Christmas 2010 - Part Two

We had a great trip to Michigan for Christmas. Elizabeth enjoyed spending time with Lauren's family (especially Grammy) and was the lucky recipient of a second visit from Santa. She was a bit under the weather for some of our trip, especially on Christmas morning, so I'm a little short on pictures from this trip.

One of the highlights of the trip was Elizabeth's first time sledding. You would not believe the amount of paraphanalia that was purchased in anticipation of this first sledding adventure, which lasted all of about ten minutes. Elizabeth did not enjoy the snow facial she experienced after toppling over the side of the sled, and that was the end of sledding for 2010.

We would never have guessed that while we were in Michigan, Atlanta would have its first white Christmas since the 1880's, but that's exactly what happened. We were worried about our flight home being canceled because of snow in Atlanta, not Michigan - that's a change of pace!

Reunited with Grammy:


Sledding behind the house:





Is this supposed to be fun?


There was a new stocking at Grammy and Grandpa's house this year:




The stockings were hung by the chimney with care....


Playing Christmas carols with Grammy:

Christmas 2010 - Part One

Since we will be traveling to Michigan for Christmas this year, we had our own family "Christmas" at home this morning. Actually, the festivities began on Saturday night, when John and I made a delicious "Christmas Eve" dinner. The dinner was facilitated by my new Kitchen Aid stand mixer, an early Christmas gift from my parents. Let's just say that mashing potatoes is a lot easier when you have a stand mixer to do it for you.

This morning, Elizabeth came downstairs to see that Santa had brought her a tea set to go with a table and chairs set from Mom and Dad. She also opened gifts from other family members. There was no shortage of gifts for this little girl! She might not have understood why she was opening presents, but she definitely enjoyed playing with all of her new toys. We explained to her that because she was so good this year, Santa is going to visit her twice. She will be a gift-opening pro on Christmas morning in Michigan!

Dressed up for the holiday festival at school:


"Hiding" under the stockings:


Is this for me?


It's just my size!


Serving tea:


Check out my monkey slippers:


Are there more gifts in here?


What? I get more gifts next weekend? I don't know if I can take it!

You're Speaking My Language

If you haven't seen iPad app with Talking Tom the cat, it's pretty funny. Talking Tom's main trick is that he repeats what you say. Elizabeth cracked us up today with her "conversation" with Talking Tom.

Pizza Fanatic

We discovered this weekend that Elizabeth is a big fan of pizza. On Friday night, Elizabeth and I met John for dinner at our favorite neighborhood pizza place. She wolfed down several slices of her kid-sized pizza and finished off her dinner with a bowl of vanilla ice cream. On Saturday, we went to our friend Viv's third birthday party, where Elizabeth enjoyed yet another meal of pizza but this time followed by birthday cake. I don't know why I thought she was too young for pizza, but now we know better and will work it into the dinnertime rotation.

Elizabeth thoroughly enjoyed playing with her friends' toys at the birthday party, and even added a few items to her Christmas list as a result. She was particularly enthralled with a toy cookie jar and tea set. We will have to talk to Santa about that.

I don't have many pictures of the pizza-eating, but here are a few others from our weekend.

Lawn-mowing:


Playing outside:


Playing inside:


Lunch with the birthday girl:


Other people's toys are so much fun:


What should I play with next?


I've got my noisemaker ready!

'Tis the Season

I'm a pretty big fan of all things Christmas, and it's so much fun to begin to share those things with Elizabeth. This week, we went to the Vinings Christmas tree lighting festival, bought our tree, and decorated the house. Elizabeth loved the Christmas tree a little too much so we had to move it to the other side of the baby gate. She's still a little young for it all this year, but we are excited to start our own Christmas family traditions.

Here are a few photos from the Christmas tree lighting:

Where are you guys taking me? It's past my bedtime.

This is actually pretty cool!

Lighting the tree:

Enough with the carols! I want to go to bed!

Here is a cute video of Elizabeth and her butterfly rocker (a gift from the Comeauxs):