh wow!  My very own purse!!

 Katherine already has a vanity on her wish list for a future Christmas

 Cracking Grandpa's finger

 CHEESE!!!