Christmas time with the Pierce's

Whew...what a WHIRLWIND the past few weeks have been! (I hope to get pics posted soon!)

Christmas week started for us on Wednesday 12/22. That was the day we headed to Lubbock/Wilson in anticipation of seeing cousins! I left the kids in Wilson with my dad while my mom and I went to Lubbock to see my cousin Shannon and her sweet new baby Kinleigh. They were both still in the hospital...with Kinleigh being in NICU. She developed an infection after her mom was in labor with her water broken for over 34 hours! (ughh..doctors!!!) Luckily she was the biggest and healthiest baby in that NICU...I don't like NICU...only been in there twice and the first time I will never, ever, ever forget...(love you baby Emily!!). ANYWAY...Kinleigh is a cutie and a squirmer and I just love her! She weighed a full 2 pounds less than my kids at birth...as well as 4 inches shorter. Can you believe that?!

Thursday 12/23 we spent the day at Grandma Schwertner's house (the kids call her great granny...she lives about 200 yards from my parents :)) Several of my cousins who I don't get to see often were there! Jennifer, Alicia, & Camielle (daughters of my Godfather/Uncle Kurt who passed away many years ago)...and their husbands as well as Alicia's 3 year old son Suede...AND...Amber & Taylor and Afton and Adeline (and their hubbies too). All of our kids had a great time playing together! Cole happily played with Suede...but fell completely in love with Adeline. He has such a caring heart for babies...and he really loved on Addie! Natalie played with everyone and ran through the house a lot! They had a really great time! We drove home that night and got in around midnight....blah!

Friday 12/24 was an overwhelming day for me! We had to make cookies and treats, pack for going to Lubbock (again) the next day, go to church...and I had to wrap a million presents. Needless to say...when Justin got home at 5pm, I was FREAKING OUT! haha! We pulled it together and got it all taken care of...including leaving cookies for Santa and reading the Night Before Christmas (Justin's tradition with them)

Saturday 12/25 we woke up at 7am in order to open presents and get to Wilson by 12pm. Cole was soooo excited and was spoiled by Santa again! His favorite toys were "Stinky the Garbage Truck", "Buzz Lightyear" with remote, and "Woody" with his hat. Natalie loved her Disney Princess Barbie set....but was afraid of her pretty pink Vacuum...so Cole has taken it over as his. Suede would be proud! haha! (Suede loooooves vacuuming and mopping!) We then hurried to Wilson and got there around the same time as Auntie Jess and Matt. We opened our presents there and spent the rest of the day at Great Granny's! She made yummy turkey & dressing! The boys spent the day hunting and playing outside (Cole did some of this)

We stayed in Lubbock until Monday. The kids stayed until Thursday...so Justin and I were able to spend a little time alone and get better. Lubbock has some kind of funky air going on and everybody NOT living there got an allergy cold. It took us a full week to get over it. We also completely cleaned the house...phew!

Saturday we went to Vernon for New Years Day and to celebrate the Pierce Christmas. The kids were completely spoiled! Natalie got a CUTE doll house (she loves it)...clothes and shoes and Cole got a Leapster Explorer and a BB Gun (which won't be used until he's much older, it's sitting in his daddy's closet currently) among other fun things!

WHEW. I had planned on doing the 3 day potty training with Natalie during Christmas break...but there was NO TIME! I didn't have 3 days with her at home...in a row. Maybe this weekend? We'll see!

Hoping to post pics soon! Hope ya'll had a great Christmas!!