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When putting the girls to bed on Christmas Eve, I gave them two rules:

1. They were not allowed to go downstairs until I tell them to. No sneaking down in the middle of the night.
2. They were not allowed to wake anyone (parents, grandparents, their sister) before 7:00AM. If they woke up earlier, I suggested getting their phone or iPad and playing on it until 7:00AM.

Neither Jen or I slept well that night. It seemed like there was a lot of people up throughout the night. At 4:30AM, I heard the door to my office open, which I assumed was a girl (likely Leah) getting a phone or iPad to play on. Crazy early, but kids get excited about Christmas.

At 6:30AM, I went in the girls’ room. Leah was asleep, and Molly was playing on the iPad, so I assumed Molly was the culprit. I asked her when she had gotten up. Her response - one something. Yes, as in 1AM. I didn’t believe her. I asked if she had gone to get the iPad at 4:30AM. She said she had, because she had gotten her phone at 1:30AM and it’s battery was dead at 4:30AM, so she switched to the iPad.

So, Molly got a stern talking to about how that was way to early to wake up. I had trouble coming down too hard on her, both because it was Christmas and because she had technically followed the rules. When I suggested playing games if they woke up early, I was thinking about waking up at 6:00AM, not 1:00AM, but I didn’t say that.

Despite her lack of sleep, Molly was wired and ready to go. Leah, on the other hand, had to be woken at 7:00AM. But she soon was caught up in the excitement as well.

The girls went through their stockings quickly. Then they of course helped others with theirs. The girls are really excited about the socks Santa brought G’Mom.

After stockings, it was time for presents amongst ourselves. We got the girls these fun animal chairs to go with the table in their room.

Molly gave Leah a stuffed elephant that was so soft she had to touch it to her face.

Nice calendar, G’Mom.

Hmmmm… What could this be? We had to explain Operation to Leah, but I think she’ll like it. She did get scared the first time she tried it and touched the wall with the tweezers, but it didn’t scare her off from trying again.

Molly’s very excited about this new GoldieBlox set. What could be more fun than building your own dunk tank?

Leah gave Jen some of the most exciting gifts possible - a tailor's ham and a seam roll. What 5 year old doesn’t want to buy their mom ironing accessories?

That was just the beginning of the fun on Christmas Day. We were soon off to Grams house to keep things rolling.

As usual, our church had lots of of offerings around Christmas. This included a service on Christmas Eve Eve for those who wouldn’t be around Christmas Eve, five services on Christmas Eve, and a Christmas Day service. Two of the services on Christmas Eve were family services, led by and geared towards kids. Both Molly’s choir and Leah’s choir were involved, so the girls and I went to both of them.

Of course, fancy Christmas attire is not required for church but that doesn’t stop our girls. And fancy clothes deserve fancy earrings as well. Molly’s wanted hoop earring for some time, and Aunt EA and Uncle Scott were happy to oblige with a pair. They didn’t expect them to be so big, though. Of course, size matters not. Molly loves them.

Here’s Molly’s choir singing their special song. They also led the congregational singing.

I accompanied Molly’s choir with some fingerpicking.

Leah’s choir doesn’t use folders with music, which leaves their hands available for hand motions.

After church, we headed to Grams’s house for soup and sandwiches. Per tradition, we opened one gift on Christmas Eve.

Grammy gave both girls very nice backpacks.

After we got home, Jen presented the girls with their Christmas jammies. This year, she actually purchased the shirt, then made pants to go with it.

Here they are in their brand new jammies.

Cookies and milk for Santa, carrots for the reindeer.

We always read Twas the Night Before Christmas on Christmas Eve. This year, the girls got G’Mom and Grampa to read to them.

Then is was off to bed for the girls to get a good night’s sleep before the big day. Well, at least one of them got a good night’s sleep. The other... well, more on that in the next post.

Our first Christmas visitors (though not even close to our last) arrived late on the 22nd - G’Mom and Grampa. They got in too late to see the girls, but Molly and Leah were very excited to see them when they woke up on the 23rd.

Molly still had school, so G’Mom and Grampa joined Molly and me on our morning walk. Afterwards, Leah wasted no time getting Grampa to help a bit with her new Legos (though Leah didn’t really need the help).

The rest of the 23rd was spent on prep for the coming days. This included Jen and her parents recovering all our dining room chairs, which she’d been planning to do for some time. Despite that little bit of crazy, it was a calm day - very much needed before the whirlwind of the following week.

Grandaddy turned 95, and a celebration was in order. Since the girls have school (and we don’t like to skip school) and lots of other activities, we decided to just go for the weekend. And since flights to Savannah are both expensive and only at difficult times for those of us traveling with kids, we decided to drive.

So, we got Molly from school and hit the road. We made it as far as Florence, South Carolina before stopping for the night at a hotel. Then we woke up Saturday morning and went straight to the party which started at noon. The party was just for immediate family, but Grandaddy has got a lot of immediate family.

Time to blow out the candles.

Someone thought it would be funny to use trick candles that relit themselves. He persevered and got them out eventually, though.

Grandaddy and Betty have had some rough times this year, but they’re still smiling.

The party was held at the Sail Loft at the Savannah Yacht Club. It’s very nice inside, but outside is even more fun. Water and boats are everywhere. The girls especially liked watching the boat lift put boats in and out of the water.

After the party, we stayed the night at Grandaddy’s house. At 95, he’s still fixing his great grandkids’ toys.

Then we woke up early the next morning to drive all the way back home. Thankfully, traffic wasn’t bad, so we managed to make it in a little over 12 hours. Just in time to put the girls to bed to get some sleep, as they both had to be up for school the next morning.

Our final day in Alabama was not quite as busy as Saturday. We went to church in the morning. In fact, I even got to play guitar and sing there. Uncle J was supposed to lead a children's worship time, but he was sick and lacking much of a voice. So, he brought me along for a little help. He played banjo and harmonica while I played guitar, and we both sang. The kids seemed to enjoy it.

After church, we went out to eat with Great Uncle Ted and Great Aunt Jeannie. Then we headed back to the house to pack up and head to the airport.

As they always do, the girls made sure to study the safety information for our airplane.

Safety comes first, but silly comes second.

On Saturday, we headed to Auburn for the first time in 8 years. Our first stop was the Auburn Wesley Foundation, where Jen and I spent much of our time during college. Here we are with David, the director there that also happened to marry us.

The church next to the Wesley Foundation, Auburn United Methodist Church, is where Jen and I got married. We wanted to show the girls inside, but it was locked up. So, we got a picture on the front steps.

We took advantage of having Rosh Hashanah off of school to head to Alabama. The girls have wanted to go to an Auburn game for a while, and we decided this would be the year. So, we planned to go down to Alabama to see Jen's family, and all of us would go to the game on Saturday.

We flew into Birmingham Thursday night. Friday morning Emmie had school, but the rest of us adventured to AirWalk for some trampoline fun. Leah got the hang of the big jump into the foam pit very quickly.

Everyone got in on the jumping action, even G’Mom.

Molly and Jen did some synchronized jumping.

We headed back to the house for lunch, and the kids got in a little porch play before lunch.

JJ doesn’t need to look at me to throw toys at this photographer. Duck!

Emmie was in for a surprise when she got off the bus to such fanfare.

And we were in for a surprise when Emmie told us she’d lost a tooth at school that day.

We then headed over to visit with Grandma Dot.

Molly had plenty of stories to tell Grandma Dot.

Leah must have told Grandma Dot something shocking to elicit this face. Either that or she’s become a vampire in her old age and is about to take a bite out of Leah.

The girls then put on an impromptu dance show for Grandma Dot.

That evening, we had an Auburn parade. Both Jen and G’Mom had made new Auburn outfits for all four kids. So, they showed them off, accessorizing them with megaphones. JJ might need a lesson in how to use a megaphone.

Here are the Auburn clothes Jen made. She made JJ’s shirt, Emmie’s dress, Molly’s skirt, and Leah’s dress.

G’Mom also made the kids Auburn clothes. She made all 3 girls’ dresses, as well as JJ’s shorts.

Then it was early to bed, as we had to get up early the next day to head to Auburn for the game.

G’Mom and Grampa came into town to celebrate Leah’s birthday. And since Friday was a day off of school, the girls had plenty of time to play with them. First stop - a playground. Grampa couldn’t bear to let Molly be taller than him, so he gave these trees a climb as well.

Later, G’Mom and Grampa got to see Leah do some gymnastics.

Grampa got a sweet hug from Leah during a short activity break back at our house.

They then headed to the school to ride their bikes on the blacktop and play on the playground. Leah likes to keep her helmet on so she can jump back on her bike whenever she likes.

How long do you think G’Mom can stay on this log roll?

Saturday included some games. Leah’s excited for winning this round of Crazy Eights.

Next up was a game of Hedbanz.

Next stop - pottery painting. Molly chose to paint this monster box.

Leah painted this magic wand.

After the girls finished, they waited for Jen to finish painting her plate. Getting the details right takes time.

That was a lot of activities, but it was just the warm-up. We hadn't even started celebrating the birthday yet.

After a few days in Tennessee, it was time to head back to Maryland. As we were packing up to head to the airport, Leah and Emmie decided to have some fun with the makeshift bed Leah and Molly had been sleeping on. It’s a nice cushion for cartwheels.

And for somersaults.

Or to just have fun with your sister/cousin.

After a busy day, it was nice to relax at home for the evening. We had pizza for dinner, but not just any pizza. This was Papa Murphy's pizza, which we bake ourselves and, in the case of the kids, constructed from the supplied kit.

As they have done before, the girls had a disco dance party where they dance in the dark to music and a disco ball. This must be the belty part of the song.

This was our last night there, and the girls wanted G'Mom and Grampa to read to them. The new stegosaurus from the museum helped.