Some Family Shots

The little Bretster is such a smiler for the camera!  In about every picture, he's smiling away like the good-natured guy he is!

All of us

Mom & the kids

Grandma & the kids

Gram, Serena, and Bret

Mom, Bret, and Serena

A Few Snapshots

What better way to entertain a couple toddlers than just throwing them in the bathtub?!  Unfortunately, I could not get Keira to look at my camera AT ALL; but, take my word for it, they were having fun! 

We girls had fun discussing wedding details with Jessie!

Kaden is a whiz at Angry Birds and other electronic games!  He handles Julia's Kindle like a pro!

Julie, Eric, and Amy

Christmas #2

Serena was SO tired!  We had to wake her up from her nap to unwrap presents! 

Jason reading the Christmas story

The kids were really into it  ;)

Jordan giving some doggie-love to Amy  ;)  And Uncle Bruce came to visit!  :D

I snapped this picture just a few minutes before Bret rolled this present over and did a face-plant as he rolled on top of it.  Poor little guy started crying; and when I picked him up, his mouth was bright red...because he had a little ball ornament from the tree in there!!  Silly boy!  Made us all laugh!

The kids passed around the presents

Serena was pretty serious about her job

Grandma gave us a bunch of pictures of Dad when he was little on a DVD!

"Christmas Eve" Dinner at JaJu's

The night before we celebrated Christmas, we had supper over at JaJu's.  The kids had so much fun playing with Kaden & Keira's new Christmas presents (K & K hadn't had much opportunity to play with them much yet, either, since they had just returned from a 10-day visit in Dallas)! 

Jordan brought little Chica along. Kaden & Keira LOVE her.  Pretty sure JaJu need to get a puppy next!  ;)

Serena making coffee

The little pink kitchen got lots of play time by Serena & Keira!  Amazing how the girls are the same size, though 9 months apart!

Bret enjoyed the bounty of food while the girls 'cooked'

Julie working with the kids on putting together some of Kaden's new puzzle

Playing catch with the kids

Poor sick baby!

Serena & Kaden playing catch with the other side of the room  :)

Prep for Christmas #2

Because of work schedules and "other" side-of-the-family schedules, we weren't able to have our "Rabe Christmas" until last weekend.  I was so excited because Julie flew up on Monday, then drove down to spend some time with us here Tuesday afternoon, and then brought the kids & I back up to Mom's for the rest of the week!  It was awesome to spend all that extra time with Julie and Mom!  We made so many good memories!  I loved it!

Made cake pops with Mom's new cute lil' "Babycakes" maker!  Fun times!

Serena pinned Mom down for a morning of reading books

Poor Bretster was really sick the whole week.  He didn't sleep well, so naps were very short and nights were wakeful.  At the same time, he was so lethargic and cuddly.  We took him shopping with us on Friday, and he fell asleep in Keira's carseat on the short drive to the mall.  He stayed asleep while I transferred him to the umbrella stroller.  Later, we girls took turns holding him until he finally fell asleep again in Jessica's arms.  Again, managed to transfer the poor little bug to the carseat without waking him.  Although we all felt so badly for him (since he obviously felt miserable), we all enjoyed the sweet cuddles!

A Few More

Serena really wanted to play Sorry after watching Mommy and Auntie-Anna.  This kept her occupied for quite a while! 

I just love watching him play in his birthday suit, heehee!  ;)

Serena carefully measuring and pouring

Bret with Nana (his great-great-grandma)

Nana with a bunch of her great-grandkids

Serena didn't really want to take a picture with Nana, but she did really want to give Nana some coffee.  Nana has not forgotten the art of sharing a tiny cup of pretend coffee with a toddler!  ;)

Mmmm....chili!  This was while Mommy & Daddy were in Jesup for the evening again.  Serena stayed with Grandma & Grandpa and did a really good job of going to bed for them this time!  She & Grandma played with the dollhouse under the stairs for quite a while.  Serena was pretending that one of the little dolls was Caroline and had to run out to the kitchen to get a bib.  Of course, the bib covered up the whole doll, but Serena didn't seem to notice.  She was having so much fun!  Another funny moment was when Serena put the cat in the microwave, looked at Grandma, and said, "Cooking."  ???  I have no idea where she came up with that!  Although Jordan was 'proud' when he heard the anecdote, I promise putting cats in microwaves to cook is NOT something we do around here!  ;)

Kitchen help

Christmas Play

Serena's sock monkey 

A little coffee for the sock monkey

And how about some food?

Gabe sound asleep!  Such sweet cheeks!

First time playing with play-dough 

The girls had so much fun cooking together!

Serena loves to 'help' in the kitchen

It had been a long time since I played with play-dough too!

It was fun!