Merry Christmas!

I know the thoughts that are racing through all of your heads - is she crazy, it was just Valentine's Day, or it is President's Day (OK, maybe not that one). Well, such is life, but I figure it's better late than never (at least in this case).

We had a wonderful Christmas this year, celebrating Christ's birth for Maren's first year. It was so neat to see and hear the things that Kayla learned and understood this year. Random quotes from Kayla around the holidays:
- Christmas is a happy time because it's Jesus birthday!
- We're going to Jesus' party and eat birthday (birthday = cake in her mind).
- I'm going to have cookies with Santa! (we had to explain that we were leaving the cookies out for Santa, but he didn't have enough time in his busy schedule to stay and party with her).
- Can I have one next year?! (weeks before Christmas she was saying this. I was just glad she wasn't asking for things at the last minute!). Minor update, she's still saying this one. If I kept track of everything whe requested for "next year", I think she's probably built a wish list that could last the rest of her life!

We made a special trip to the Children's Museum on Christmas Eve. Our membership expired at the end of the year, so we were trying to utilize it one more time. Unfortunately, Christmas Eve is one of the museum's "free" days, so it was a lot more crowded then usual. The only good thing we had going for us was that there weren't any school trips that day!

Our membership did allow Kayla to ride the carousel a billion times. Definitely a fan favorite. She had several chances to go down the Yule Slide as well (fun for kids AND parents). We stayed just through lunch so we could get home for nap time, which meant I had to nurse Maren. The museum is very accommodating, so I found a quiet corner and settled in. Minutes later, a museum employee began dragging out various drums and pushing the benches out of the way. Soon they had an area set up where everyone could come play all of these drums. You know where this is going, (1)
Maren became totally distracted, (2) the whole world is walking by and staring in your direction. Not the most conducive for nursing!! When Aaron and Kayla came to find me (after another carousel ride) you could see the questioning look on Aaron's face. I returned a look like, "oh yes, I really picked this spot because I'm such a fan of the drums."

We had a great opportunity to be home for Christmas Eve, and wake up in our own house on Christmas morning. Kayla's young enough that it probably didn't matter too much, but it was very nice anyway.

I had gotten this dress, which I thought was beautiful for Kayla last year and it was too big. I was thrilled to see her in it this year (can you see how thrilled Maren is too)!


Aaron's mom had arranged for "Santa" to come by their house to deliver presents to Kayla and Maren. We were a little concerned because the girls' photo with Santa turned into Maren's photo with Santa. Kayla wouldn't go near him with a 10-foot pole. I was so shocked, but I really didn't care so I definitely didn't push her. Anyway, she had serious reservations, but we did coax her into sitting on his lap. Not for long, mind you, so we were snapping pictures as quickly as we could. You can still see the fear in her face...


Here are several more pictures from our Christmas.

Kayla enjoyed the partial cookie Santa left behind.


We read the story of Jesus' birth from Kayla's children's Bible.



Not sure who Kayla was giving the evil eye to in this one, but all the other cousins looked pretty good.


This is Kayla with her new doll she named Lucy. Not sure where she came up with the name, but this is the first time she's really named one of her toys. We have lots of "baby" and "doggy" and "bear".





I couldn't talk about this year's Christmas without including the Diego Rescue Center. Kayla loves Diego more than Dora, so I charged my mom with finding something Diego. Didn't necessarily expect something this big, but Kayla has loved it! Hours of enjoyment (and let's face it, if she's entertained, we're entertained!)



We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas (if you can even remember after two months)! Stayed tuned for some more great pictures. We just got a new camera (baller, in the words of Aaron) that can take so many, so quickly. It's awesome!