POTD Challenge 12/20-12/26/2009

Elodie in her Christmas Dress...


All the fun Christmas cards we got this year...


Addysen stealing candy from our Gingerbread House...


Christmas Eve after Santa's work was done....


Christmas Day....


Christopher teaching Elodie how to ride her scooter...


Little Miss Addysen snuggling with her daddy...

Siblings

Christmas Morning Highlights...

The girls anxiously waiting to run into the living room. We made them wait on our bed while Christopher set up the tripod, got the video camera ready, and turned on some christmas music.


Taking it all in...


The girls stockings filled to the brim...I love these stockings. We all have the same ones with our names monogrammed on them. Including Ginger. I bought 5 of them the year we got married. Chris said it's a sign that we aren't meant to have anymore kids! I told him he was crazy and could buy all new stockings when we have another baby!



I loved watching Elodie's face with every present she opened! She got everything she wanted plus more! The big hit was the Barbie Scooter!


Christopher acting "surprised" by all his gifts. He made a wish list on Amazon and I just went from there. Stress free shopping! His big gifts included new shoes, a Garmin watch for running, and a new waffle maker (which was a huge surprise!)


Addysen didn't know what to make of everything but she loved her new Tea Set from Sister. We figure this will be the last year we could get away with not buying much for her. Next year I know she will have her own list! Depsite the fact that she had no clue what was going on, we felt guilty that she didn't have as many presents under the tree as Elodie. So, we wrapped a bunch of Elodie's movies in Elmo paper for Addysen!


Me in all my morning glory with my favorite Christmas gift. I cheated and put this on an amazon wish list too.


The aftermath...


And finally, Christopher putting together the girls tent. There was no other way to put it together...we had to get in it!


Later in the evening we got together with our friends Mace, Melissa, Shane, and Jaime. This is our 3rd Christmas to get together with these families and we always enjoy each others company! We enjoyed a really nice dinner with all your traditional Christmas day dishes. I made this and this. The mac and cheese was super good but if you decide to make it you need to eat it immediately. I mean like everybody at the table ready to eat THEN the mac and cheese comes out of the oven! From the time I took it out of the oven to the time we ate was almost 2 hours. It was still good, just not as creamy! As for the chocolate sheet cake. It claims to be the best ever and while it was good, I probably won't make it again. It was time consuming and I would have been just as happy with brownies, but with the same chocolate and nuts frosting on top! It was still fun to try something new!
There are 9 kids between the 3 couples so sadly I didn't get a picture. BUMMER!
All in all, it was a fabulous Christmas and we got more than we deserved!! Good memories were made and if we couldn't be with family, I'm glad we got to spend it with good friends, who each year become more like family!!!

Christmas Eve

I really enjoy our quiet, at home, Christmas Eve's. This year I attempted my first ever, made from scratch, Gumbo and it turned out delish! We had taken the girls to see The Princess and the Frog earlier in the week and seeing New Orleans and all the comfort foods of home had me craving Gumbo. For my first time, it turned out really good and hit the spot for what we consider a cold evening in the valley. Sadly, I didn't get a picture.

We put together our Gingerbread house. Which has a ton of pictures that I will blog about on a later date. The picture is pretty self-explanatory. Me and Elodie working hard, Addysen stealing candy!


We let the girls open their Christmas Pj's and had them both in bed by 6:30pm!


And then we got to wrapping!
During...

After...I think we finished up around 1am. 2 movies too! Don't waste your time on "All About Steve" but "500 Days of Summer" was super cute!

W Family

Santa Visit

We can check one more family tradition off our list! We took the girls to visit Santa at Bass Pro Shop again this year. You just can't beat a free picture with Santa!!! Or in my case, about 30 pictures of the girls with Santa!!

Elodie loved sitting on Santa's lap as she now understands the Nice/Naughty list. Addysen on the other hand was predictable. She cried!

On the ride home we asked Elodie what she asked Santa for and she said " A Barbie scooter, a Barbie and the diamond castle barbie, and a sparkly barbie TENT!" If you remember her christmas list to santa that she wrote at school she wrote "a sparkly barbie" We weren't sure what that meant and it didn't make any sense to us! Now we know! She forgot the most important part of that wish!! The word TENT!

We made a quick stop at Target before heading home and found the sparkly barbie tent she wanted. She never mentioned it until she wrote it on her christmas list! We did the old you go that way, I'll go this way with the girls. It's how a lot of our Christmas shopping for the girls went this year! But we got it, and we are happy we can complete her wish list!

2009 Christmas Dresses

The Big Reveal!

Elodie's Class Christmas Party

Elodie had her classroom Christmas party on December 18th. The Friday before the 2 week break. Her entire classroom was so giddy about the party! They got to frost sugar cookies, make reindeer food, and make a bell necklace. Elodie's teacher also read all the responses to the kids Christmas letters to Santa. It was so fun to watch their reactions as their letters were read!

I enjoyed so much being there and being able to help out. All the kids excitment was contagious! Elodie was so happy to give both of her teachers a bucket of popcorn, a christmas card, and a $10 gift card to Bath and Body Works. We also put together little baggies for her classmates. Originally I was going to do popcorn for all the kids but ended up running out so instead I ran to Wal-Mart, bought some Little Debbie Snowmen cupcakes and put those in little baggies along with some christmas m&m's. I think the whole thing cost me $9 total! For 26 kids! Not bad for last minute!

All the kids had a great time and got their sugar high for the day! We are so excited to have Elodie home for 2 weeks!!!

POTD Challenge 12/13-12/19/09

Sunday-
I got Addysen up from her Sunday morning nap and found this. She had somehow gotten her pj bottoms off and put them back on inside out. I was impressed!


Monday-
One of the best things about Elodie learning to read is that she will sit and read to Addysen. If Addysen will sit still long enough! It's a win-win situation. Elodie is practicing her reading and the girls are spending time together! It has nothing to do with the fact that it gives me time to do other things like cook dinner, fold clothes...it's not about me at all! wink! wink!

Tuesday-
All the buckets I got to fill for neighbors, friends, visiting teachers, school teachers....I think I ended up getting 4 more after these. Gotta love the $ Store!!

Wednesday-
Yummy goodness I filled my buckets with. I hadn't added the m&m's yet!

Thursday-
Family Walk-
Left to Right: Elodie, Chris, Addysen, Me, and Ginger is behind my feet.

Friday-
Elodie's classroom christmas party. (More pictures to come) She was listening to her teacher read the letter Santa's Elf "Snowflake" had written to her in response to her christmas letter to Santa. Since Santa is so busy, the elves (aka: the 5th graders) helped out by writing back to all the kids. She was especially giddy when in the letter, Snowflake mentioned how cute her Christmas shirt was!

And the cute family I took pictures for- More of them later too!