Ho Ho Ho, Merry Christmas!

Hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas!  We had an fabulous Christmas spending lots of time with family with some relaxation as well.  On Christmas Eve, we headed over to Nana and Pop's house for our traditional Crab Mornay, yummy sides, and Red Velvet Cake. All 4 grandchildren had colds but they were still full of energy and very excited to open their presents.  Madelyn loved wearing the Santa hat and Ellie was very good at handing out presents.  The kids also loved singing Happy Birthday to Jesus before opening gifts.  Fun was had by everyone and we had two very exchausted little girls at the end of the night.  However, they were not too tired to leave cookies for Santa, place the reindeer food outside and read my favorite book "Twas The Night Before Christmas". 

On Christmas morning, Madelyn came out of her room all ready to go downstairs wearing a Santa hat.  She couldn't wait to see what Santa had left for them.  Ellie was a little clueless but got really into opening her gifts once she got started.  Ellie got lots of baby doll stuff and a doll house and Madelyn got lots of Barbie and kitchen accessories.  Christmas morning was very relaxing and we had Nana and Pop over for breakfast and the kids had fun showing them their new toys.  The favorite toy was our new FurReal dog named Cookie.   Hopefully Fenway isn't too jealous.    On Christmas night, we went over to Meme's house for more food and presents.  It has taken a couple of days for our kids to recover from all the festivities (two very late nights) but they are almost back on track and have enjoyed being home playing with their new toys.  Bill is on vacation all week so it's been so nice spending time as a family!
 

Our Family - Christmas 2011

Ellie loves her Great-Grandmother Meme!

Ellie, Madelyn and Cora excited about being at Nana and Pop's house.  Joshua was a little late because he played Baby Jesus in a church service!

Our sweet Madelyn during Christmas Eve dinner!

Nana leaves little gifts at each plate during dinner.  Bill and I got a UR Christmas Ornament.  As you can see, Bill was very excited!

Ellie the elf, Santa Madelyn, and Reindeer Cora all ready to hand out gifts!

Ellie opening her first gift from Nana and Pop!

Pop reading Ellie her new book!

Nana and Pop give each granddaughter an inch of pearls every Christmas.  Now that Madelyn is older, she was very excited about her pearls and wanted to wear them.  They looked so pretty!

One of Nana's gifts from Madelyn and Ellie

The girls all loved their new blankets too.  I would have never guessed a throw would be such a hit!

Cuddling with Daddy

Madelyn's new ballerina doll!

I just love my little nephew, especially in his new "Tough Guy"  hat from Aunt KK and Uncle Bill!

Madelyn and her new Book called "My Tutu's Too Too Big".  It's the perfect book for Madelyn because she's the smallest ballerina in her class.

Our little exhausted reindeer having a quick snack before bed!

Don't forget the Reindeer Food!

Checking out the loot from Santa!

Look Mommy!

Madelyn loves her new Dorothy Doll!

Daddy with his girls!

So excited about Cookie!

A very tired looking Mommy with her girls!

Showing Nana Cookie!

Fenway and his new friend!

Hanging out with Pop at Memes house!

The girls on Christmas Night in front of Meme's tree.  Meme has a about a million singing Santas, Snowmen, etc. so the kids were VERY entertained.  The adults, not so much!

Meme is cleaning out her house so we all got Nutcrackers as one of our gifts!

Ellie and her Nutcracker!

Pajamas, Popcorn and the Polar Express

Since today was rainy and Ellie has a cold, we put on our pajamas right after nap time and watched the Polar Express with popcorn.  It was the perfect thing to do on such a yucky afternoon right before Christmas.  Ellie had never seen the movie and her eyes were glued to the TV the entire time.  I'm not sure if she sat through it because she wasn't feeling well or if she actually liked the movie, but I enjoyed the cuddle time with my two girls!

S'mores and Lights!

It actually felt like Winter this past weekend and the thought actually crossed my mind that I miss the pool and the beach.  However, I do love this time of year but once January hits, I'm counting the days until March 1st.  On Saturday night, we celebrated Christmas early with my Dad's side of the family and it was so nice seeing my cousin and her kids.  The kids had a lot of fun playing with Eli and Luca and the highlight of the night was making s'mores on the Costley's fire pit in the backyard.  The kids loved roasting marshmallows and running around the Commons area.  My parents and my Aunt and Uncle now live 3 doors down from each other which has been a lot of fun and makes getting together very easy. 

On Sunday night, Bill and I thought it would be fun to go to the GardenFest of Lights.  We went out for an early dinner and then headed over to Lewis Ginter.  It was a fun family outing with just the 4 of us but it was definitely cold and a little crowded.  I wish I had better photos from our night but I couldn't get my camera to work well with the lights.  Overall, the kids had a good time running around the Children's Garden through the mazes and little houses.  Since we ate such an early dinner, they were starving when we got home so they had pancakes in their pajamas before bed.  The next morning, they both slept until almost 8:30 which was amazing.  Going to bed with a full belly may be a good plan when we want to sleep in the next morning!

Ellie and Baby Joshua.  Ellie sat so still while holding him and actually sat with him for a while. She loved every minute of it!

Madelyn and Ellie with their cousins (Eli, Madelyn, Ellie, Luca, Cora and Joshua)

Having fun with Uncle Harold!

Heading outside for S'mores!

Silly Luca!

Ellie roasting her marshmallow!

Ellie staying warm with Pop!

Ellie and her buddy, Uncle Sam.  She told us the other day that Sam is her Best Friend!

What a fun night!

Daddy and his girls!

Love my girls!

Ellie running around the maze!

Bill annoyed because I made them stop during the maze to take a picture!

Madelyn enjoying a cookie in one of the little houses!

Holiday Fun with Nana

Nana loves to have all her grand kids over during the holiday season to decorate Gingerbread Houses and cookies.  I came along this year in order to help out and it actually went a lot smoother than I expected.  Madelyn and Cora worked very hard on their houses and Ellie was Madelyn's little helper.   The houses turned out really cute and it amazed me how much thought Madelyn put into the design of her house.  It makes me wonder if she's going to be a Fashion Designer after all!  After decorating the houses, we were not left with much time for cookies so we just had the kids decorate slice and bake Christmas cookies with sprinkles.  They loved it and it was a lot cleaner than making homemade cookies.   The girls have really enjoyed their Christmas Vacation so far and are very excited that we only have a 4 days left on our Advent Calendar.  They can't wait for Santa!

All ready to decorate their houses!

Ellie loved handing Madelyn the candies!

Madelyn was very serious about the design of her house!

The finished product - Cora's is on the left and Madelyn's on the right

Very happy little girls!

No sure if you can see it very well, but Madelyn took a spill while running around with our neighbors on Saturday and has some cuts on her face.  The worst is right under her nose!

Ellie was more interested in the singing Hallmark snowman and dog than decorating!

Ellie thought she was so big with the sprinkles!

Our version of cookie making!