Multiplciholidays

10:43 PM

WHEW!!! Well, the holiday season is JUST ABOUT over, and we made it through basically unscathed. I can also say that I was wrong when I thought that the girls would be more excited about the wrapping paper BUT they also have no idea what to do with all of the presents that they got! We are so lucky and blessed to have such a big and generous family.

Please try not to get motion sickness from our awesome cinematography skills.

Cups from the $1 section at Target.

The holidays began on Tuesday when I started baking cookies. I had invited my sister-in-law and her new hubs over for breakfast to see Jane and Emma, but I had an ulterior motive. They were able to help Hershey occupy the girls long enough for me to get through FIVE batches of cookies. Yes, FIVE. Don't ask me how I did it without losing my mind. Scratch that. At one point it was me or the gingerbread dough, and I won.

Like my "Christmas mask"? (aka my no make up look)

That night was Jane and Emma's first Christmas Eve party. They are pretty good about losing their shit at 6:53 on the dot no matter where we are, so, despite our best efforts to keep their bellies full and their minds on gifts, as soon as all of the family members got there, they started crying hysterically and we had to whisk them out of the room and put them to bed. An hour and a half later, we were able to re-join the party, eat dinner, have a few cocktails, and open gifts before packing the girls up and heading out into the cold night to get them home to their cozy cribs. I was sad that they only got to spend about 15 minutes in their party dresses, but we at least were able to snap some adorbs shots!

The next day was Christmas and we had a ton of fun making new Christmas traditions with Jane and Emma. I snuck into their room to wake them up in their little Christmas pjs. We brought them out into the living room and opened presents with them after their morning bottle.

Then, it was over the river and through the woods to MY grandma's house, for another round of gift-giving and 7:00 crankiness. Jane and Emma sat on our laps as we ate our annual Christmas lasagna, and Emma slept through our rendition of "Happy Birthday to you" as we sang to Hershey for his birthday (which falls on Christmas) and Jane partook in the eating of the cupcake frosting tradition (well, it's a tradition now, anyway).

When we got home was when the real fun started. We rolled the little twincesses right into their cribs and I began tackling the job of putting away toys and sorting everything out. We had a truck-full of unopened gifts from Christmas Eve, and no toy box. I didn't want the girls to wake up to a mess (even though 93% of the time my house is a mess!), so I stayed up until around midnight unpacking and unwrapping gifts. Which, BT-DUBS, since when are Fisher Price toys such a hot theft item that they have to be soddered into the boxes that they come in? I don't get that...

Can you spot the Janey doll?

This past weekend we took the trip out to Landisville, Pennsylvania, to visit Hershey's grandpa (also his namesake). I'll write a post later this week on what to pack to survive a 4 hour car ride with multiples, because that's how long it took us to get home! But it was worth it to get to see Emma play with Hershey's little cousins. It's funny how their little personalities are coming out so much now. Emma is so rough and tumble. She wanted to be in the middle of all of the action, squealing at the top of her lungs playing with the boys. Jane just wanted to sit back and snuggle with Grandpa and watch all of the action calmly from the sidelines. Part of it may have been the stomach virus she seemed to be suffering from. I was thrown up on 4 times within the first 20 minutes of arriving at Hershey's aunt's house. Good stuff.

Next year, I'm hoping that we will be able to continue our family's holiday traditions, while infusing some new traditions of our own. I love visiting family, but I have to admit, this year was a LOT to handle. I am more exhausted now than I was before the break, and my vacation is over in 2 days! WAH!

It's hard to believe that 2013 is almost over! What an incredible year it has been for me and my family. Tomorrow night we will bring in the New Year with our best friends as we always do, but this year there will be a house full of little kids! We are so incredibly lucky to have friends with children the same age as us, and to be able to bring in a new year with people who we love so dearly.

How will you be spending your new year's? What new holiday traditions did you come up with this year?

I actually found a moment to buckle down and snap Jane and Emma's 7 month photos. The perfect time to take their picture is first thing in the morning, when they have a fresh diaper, empty belly, and haven't seen us in 11 hours. SO SUPER SMILEY!