I am combining the Christmas celebrations into one post this year. We pretty much had three big ones.....one with my family, one with just the four of us, and one with Eric's family. And I will provide plenty of pictures, naturally.
Kendall has officially outgrown being swaddled for her naps and overnight sleeping. She also rolls out of her sleep positioner, so we took that out of her crib and advised her daycare to do the same. So sleeping free of all restrictions is fairly new to her. But it seems to work just fine and she is back into her normal schedule.
I did a lot of holiday baking this year. I tried two new recipes - a shortbread thumbprint with black raspberry filling and a glaze, and the second recipe was white chocolate macadamia nut bark. Both were fantastic and I received many compliments.
On Christmas Eve, we went over to my parents' house to celebrate. We had some great fingers foods and open gifts.
Don't Break the Ice was one of Carter's favorite gifts, and Dana challenged him to a game. Carter actually won! I have a feeling we will be seeing a lot of this game in the future - certainly brings back memories of my childhood!
Kendall was somewhat active in opening presents. She loved the bows and would occasionally pull on the paper.
My brother brought his girlfriend over. They are moving to Alaska in a matter of weeks, so it was nice to spend time with him.
Dana got Carter an awesome bike helmet. It is quite fitting of Carter's personality, that's for sure, especially since he sported a mohawk for quite a while this summer.
On Christmas morning, Carter came running into our room, showing us the sword that Santa brought him. He also received a VTech learning game system from Santa. He and Eric spent quite a bit of time playing around with the different games (there were 8 total).
Santa brought Kendall a stand-up music table. Carter had one of these when he was a baby and absolutely loved it. So we figured we (I mean Santa) would get her one too in the hopes that she would get as much enjoyment as her brother did.
Peek-a-boo!
Chewing on her phone.
One of the gifts that Carter received this year was skiing lessons up at Bogus. We needed to make sure he had all the proper gear to go along with the lessons, so we got him some snazzy goggles and a ski helmet. He also got new gloves.
Kendall received lots of little toys to develop her manual dexterity. It's so fun to watch her manipulate the toys....though they usually end up in her mouth to be chewed on.
She also got some new books to add to her collection. I need to find her a bookshelf!
Once we were done opening gifts, I sent the kids to their rooms to play with their new toys while Eric and I finished cleaning and prepping for the big celebration later.
After her morning nap, I got Kendall all dolled up in her third Christmas outfit. She was such a cutie!
Once Eric's mom, stepdad, sisters, brother-in-law, and grandma showed up, we began another round of gift opening.
Ashley, David & Kendall
Janelle and Kendall
Ashley and Kendall
Mr. Handsome and me
After we were done opening gifts, we got ready for the big dinner party. I was hosting 17 people this year! Much bigger than what I'm used to, and I somehow managed to keep my stress level under control.
Eric, his Grandma Dort, and Bill discussing how to make the prime rib.
Game time!
Grammy Michelle and her grandbabies.
2 comments:
Wow! What a fun weekend! A lot of gifts too! :)
It was a lot of fun!!
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