Why Should Santa get all the Credit?

Our Christmas started out pretty similar to our Thanksgiving...except this time I was the one getting sick instead of Josh. But when you have a two year old (VERY soon to be three year old), that doesn't matter. You get up and you go watch her open her presents. She opened each present very slowly and carefully. And she wanted to play with each and every present for a few minutes before she moved on to the next one.

Santa dropped by and ate his cookies and milk

Emma ran up to the tree that morning in anticipation of which one she should pick to open first.

She asked for a bicycle and Barbie doll for Christmas this year. When she opened this up she was over the top excited. We asked her if this was the kind of bicycle that she had in mind and she responded with a quick YES. If only we had known that this was all she needed! Ha

This was about the point where she noticed that Santa did not eat all of the cookies that we left out for him. She thought that was great because it meant she could finish them off!

She really has loved playing with this Apple game. She calls it her Apple computer. It teaches letters, spelling, animals, time, music, etc. This is one of her favorites this year.

And then she decided she might as well finish the last cookie...I mean, why not? It's Christmas!

Another big hit of the day was this flute that you can play with in the tub.

We got her this princess outfit that had a skirt, crown, wand, earrings, bracelet, necklace, purse and shoes. She wore it all day and kept checking to make sure her earrings were still on.

And then the big present! A pink bicycle!

Of course she was ecstatic about it. We had meant for it to be from Santa but when she asked us point blank if Mommy and Daddy bought it for her, we simply said YES. Why should Santa get all the credit?! She said, "Mommy-Daddy, thank you. I love it." Awwww

She wanted to put her helmet on and ride away. Unfortunately, it was raining all day but she had fun getting used to the balancing and pedaling around the house.

After this point, she didn't want to open any more presents! It was all we could do to get her to open the bike. I know my parents never had trouble getting me to open my presents! The next afternoon she opened that last few lingering presents. It was like Christmas all over again. She's very clever to spread it all out.

Christmas Eve

Emma was excited to go to church on Christmas Eve. She had a new dress that her Mimi made and she was feeling pumped to celebrate Jesus' birthday!

She looks ready to go to me!

I love this little girl!

Cookies and milk for Santa.

Tree Trimming

This post is very late considering that we decorated our tree the week after Thanksgiving, but better late than never!

Emma was really excited to have a Christmas tree this year. Every time she would see one around town she would ask me where ours was. So right after Thanksgiving, we went to pick one up.

Here she is putting on some ornaments. This area of the tree was VERY heavily decorated! By the end of it, she had two or three ornaments on each limb.

And last but never least, Josh and Emma put the Angel on the top of the tree. She loved being lifted up to put this finishing touch on "her" tree.

I love watching her at this age and seeing how much she has put together since last year at this time. She understands that Christmas is Jesus' birthday and that Mary and Joseph are his Earthly parents. She can name all the people in the nativity scene. I think it's great that she can differentiate Joseph from the three wise men.

Merry Christmas!

Cookies and a Show

Emma's class put on a Christmas Program and it was THE cutest thing! She did so well - couldn't be more proud.

This was Emma peaking around to try to find me and Josh.

Saying the Pledge of Allegiance to the US Flag and the Christian Flag.

Singing Jingle Bells

One of the songs they performed was Twelve Days of Christmas. When they got around to, "On the tenth day of Christmas my true love gave to me...TEN LORDS A LEAPING," Emma held her picture up high just as she was supposed to. How those teachers taught a group of two years olds that whole song AND to hold up their card every time their part came around is beyond me!

Singing Away in a Manger.

After the show was over we all had cookies and the kids showed us their mats that they made.

She loves her friend Morgan.

Christmas Brunch

December is a month to spend time with family, get together with friends, eat too much and celebrate Christmas. Unfortunately, December is also a month that is jam packed full of work. Lately I have spent a lot of time working late and rushing home to make sure that I am able to spend some time with Emma and put her to bed. I've also had to travel some with work the past couple of months and it is starting to make me tired! These are a couple of the reasons why I am behind in my blogging in case you were wondering.

Thankfully, I was able to attend our annual Girls' Christmas Brunch last weekend. It was great to catch up with everybody. I was able to bring Emma along with me which made it even better!

Rachel, Emily & Leah

Jaime, Rachel, Emily, Me & Emma

Emma enjoying french toast casserole, cinnamon buns, sausage balls and fruit. It was all so good!

During the party I asked Emma if she was having fun with my friends. Her response: Umm, Mommy they my friends. How can I argue with that logic?

Congratulations to Rhonda on her new baby boy. We missed you and ML at the brunch!

Blink of an Eye

Emily made a dress for Emma and gave it to her on her first birthday. It was a touch too big at the time but we put it on her to model it for us.

Here is a picture from that day

And here she is in the same dress as of yesterday...two years later. She grew up in the blink of an eye!!

To Thanksgiving We Go

We went to visit Josh's family for Thanksgiving and Emma was very excited to see everybody.

Here is her happy face on the way to see Nana

With her Daddy

Running off some energy after lunch

On Saturday we headed to JD and Honey's house where Emma had fun playing some tunes on the piano.

She also picked oranges, lemons and kumquats!

Then we ate at a local pizza place where they let Emma play with dough. She felt like quite the little chef.

On Sunday morning we headed home - of course it started raining before we left and didn't stop until Tuesday.

All of the above resulted in good times and great memories. What I haven't mentioned yet is all the mayhem that happened in between all of these pictures:
1. Josh left my suitcase at home!
2. Friday morning Josh woke up with a stomach bug which lasted until Sunday.
3. Emma woke up at 11:00 pm on Saturday because she had to potty. She would not go back to sleep. I ended up having to sleep in bed with her and she didn't fall back asleep until after 4:30 am and then woke back up at 7:30 am. I woke up to her finger lightly touching my nose and a soft whisper saying, "Mommy, I want to play."
4. A four trip home ended up taking over six and a half hours because of rain and traffic.

Now we feel like we need a vacation from our Thanksgiving holiday.