Christmas 2008

We had a great Christmas!! Lauren was so excited for days before hand. She didn't want to go to sleep at night. We started off the Sunday afternoon before Christmas with my Mom's extended family. Then we had Christmas with my Dad and Mary on Tuesday night. Lauren has absolutely loved playing with everything my dad and Mary got her, especially her doll house and Archie puppy. She also loves the puppets that her cousins, Cayden and Cobe, sent her. We then move on to Christmas Eve Morning with Jerry's side of the family. We had a great time seeing Jeremy and Ashleigh again. Lauren decided to take a nap instead of opening most of her presents that morning. She did open her purse from Uncle Jeremy and Aunt Ashleigh and had to take it shopping with her on the 26th. Christmas Eve Night we went to my Aunt Ronna's (my dad's sister) to have Christmas with my Dad's family. Lauren had a blast with her princess couch and Ryan's car. Once we got home and got her castle open, I didn't think we would get her out. She also loves the lucky duck game from Granny and Poppy and the mixer from the Marcantels. The next morning was Santa had come and her reaction was great!! She walked around the corner and looked under the tree and said "OOOOHHH!!!" She found her Little Einsteins Rocket first and loved it. Santa also brought her the little people learning village, bristle blocks, crayons and sticker books, aquadoodle, smartville alphabet train, a cabbage patch and doll bed. Santa was good to her! I think that is why she peeked around the corner the next morning to see if he had come back. That afternoon she finally finished opening presents from my Mom and Jerry. She has played with her kids tupperware so much already. Steve and I are already tired of her cooking and pouring us drinks. Friday night we exchanged presents with my Mom's brother, Paul and his family. Lauren got puzzles and books and money. We had breakfast Saturday morning with my Mom's dad and opened presents again. Lauren got more money. At this point I think the kid has more money in her savings account then we do. :) As you can tell we had a busy holiday season and that is only my family. We still have yet to have Christmas with Steve's family. I had to come back to work to get a break :) It was fun though!!

Christmas Time is Here!!

We have finally finished decorating the house and Lauren is so excited. She has an advent calendar where each day is a miniature book that doubles as an ornament. She loves to put them on the tree and then take them off to "read" them. She helped decorate the tree this year, so many of our ornaments around the bottom are on the same branch. I love watching her every morning when we get up and turn the tree lights on. She is just amazed that they come on by themselves (we have a remote!). She just stares at the lights and says "oooohh!". She is also thrilled with her daddy's stocking (it is a penguin). She thinks it is so funny. We have several ornaments that she loves to look at, but knows not to touch. She goes up the tree, points to the ornament as close as she can without touching it and says "choo choo" (a train) and Mickey (Mickey Mouse ball). She is also recently enamored with my Snowbaby collection, to the point where she hits her head on the glass in the curio cabinet trying to look at them. She is growing so fast and learning so much. It is hard to believe that she is 19 months old already. I can't wait until Christmas morning to see the look on her face when she realizes Santa came to see her. I'll post pictures as soon as I can. Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!