Merry Christmas!!!

For the last two weeks, Delilah has been asking every day how many more times she has to go to sleep until Christmas and/or Jesus' birthday.  This is the first year that she really understood what was going on and it has been SO fun to experience the holiday season with her. 
Last night the girls opened the traditional Christmas Eve present of pajamas from Grammy Di & Papa H.  Delilah is going through a phase where she LOVES to match Ellie Bug, so she was ecstatic to have new, matching pajamas.  Sadly, she got too excited and had a little potty accident so she couldn't sleep in her new pajamas. :(  But Santa called while she was brushing her teeth with Daddy and said that if he had time, he would really try to wash her pajamas while she slept.  I gave Delilah this news when I was tucking her in and she responded with the most precious, breathless, "Really? Oh, Mommy, do you think he'll have time?!?!"  Luckily, he fit it in to his schedule and her clean pajamas were waiting for her this morning.  He left them right where she had left his cookies...she was thrilled.
The rest of the day can best be told in pictures:

Trying to get a shot of the new pj's on Christmas Eve. Not always a Kodak moment around here. :)



Loving the pajamas



Annual opening of the mailbox on Christmas morning.  Lollipop inside!

Reading the letter Santa left.  He liked the cookies and milk and had time to clean her pj's.

Probably my favorite moment of the day.  Delilah looked at all the presents under the tree and asked where Noelle's presents were.  Then she brought this present to Noelle before she ever opened one of her own.  That's love.

Getting the hang of unwrapping.

As always with toddlers, the least expensive present that Santa brought was her favorite.




Kisses for sister

 

Funniest present of the day.  Chris recently gave up chewing tobacco; my brother, Cannon, sent a hammer and a can of Copenhagen, sealed in a box, with a plaque that reads "Break glass in case of emergency".  Too funy.

"This is the best Christmas EVER!"  That's what Delilah kept saying all day.

LOVED the Rapunzel present from Mimi & PopPop

Making Christmas breakfast.  My first attempt at homemade biscuits and sausage gravy...they were good!

New tea set

Delilah has recently become interested in card games.  Here she is concentrating on the new princess version of Go Fish that Santa brought.

First sleepy one.

Second sleepy one.

We missed our friends and family in Texas & Utah, but we made the most of our intimate Christmas at home.  The four of us played all day and as I type this, it's 9pm and I am the only one still awake. :)  Merry Christmas to all of you...hope your day was filled with love and laughter.

Noelle's 1 Year Photo Shoot

We had a photo shoot last month to celebrate Noelle's first birthday. I am SO glad that we invested the money to have regular photo sessions of the girls during their first years. I know it was pricey, and I know a lot of my friends and family have thought I was crazy, but the images we have from all the sessions make me unbelievably happy. I can hardly think of anything that I would have rather spent money on. I mean, seriously...how cute are they?!?! :)

Wordless Wednesdays: 13 Months May be a Little Young for Fingerpainting

NYC Thanksgiving!

Our first NYC Thanksgiving was so wonderfully perfect.  We started off the day right with a trip to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade!!!!!  We loaded Noelle into the hiking backpack, took a cab down to 65th St. and walked across Central Park to the west side where the parade route runs.  If you want to see everything at Herald Square, where the parade ends, you have to get up super early and stake out your spot.  That didn't sound like a good idea at all with a 3 year old and a 1 year old, so we stayed at the north end and just watched the parade from the park.  It was perfect!  We could see everything and the crowds weren't bad at all.   Chris & I were definitely more excited than the girls at the beginning, but as soon as Delilah saw her first enormous balloon, she was hooked.  She sat on Daddy's shoulders and would scream out whatever balloon was coming next....Spiderman and Hello, Kitty were her absolute favorites.   We met up with some friends, hung out a bit, then headed home.  The girls were EXHAUSTED.  Delilah rarely takes a nap these days, but she was asleep by 11:30am that day. :)
After the parade, our dear friends Summer and Adam came for Thanksgiving Dinner.  I cooked the meal, and Summer was responsible for dessert.  She is an amazing pastry chef and cooked a delicious "grapple" (grape & apple) pie with homemade pie crust.  So fun getting to catch up with them...so glad that if we couldn't be with family, at least we could be with friends who are like family.

Walking through Central Park, kicking leaves

Excited to get to the parade!

Also excited to get to the parade :)

Family shot

Mommy's helper

Snuggling with Miss Summer.  Delilah LOVED her!!!!

Wish we had a pic of Delilah looking at all the balloons, but my camera battery died as we were walking through the park.  I do have one pic on my phone, but I'm waiting for a cable I ordered online to connect my phone to my computer.
It was such a lovely day, and I am so excited about spending more holidays in a city that becomes absolutely magical during this time of year.  We have so much to be thankful for!!