Instagram

I started using Instagram a little while ago with my iTouch. Now that I'm fully ensconced in the Apple world with an iPhone (Merry Christmas to me!), I use it all the time! It's so convenient and fun! You take a picture with your phone through Instagram, then you can add color effects. Here are some (or a lot) of my favorites.

Annie and Kate have been sleeping together. It is absolutely the most adorable thing in the world. Is it not?

This is why I love Instagram. We were leaving after dropping Annie off at church school on a random Wednesday, and Kate was cracking me up. So I took her picture. FYI, the sunglasses were totally unnecessary on that day.

Evie eating muffins and being cute.

Annie requested curls for preschool. Then she struck a pose.

Pa and Kate. Kate was happy, really.

Our happy, happy Evie and Grandpa Ralls.

Annie and Maddee at Ralls Christmas. Cute cousins!

Kate the Elf.

The caption on Instagram was: Mean mugging since 5:30 a.m.

Because she was.

I'm sure I'll continue with Instagram posts! I love it!

Ralls Christmas

The last of the Christmas posts, I swear! The last of the girls in these pajamas. Even I am getting sick of them! :)

We went over Matt's parent's house for Ralls Christmas a few days later. We headed out in the morning, all of us still in jammies. They are putting an addition on their house. It's not quite finished, but it was done enough to support all 20 of us, once Matt's grandparents got there. Twenty! It was crazy, but lots of fun!

Just a portion of the chaos.

Uncle Ed and Adam.

Uncle Matt and Maddee.

We lowered Evie in the high chair and stuck her in front of the tree. She was happy enough about it.

Ella and Kate.

Aunt Carol, Ella and Maddee.

Adam and Annie.

Me and Annie. She did my hair. Isn't it lovely?

Mallory, Brady, Annie, Kate and Madelyn. Looking so quiet and calm and sweet. I'm sure it only lasted a second.

Thanks for a great Christmas Ralls Family!

Christmas Day

We drove to Cleveland on Christmas Day straight to my parents' house.

This was my best effort.

Eve is such a stinker. She is already constantly trying to bug her sisters :)

Evie's First Christmas!

(She is wearing the same hair bow as Christmas Eve. I ordered one, but it didn't come in time. Silly Etsy.)

Great Grandma Hageman and Annie.

Also, this happened:

It's Patti Time.

Quick back story. My mom, sister and Maggie are obsessed with Teen Mom. One of the guys on the show started selling t-shirts that said It's Gary Time. My mom posted one as a joke on her Facebook page, and then I bought it for her for her birthday. Jackie and Maggie are the creative geniuses behind the Patti Time shirts. We all went upstairs and came back down wearing these. It was so funny!

Then it was time for some post Christmas Smith family fun!

Annie and Kate loved running around with the older kids! (I loved it too! :) ).

Annie and Uncle Matt. They tortured the poor guy the whole time we were in Cleveland. They chased him around, jumping on him and yelling "Wrestle!!" Thanks Uncle Matt!

Brian was happy to oblige, as well! Thanks guys!

Emma, Kate and Evie.

Emma, Kate and Annie. 

Liam, Owen and Annie.

Annie was a big fan of the boys, as well. She sat for long periods of time just watching them do stuff, including play on the iTouch.

Christmas Morning!

I cannot tell a lie. We told the girls they could get up once it was 6 a.m. And then we set their clock back an hour to keep them in bed until 7 a.m. And it worked like a charm. They came scurrying in our room at 7:01.

And then we took their picture before we let them go downstairs. And we didn't wake Evie. On her very first Christmas. We are terrible parents. :)

But, oh my gosh, the joy on Annie's face on Christmas morning! She was so excited! She said multiple times, "This is the best Christmas ever!" And she didn't even forget the real reason for the holiday. While were eating breakfast after gifts, she had us all do a cheers to Jesus. That girl. :)

Baby stuff! (As a side note, she has been very dilligent about keeping her baby stuff in the diaper bag.  I complimented her on that today, and she said "Well Mom, I don't want to lose any of that!" Her tone insinuated that there were some other things she was hoping to lose...)

I don't know if she was tired or just being Kate, but Kate had a very mellow reaction while opening gifts. She seemed confused by this Happy Napper. She still might be. You can zip the penguin into the house or flip it to zip the house into the penguin. Kate asked us to "put him house in him butt." It became the catchphrase of Christmas 2011.

A scooter! She later said, "I didn't even ask for this! Santa must have wanted me to have it!"

Baby stuff!

Happy Napper!

She has been asking for a hula hoop forever.

How hiliarious is this? She wore it to the grocery store yesterday.

Of all her gifts, I think Kate was most excited by that purple Nalgene bottle.

Oh, hey, who's this? She's awake on her first Christmas!

Evie, you only got one present on your first Christmas. I do feel sort of bad about it, but you love the elephant and you don't seem to care.

Scooting around the house.



Christmas Eve

We were at home for Christmas Eve and Christmas morning. We went to the children's mass at our church on Saturday afternoon. We got there at what I like to call Nancy Ralls time (which means we were pretty early! :) ), and we were still among the last people to get seats! But we did get seats, the children's mass was adorable and Evie was moderately well  behaved for the two plus hours we spent in church (thank you strange teenage boy who had the unfortunate luck of sitting next to us for tolerating our 10-month-old's wild pokes, throws of the program and general assault on your person. Your charitable behavior was very much appreciated). Also, Annie was really in the Christmas spirit and yelled "Amen!" very loudly at generally appropriate times. She also wanted to sing Happy Birthday to Jesus at Mass. Maybe next year...

Then, getting ready to open their Christmas jammies.

After Mass and dinner with our dear friends the Debrahs, it was time to leave cookies and milk for Santa!

And read Twas the Night Before Christmas!

(which Papa actually read because they chose the version he sent them in which the book plays his recorded voice. They LOVE those books!)

Then it was off to bed in hopes that Santa would come!



Zoo Lights

We also hit the Toledo Zoo's Lights Before Christmas this year. We went a few years ago, and it was really fun. It's also free with our zoo pass, so we decided to go on the way into Cleveland on a Friday night a few weeks ago. I recommend this to anyone who can make it. The lights are so fun and pretty, and we got to see Santa with way less hassle than going to the mall! We didn't really see any animals, but we also didn't try too hard ;)

In the museum getting ready to see Santa.

Eve was tired. She tried to be interested in what was going on at first, but pretty much gave up on the whole night once she realized she was so stuffed into her stroller with blankets that movement was going to be impossible. :) She was quite pleasant, however.

I don't know what it is, but winter hats will not stay on Annie's head correctly. I am on the search for the right size and shape. She looks ridiculous! But she did have fun on this tire swing.

Which Kate had to try out, too, of course!

All of us. The reflective stuff on the stroller made this photo sort of disappointing, but here we are.

A terrible photo of a photo, but for the record. Annie smiling, Kate wanting to smile and Eve screaming her head off. :)

Annie and Kate both did a fabulous job of telling Santa exactly what they wanted. Annie's list: baby stuff, the Scooby Doo gang and a Happy Napper. Kate's list: Rock Out Mickey, a Muppet movie, baby stuff and a Happy Napper.

The picture is in this frame taped to our fridge. Annie made this in preschool and gave it to me as a gift. She is quite proud of it, and I think it is rather lovely.