Here they are looking so sweet in the back of the Commander. The night started out great, but then we got a lot of "I'm hungry....She took my pillow...I wanna ride with you in the middle, Mommy....I want a snack....Is it over yet?" The adults decided that next year we are going by ourselves. :-) Really, we will just remember to bring lots of snacks and pillows in the car next year.
Here are some funny "outtakes."
So...let's see all of YOUR Way Back When-esdays!
Jake is 10 weeks old this week! Monday, I started back to work fulltime...thankfully with a modified schedule that allows me to work from home Tuesday and Thursday. So, I felt great going into work knowing that (1) Jake was in great hands with his Gramma at the house and (2) I would be staying home with him the next day. :-)
Uncle Drew loves kitchen stuff, but likes making funny faces more
Gramma is excited about opening presents
My grandmother's gift to Chad were matching "father/son hats." They are soooo cute!
All the Roever cousins...11 of us in this generation. We have added Chad by marriage and my two babies, and I have a feeling that in the next several years, we will add many more. I am the oldest, and I think we actually lined up in age order from back row to front row from right to left.
My super cute parents
Sweet Jake's first Christmas
My grandmother entertaining her only great grandson.
Brother and sister!
Brooklyn's favorite present of the day was definitely her digital camera. She is such a shutterbug.
What a big boy Jake is! I cannot believe we are celebrating his 2 month birthday.
The Hubbies: Jon, Lee, Marc, Jay, and Chad
Jake was the life of the party :-)
Yes, we take this picture often, but one day we will look back and say, "I'm so glad we have pictures of us in our twenties."
Love you girls! Thanks for a great time Saturday night!
Hey, who needs snow boots when you have plastic grocery bags? 
My Snow Bunny
Jake will catch the next snowfall...for now he is just happy being warm and indoors. :-)
Just to clarify, that is NOT a vulgar sign from Brooklyn at the end of the video. But it makes me giggle nonetheless. :-)
Just in case you couldn't understand through all the excitement....
Brooklyn wants a piano that you step on, a baby doll and a pack and play, and Zoe wants a Jasmine doll and a Jasmine costume. :-)
Our second family photo :-) Poor Jake is never awake for any of them. 
Brooklyn volunteered Zoe to go first. :-)
And this is what we ended up with. :-) Jake actually woke up, and his crazy mommy wouldn't allow daddy to let him go on Santa's H1N1 infested lap. And Brooklyn agreed to be in the picture as long as she didn't have to touch him (though she ended up giving him a high 5 at the end). We told Santa to just sit there and smile :-)
My Princess
Handsome little thing, isn't he? 
We then loaded up the fam and headed to K-vegas for Brooklyn's school Christmas program. Last year, she made it on stage for 1/2 song before leaving the stage in tears (that was 1/2 song more than I thought she would do though!). I did not have high hopes for this year, but she had been saying for weeks how she was ready to sing on stage with her friends. She had been practicing her songs everyday and was doing soooo well with the words. Here is her class on stage:
And here is Brooklyn on Nanny's lap. :-)
She did not even make it on stage this year. About 1/2 hour before the show, Brooklyn declared that she was not getting on the stage. She said that she remembered how she cried last year and did not want that to happen again this year. I didn't push it. I asked her if she still wanted to dress up and go. She said yes, she wanted to see her friends (and get the goodie bag- she's no dummy). We went and sat in the front row, and Brooklyn took pics of her friends with my mom's digital camera. :-) She was so happy- you would have thought she actually performed. Ha! Chad was so disappointed. He just doesn't understand how, with us as a mom and dad, she can be so shy. I just say give her time. I mean, with a "show choir mom" and a "lead singer dad," she'll come around.
Or, we'll just hope Jake is a bit braver. :-)
We are working on reminding her everyday that starting your sentences with "please" and ending your request with "thank you" is the way to go. We are encouraging "yes, ma'am" and "no, sir." We are sending her to time out when she sticks her tongue out at us or yells at us. 5 weeks ago I would have burst into tears when punishing her just thinking that "she's adjusting to her new life...cut her some slack." Now, I am trying to work with Chad on a united front knowing that we have to nip this attitude in the bud NOW before she grows up into a spoiled brat.
Brooklyn is doing sooooo well at school. She has been ready for Kindergarten since she was three, so I have never been worried there. She knows all her letters- upper and lower- how they sound and how to write them. She counted to thirty this week. She knows the days of the week and the months of the year. She spells September and October....I forgot to ask her about November. :-) She can write her full name and the first name of all her friends in her class, knowing how to spell most of them herself. She learned her phone number this month, too.
She loves watching "18 Kids and Counting" and anything on Nick Jr. She is growing her hair out and it's beautiful. I will NEVER forget that it took her 2.5 years to even get hair. She has amazing blue eyes and still has the chubby cheeks that we noticed on her prenatal ultrasound 5 years ago. She is so excited about Christmas...especially the candy she gets from her countdown Advent calendar. She is still shy with adults and does not like to have her picture taken by anyone other than me. Though quite outgoing at home, in public she stays pretty close to us and doesn't bring attention to herself.Since catching a smile on a camera these days is still a bit challenging, I thought a video would do the job. Here is Jake and his first "trick," SMILING.
