Thursday, December 30, 2010

Christmas 2010 Part II

Christmas this year was one of my most favorite in memory. Everything about it was perfect. Our children are at such a sweet and fun age...they made it so magical and full of joy. My parents were here and it was a relaxing, peaceful weekend. We even had a white Christmas this year. It was beautiful and now the expectation will be for snow every Christmas in the future :)

We took some pictures after Christmas Eve Mass. For some interesting reason, my children like to use the tripod and timer and will look intently in the direction of the camera, and even possibly smile. This makes me smile.



Love these babies!
After church, pictures and yummy food, we opened all our family gifts.
Emma's look of wonder!
and seriousness...
big excitement over the firetruck from Mommy & Daddy
Emma and her purse
Emma oohs and aahs over a photo of her and her brother
my helpers
This face is priceless
They both love this one...
I love it when my husbands "listens" to my subtle hints. I gave this one earlier this year. You buy ceramic "charms" to velcro at the top. He got me a snowman for the winter.
Connell checking out Daddy's new Milwaukee Tool!
teamwork
Emma loves her Little People house from Mommy & Daddy
Emma's gift to Connell
Grandpa scored points with a vera bradley "hipster" for Grandma :)
Daddy wanted camo pants just like Connell's
walking the alligator from Uncle Chris, Aunt LisaMarie and Cousin Chandler
Emma will be so excited when Mommy starts sewing her pretty dresses. And thanks Mom (in advance) for all the lessons you will be giving me!
Grandma & Grandpa thought Emma needed her own set of wheels!
Connell's gift to Emma

The only dog that we'll be getting for a looooong time. Grandma & Grandpa got this adorable sleeping bag for Connell. He has slept in it (on his bed) every night since then.
Emma had to check it out.
He listened again! Yay! My jewelry tree.
Ready for jammies and bed

Connell's favorite pastime with Grandma. Suck and twirl. Bless his heart. He will have to outgrow it sooner, or later. ;)
Connell selected the cookies for Santa. He gave Santa cookie monster from a birthday party favor he got.
Nite-nite time in the doggy bag!
Santa came...
...and this was the scene out of our front door at around midnight. Beautiful!
oh how excited Connell will be to find this in the morning!
Connell also left some snacks for the reindeer. They left crumbs outside our front door. Connell was amazed!
Santa brought Connell the guitar he so badly wanted.
Choo Choo!
Santa thought Emma would enjoy a little slide...
I know this is off-subject, but a friend shared her recipe for homemade cinnamon rolls. I made them with a quiche for brunch Christmas morning. Best. Brunch. Ever. A new tradition!
back to topic, she LOVES the slide!
This was taken the morning after Christmas. It snowed throughout Christmas day. We were home all day in the warm house in our jammies. We had a delicious dinner: shrimp scampi, filet steaks with gorgonzola butter, green beans with brown sugar and bacon, and tater tot casserole (kids love it). And LOTS of cookies!
As I said at the beginning of the post, a perfect Christmas! This year we are so mindful of all of our incredible blessings...our children, our families, Tim's job, our friends, our health... We are so thankful that our Savior was born and gave His life for us so that we are able to live
this amazing life!

Friday, December 24, 2010

So long, Elfie!

This was Elfie's last week at our house, until next year of course. Here are some "elfie" moments! The kids had a few good giggles this week.

on top of Connell's dresser


On Emma's shelf wearing a hairbow
Elfie's last night is tonight. He is on top of our nativity set with a Happy Birthday Jesus sign in his hand.
See you next year, Elfie!

Thursday, December 23, 2010

Almost Christmas!

This week has been a crazy whirlwind of fun events, parties, and last minute errands. No matter how I try to have it all done, it always seems that something has been forgotten or fallen off my radar. Well, what's done is done and what isn't, just won't happen! I am ready to RELAX (or try to) and just enjoy my family.
Before I go into relax mode, I thought I would post some pictures from our week.

Monday Connell and I baked cookies while Emma napped.


She wakes, very interested to see what's going on in the kitchen.


Our cute cookie creations! They are yummy!
Monday night, Daddy and Emma went to Taylor, Reagan and Chloe's second grade school program. Connell and I went to a cookie decorating party and then I had BUNCO!!!!


Tuesday night we exchanged gifts with Taylor and Reagan and then went for Mexican.

Silly Reagan
Wednesday night I went to a cookie swap at my friend Marci's house. (picture to be posted later)
Thursday we were invited to Marci's daughter Bree's 5th birthday party. It only took Emma seeing Connell go up the climbing wall one time, and then she was sure she could do it. Not yet, Emma! And NOT in a dress!
The birthday girl!
Playing with the trains....a sign that maybe both kids are really going to love a certain Christmas gift this year! (wink wink)

Beep beep! Double trouble!