Christmas Morning

Well Christmas morning was great, Lucas' present to us was to sleep in till 8am...WAY better than the typical 6am wake-up call. The morning was filled with books, puppets, movies, clothes, and cinnamon rolls...
...But all of that was forgotten when Lucas opened up his new train set! Right now he is all about "choo choos" (as he calls them). Of course Dad likes to play too...it is nice having him home this week!

Christmas Eve

Grandpa Hess trying to convince Lilly that she is going to be a TomBoy.

Lucas and Conner checking out the new "acquarium".

The cutest 5 year olds, Sophie and Olivia.

Can you feel the love??

Tim's dad, his six brothers and the woman who raised SEVEN boys! Kudos to Grandma!

Well the Hess' have a tradition of getting everyone together on Christmas Eve for dinner and a present exchange. This year the party was held at Tim's Aunt and Uncles in Fort Wayne. Lots of family and lots of food! Great Grandma was happy to meet Lilly for the first time and Grandpa Steve was happy to show her off to all of his brothers! We headed home late to make it back before Santa arrived at our house...the kids all nestled in their car seats while visions of breastmilk and icing covered brownies danced in their heads!

Hess Family Christmas

Just put a bow on his head and he would blend right in!

First present of many...slowly unwrapped peice by piece.

Noah and Lilly being their cute selves!
Lilly pretty much slept straight through all the presents!

We headed up North to Tim's parents for the weekend before Christmas and got loaded up with presents again! Lucas was a little more of a pro this weekend when it came to tearing off the paper...that is if he wasn't busy playing with a new toy already. We also enjoyed seeing our new nephew Noah who is growing like a weed...or should I say football player? He was all smiles! Of course Gram and Grandpa has a good old time with their three grandchildren for the weekend! It is always so great to hang out with family.

Cousin Hannah and Baby Lilly

Hannah was soooo excited to see Baby Lilly again!
All she wanted to do was hold her!
They are both waving to the camera! What pros!

Well, Tiffany said all Hannah could talk about since Thanksgiving was Baby Lilly and as soon as we got to my parents on Saturday she went right to the car seat and just sat next to her until she woke up! It was pretty cute how she just wanted to hold her all the time. I think Hannah is going to be a wonderful Big sister in June! Congratulations Johnstons on your upcoming arrival!!

Bishop Family Christmas

This may be the only family picture we get!
This is the only picture with all the kids; Payton and Trinity (Joanna's foster kids), Hannah (Matt and Tiffany's little girl), Lucas and 3/4 of Lilly on the right hand side.
Lucas and Hannah starting a family band!

Don't forget the little drummer...parumpapupum!
We had the Bishop family Christmas this past weekend and it was loads of fun! (and I think the Kids made out pretty well with all of their loot!) Good food and good times...that is what the holidays are all about right? It was great to see everyone and I know Lucas slept good that night, I am guessing the other kids did as well.

The Mohawk

Lucas brushing his teeth (a favorite of his) after his bath...check out the hair! The funny part is about this picture that you can't tell by looking at it is that he is checking himself out in the mirror!

So Tim gave Lucas a bath last night and decided to be a hairstylist. (I think secretly Tim wishes he had his long curly hair back so he could have a mohawk too). What was really even funnier than these pictures was the fact that when Lucas woke up this morning it was still there! I guess you don't really sleep on the top of your head so why would it get smashed down? I left it like that all day...it was just too cute.

First Bottle

Aren' they both so cute?? Now all I have to do is get him to wake up at 2:00am to feed her!

Lilly finally got her first bottle. She didn't complain...as long as she was being fed! She likes to eat (she must take after her mom). She did think it was cool that Lucas was helping Dad feed her though! What a helpful big brother!

Great Christmas Pictures

Well...I guess this is what you get when you don't want to pay someone else to take their pictures. I actually would have gone somewhere but by the time I had my act together it was too late to get pictures back in time for the Christmas cards. Oh Well, maybe if I keep trying I will get a couple smiles in between the screams!

Oh Christmas Tree...

Well, we finally got our Christmas tree decorated last night. We had a pretty good time with Lucas as you can see. Lilly wasn't into participating but she did want to be held the whole time so that she was close to the tree! We went pretty simple this year since Lucas likes to pull everything off and thinks the ornaments are new toys! Aren't Christmas lights the best?

Playing with Christmas Decor

Well, we have most of the Christmas decor up and Lucas loves to play with it. On the kitchen table we have a nativity/advent wreath and Lucas thought this was great! Now there were fans to watch him drive his new race car! He lined up the nativity so everyone could see and after that he set them up like an obstacle course and spun circles around them. I think they were all impressed by Lucas' driving abilities!

A Boy and his Dog

Lucas trying to wrestle Wrigley!

Exhasuted dog

and Lucas kissing him goodnight.

Well, I do have to thank Wrigley for at least 30 minutes of entertaining Lucas each day. Here are some pictures of the two of them just within the last week. I do have to say that Wrigley is really good about Lucas tackling him, pulling his tail or just plain chasing him. I think he likes the attention b/c now with two kids he doesn't get any from us! Ahhh..the love between a boy and his dog!

First Bath

Here is Lilly and her first real bath! No crying at all...she loved the water being poured on her. I think she is going to be a water baby like her brother!

Toy madness...

Two of Lucas' buds...Ethan and Neil.

Four more of the eight...all interested in the same toy as you can see.
And Lucas playing by himself so that no one trys to take his train!

So yesterday we had a little Christmas get together with our college friends -six couples total (and all of our kids). Each kid had picked another kids name (well...moms picked names) awhile and ago and yesterday was the big exchange! Let's just say that when you put 8 kids (all under 2 years old) in one location it can get a little CRAZY! All the kids were worried about was the toys...and if someone else took the toy you were playing with- WATCH OUT! And then when it came to opening presents and everyone wanting to play with everyone else's instead of theirs is when we decided to call it a night! So through the crying, tantrums, and toy busyness we all had a great time! It looks like December is starting out to to be a pretty fun month!

Photo Shoot

Lilly had her first photo shoot last weekend with my sister Joanna. Here are some of the pics!

The Bouncer...

Lucas enjoys bouncing Lilly in her new bouncer...
But he loves playing in it himself even more!

Now if you will notice...the bouncer that Lucas climbed in is on top of our kitchen table so first he climbed onto the table before he climbed into the bouncer! He is such a monkey! When I started to take pictures of him in there he said CHEESE and stared through the bubbles...it was way too cute not to put on the blog!
What are we going to do with him??

Big Brother Kisses

He still may not want to hold her yet...but he does love to give her kisses!

Admist the tantrums, he is being a very good helper to mommy and we think he is going to be

a wonderful big brother!

Thanksgiving Weekend

Lilly and the second newest arrival Noah with Uncle Ben.
Lucas and Second cousin Jasmine and Third cousin Tyler playing dinner music.
Lucas and cousin Hannah going for a Thanksgiving drive.

Well, this year Thanksgiving wasn't all about the food...it was all about the cousins! First it was with our new nephew Noah at our Thanksgiving up North with Tim's family. Then Saturday at my family Thanksgiving with my dad's side of the family the little ones pretty much ran the show- from singing on the microphone to playing the piano. Then later on Lucas and Hannah thought they would try taking off in Hannah's van...but they didn't get very far since they couldn't reach the pedals! Maybe next year they will actually want to eat some turkey!

One week old...

Here she is already one week old. So far her favorite past times are as follows; keeping mommy busy by eating often, sleeping on daddy's chest, and getting swung in her swing by her big brother. She is looking forward to lots of Turkey and mashed potatoes this week and being held by all of her family. I think she is a keeper! :)