Dear Santa,

Lilia's 1st letter to Santa~

Dear Santa,
We want toys! We love you so much. We love to eat chicken and we love to eat mashed potatoes. We want for Christmas is a doll house. Max wants candy, and I want candy in my stocking and Pocahontas and Jasmine. Daddy wants a 'tar (guitar). Max wants is a puppy, not a real puppy who not talks. And I want a dolly. Two dollies and dolly clothes. Grammy wants a Christmas is a hide. (she said it means- lions don't eat it.) Pop wants a little cat, not a real cat who doesn't scratch who doesn't do nothing ever. Max wants Little People and that's all. I love you so much.

Love, Lilia

-and we love to put the angel on the top.



(this is in her exact words)

Christmas in a flash

My camera had over 500 photos from Christmas vacation. So I decided to show 1% of that. Here it is....
We went to Enoch, Utah and spent lots of time with family. We all got sick but then we all got better and had fun! Lily became a puzzle master!

We had lots of family time and loved it! David's big gift was a Sony Walkman. My big gifts from him were a watch and a hand-held sewing machine.

Max loved his 1st Christmas! He only ripped paper on one gift but he drooled on the presents a lot! He pushed things all over the house to practice walking and he had 2 ear infections right in a row, poor baby. He and I spent an evening in the ER-his ears, I had strep.
Santa was good to the kids. Lily's big gifts were Sleeping Beauty, a duck game, and a princess cd player. Max got lots of fun toys but mostly just wanted to eat the wrapping paper and boxes.
NJ got pummeled with snow while we were gone. this was taken a few days before we left for Utah. Lily wanted to help. We had warm days in the 50s and played outside without coats while out there and then we had days of 2 degree weather with lots of snow and sledding.

It was a wonderful holiday visiting with lots of family! We met the two newest Brough babies and spent a few days up in Salt Lake visiting my family. And to end it all our flight home was canceled due to weather and we couldn't leave for another 3 days. thankfully we found out before we left for the airport and had lovely family to stay with. If we saw you on our travels it was wonderful! If we missed you, we're sorry, we still love you!

getting ready for christmas

Life has been crazy around here. a few things lately,

I pulled out the swing again to see if Max would be amused.

Yup! He thinks its great fun!

We tried to take a few christmas photos. it didn't go so well. And would you believe me when I say Lily was harder to control than Max?


This is Lily trying to pull Max back to her with her feet while he crawled towards the camera

She refused to smile on command so this is as good as it got...they were both looking and he's happy!

So he got a great solo photo shoot with the antlers!Lily loves to help in the kitchen. This is after licking the brownie bowl.
Cute story, while stirring the brownie batter I called to her "Lily, don't get brownie on your shirt." "ok mom." she replied. She then turns to my mom, "Mommy tell me no get brownie on my shirt." So my mom offered her an apron. she replied. "no I got my shirt."

Helping Grammy decorate the shelf! she felt so big, she's not allowed to touch the shelf normally.Proof our little one is trying to ascend the stairs.

He also loves the VCR! he's a stinker!

Santa Baby

We had a fantastic Christmas! We spent it here in New Jersey with my parents and Lilia really got into it all. She had too many presents to open all at once. She ran away at one point and returned later to finish. Thanks to everyone who helped make it special! Also in this post are pics of our Candy houses and some more snow shots.

Santa was very good to her!

emptying her stocking. Her favorite was the orange. I have video I will add later of her dancing with it to "Feliz Navidad"

She can sit on the elephant, how cool is that!
(Behind her is baby boy's big present, a Sit n' Stand Plus stroller!)

Christmas Morning in our matching jammies. I made our pajama pants :)
(But my bum is bigger than expected, I split my pants after opening presents.)

Lilia is such a girl, she squealed while opening her pj's on Christmas Eve. Then held them up saying "pretty!"

Riding on her new fairy ride on from Grammy and Pop

She got so overwhelmed by presents that she finally took a few toys to her bedroom and shut the door. She returned about 20 mins later ready to continue.

My cookie house.

Check out Lily's name on the back. We gave it away that night to her nursery leader.

David's house of awesomeness!

I was hoping Lily could actually help. But she kept stealing the candy off the house.

my dwarf snowman

she wouldn't ride. only pull

her first snowball fight was a little one sided

I made our Christmas stockings!

I tend to be quite ambitious when it comes to sewing. Surprisingly, I've been mostly successful. I was given a variety of christmas fabric this summer. I decided to take on another project. It has been the last item on my to do list before Christmas. But I promised myself if I didn't complete it there was always next Christmas and I was not allowed to be angry with myself. Gimme a few snow days and voila! Each is different and backed with a different fabric. I'm not usually a patchwork kinda girl, but I'm really pleased with them. From left to right is David's, mine, Lilia's and baby boy. The boys have a red sparkly pom-pom and the girls have green. The top is a soft shaggy fleece that is quite forgiving, which is a bonus when you sew. They're all lined with a solid white muslin. My next step is to embroider our names or initial on the top, but probably after Christmas. And bonus I cut enough random squares and have enough fabric and pom-poms for our future children (however few or many that may be). Let me know what you think!

Merry Christmas!

SNOW DAY and travel tips

We'll be having a white christmas here in South Jersey! Lilia loves the snow, which kinda surprised me. She doesn't like the cold or the wind. We got hit pretty hard, so hard David has no school tomorrow! Here are the photos of our adventures in the snow.hehe, its snowing :)

helping clean up the snow

adding more snow to that tree

The wall of snow is up to her shoulders.

Look its snowing!

I want to taste it.

Two snow bunnies!

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LILIA'S TRAVEL TIPS FOR THIS HOLIDAY SEASONBe sure to accessorize during your holiday parties.All christmas travelers must have their luggage, their handbag and their hat. Yes her gettysburg hat is on backwards :)

When you get tired while traveling make sure your luggage is large enough for you to rest on top of it.

Have a very Merry Christmas! If you are traveling, be safe. and if you're staying at home, be warm. May you feel the love of Jesus Christ in your lives at this special time.

Christmas Carol Tribute to the Broughs

The Brough family has taught me many things. One of them is a Christmas carol parody. We are expecting snow this evening and this song must now be sung. I dedicate this to Larry, Joy, Brad, David, Jennifer, and Kathryn.

(to be sung to the tune of "Let it Snow!")

Oh, the weather outside is frightful,
and my dog is getting spiteful,
so I open the door to let him go
YELLOW SNOW, YELLOW SNOW, YELLOW SNOW!