Christmas Morning

Each year, Lee and I think that Christmas can't possibly get any better than the previous year, but every year, we are wrong.  We understand that at some point, things will even off and the girls just won't be as excited about everything, but this year was definitely the best Christmas ever in our house.  First, the girls are really into giving presents to each other and to us - they were particularly excited when we opened their gifts, which they each purchased from their respective school Christmas stores.  They also loved their gifts from Santa, but we would bet that the best gifts of all were from Lee and I.  They were just so thrilled, and had the greatest reactions!!

The stockings were bursting at the seams. 

Between Santa and Mom and Dad, there were tons of presents under the tree. 

Although Santa leaves cookie crumbs on the plate every year, this was the first time Rudy noticed and he went crazy trying to get to them. 

Checking out the presents for the first time! 

Opening their joint gifts from Santa - fairies and fairy houses. 

Loving the fairy houses. 

Excited, yet worried, to have two American Girl dolls when Emily has none. 

 A mini Cecile American Girl doll. 

A horse for Felicity and Elizabeth.

So excited to get the Emily American Girl doll (last present under the tree). 

So happy!!! 

Daddy opens his presents from the girls. 

Presents from Mari. 

Emily wanted an elf so badly!! 

Excited to get the Wizard of Oz!! 

Special earrings that we snuck home from Disney.

Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve, as we do every year, we drove to New Hampshire to celebrate with Lee's family.  It is always an evening filled with chaos, tons of good food and piles of gifts.  From the moment we left my brother's house the weekend before, they talked non-stop about going to Aunt Margie's house, anticipating all of the fun and presents, and this year did not disappoint.

Aunt Margie's beautiful tree. 

Opening books from Uncle Chip, Aunt Chris and Jessa. 

The Lion King - Aunt Sylvia and Karen hit the bulls-eye with this one, you can tell! 

Uncle David and Aunt Melissa 

Sleepover Palz from Aunt Melissa, Uncle David and Alison - they loved them! 

Beautifully illustrated books from Aunt Margie. 

A Bitty Baby changing table for Emily from Aunt Denise. 

Elizabeth wanted to start reading the Kanani book that Aunt Denise got her right away. 

Elizabeth (Cole) lounging in her new Hawaiian furniture from Aunt Denise. 

Family photos. 

Excited little girls.

Christmas Visit with Memere

Before joining the rest of the family at Aunt Margie's house on Christmas Eve, we paid a visit to Memere.  She was really thrilled to see us and enjoyed our present.  Because Memere is not as verbal as she used to be, the girls brought their autograph books from Disney to show her, and pretty much carried the conversation without any trouble.  They really enjoyed seeing her and, as always, Lee and I were grateful for the chance to spend some time with the 84 year old family matriarch.

Emily explains some of the princesses to Memere. 

Giving Memere her Christmas present, which she was clutching with both hands when we left. 

Memere had all sorts of hats and crowns in her room, from various parties that she attended.  The girls loved trying them on. 

Memere with Lee (grandson) and Elizabeth and Emily (who are just two of her nine great-grandchildren!).

Girl Scout Cookies!

As some of you know, Elizabeth is in her first year of Brownies, which also makes this our first year selling Girl Scout Cookies.  Cookie sales kicked off yesterday and she has already made some sales (much to my surprise).  Boxes are $4 each and all money must be collected by the last week of January.  Please let me know if you are interested in purchasing Girl Scout Cookies from Elizabeth!  And yes, Auntie Kathy, that means you!!

Out With the Old, in with the New

I realize that I have yet to write about any of our Christmas festivities, yet here I am, doing a post about 2012.  It just happens to be easier to do this one before struggling to go through all of our Christmas photos and videos.  Below are some photos of how we spent New Year's Eve and New Year's Day.

Aunt Denise visited for New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, as she does every year.  This year, in addition to dinner, she brought these yummy cupcakes from Frederick's, a bakery in Bedford, New Hampshire.  All of the cupcakes were wonderful and beautifully decorated, but I particularly loved how cute these were - special for New Year's Eve!

As many of you know, New Year's Day has to be one of Lee's favorite days of the year because he gets to take down all of the Christmas decorations.  It's not that he is a scrooge - but he just really looks forward to getting the house back to normal.  The man was actually smiling while he took down the outside lights!

Each year, I keep all of the photo cards that we receive and put them in a box - pretty much the only part of un-decorating that I like is going through years of photos, looking at how much our friends' children have grown. 

Take down the tree - or, rather, cutting it down because it's too big to fit through the door. 

The weather was so beautiful on New Year's Day that the girls spent several hours outside, building fairy houses. 

Showing off their hard work. 

I must say, their construction is getting quite good! 

Elizabeth spent part of the afternoon reading - she is definitely starting to experience how difficult it can be to put down an interesting book and finished this entire book in one afternoon. 

Bloco - our house is covered with it.  It was a gift to Emily from Auntie Sandra and Uncle Mike and the girls have had a great time building all sorts of animals, although Lee did help them make the shark. 

Emily, playing with all of her Bloco animals.

Happy New Year!!

December Odds and Ends

Because December was such a busy blogging month, I feel like there were so many things that got short shrift.  Here are a couple of odds and ends from last month that got lost in the shuffle:

Elizabeth joined Brownies this year and was delighted to finally get her vest a few weeks ago.  She was very concerned that I wouldn't be able to sew on the patches, but much to her approval/surprise, I handled it. After all, I'm not that undomestic!! 

Emily, on the morning of her school holiday concert.  She looked so adorable! 

Emily on the last day of school before Christmas - if you look closely, you can see that she is wearing a reindeer headband (courtesy of Aunt Margie).

Elizabeth, showing off a beautiful ornament made by her pen pal, Gabby.  Gabby, who lives in Maryland, happens to be the daughter of one of my high school friends.  Through the power of Facebook we reconnected and, despite not having seen each in 18 years, she and her family stopped at our house over teh summer when they were traveling to New Hampshire.  Elizabeth and Gabby really connected and now write to each other pretty consistently.  It's pretty neat.

Emily's letter to Santa. 

Showing off some of their Christmas gifts, including cool boots from Auntie Kathy and Uncle Peter. 

Snuggled up, watching a movie. 

Elizabeth loves her new boots - showing them off as we headed out to church.

2011: Year in Review

2011 was another milestone year for our family!  The girls enjoyed all sorts of milestones (reading, lost teeth, swimming, new schools, etc.!), Lee enjoyed great success in powerlifting - including national rankings - and I ran my first marathon.  We had wonderful family times together, from watching movies to our first trip to Disney.  As Emily said so well: "Our family is RICH!  Rich with trips, experiences, hikes and fun!"  Our 2012 calendar is already filling up with interesting events and we hope that it is as fun and exciting as 2011.  Happy New Year!!