A Christmas to Remember

 

Well, hopefully I can satisfy everyone's desires with a blog that's overwhelmed by pictures.  This ode to Christmas should not disappoint.  By the end of the weekend after Christmas, we'd done enough partying to make anyone feel tired after just hearing about it!

 

Kayla has been excited for weeks, dare I say months, to celebrate Jesus's birthday.  She was a little disappointed that we didn't give him any cake, but I think she got over it once she started opening all of her presents.  She found it to be very cool that she recieved gifts even though it was Jesus's birthday, not hers.

 

As you know from (hopefully) reading our previous blog entry, Leading up to Christmas, Santa thought we were so special that he visited us a day early.  So on Christmas Eve, we opened our presents from Santa, and then headed for Lafayette to Aaron's aunt and uncle's house.  They always host dinner on Christmas Eve, and we were happy to join them this year.

 

Cousin Sarah wet Kayla's appetitie by allowing her to open one of her gifts.  Fortunately it was a sleeping bag, since we neglected to bring one!  We spent the night with Aaron's nana and papaw, and woke up Christmas morning ready for a fabulous brunch.  Here's some pics from celebrating with the Parris family.

 

 

Then we were off to Fowler for delicious Christmas dinner, and lots of fun with the Lauerman side of the family.  Kayla found that she was destined to have a microphone in her hands.  Who knew she would enjoy being the center of attention?  Oh wait, all of us!

 

 

After a treacherous drive home, and a good night's rest, we headed to Muncie for the Walter family Christmas.  As you can see, I just threw in several pictures of all the cousins, and none of them are too great.  You win some, you lose some.  Picture taking is often a loss.

 

 

All right, here's where the pictures get good (or turn to blackmail material).  Kayla and Maren got beautiful Christmas dresses and hats from Aaron's Nana and Papaw Parris.  I was showing them off to my mom and sisters when we realized how humerous it looked holding them up in front of us.  The hats were just icing on the cake.  Keep reading to see my two little cuties wearing them the next day.

 

 

By this point, we could barely compose ourselves long enough just to take the picture!

 

 

More funny pictures -- Kayla tries on cousin Griff's hat and dances around.

 

 

The annual tradition my sister has instituted -- a chocolate fountain.  Now how can you go wrong with that?  Exactly, you can't!  While I'm not a huge fan of chocolate (milk chocolate, anyway), Kayla could sit there and eat it all night.  In fact...just kidding, we did limit her intake.  But what's funnier is this shirt she has on.  My dad worked for Dana for several years, so that's what it says on the front.  But my sisters and I are pretty sure that all of our kids have worn it at one time or another (Maren, your day will come), and it was at least mine originally, if not Wendy's or Kelly's.

 

 

So the next day (Sunday, for those of you who've lost track), was the immediate Parris family Christmas.  Kayla got her Layla (Isaac & Derika's dog) fix, and Layla was so thankful to see us go.  Santa made a very special visit to Aaron's parents house, and while Kayla still refused to sit in his lap, she did at least agree to a hug.  Maren just barely sat in his lap long enough for a decent picutre, and then was more happy to give him a high five.

 

Here's the dresses and hats!

 

Aaron's mom had these great fake mustaches in our stockings, which we all had to wear.  Maren started first, and looked hilarious.  Unfortunately when you're wearing them, it is very hard to smile.  It was all we could do to maintain straight faces for our picture!

 

 

And finally, we made it home so the girls could play with all their new toys.  This princess tower, transforms to a table.  The only issue...Maren likes to climb...the table is not meant to hold the weight of little beefcakes.  Let's hope she doesn't start scaling the tower; that would not end well!  At least Maren enjoys the box too.

 

 

The girls also got a wooden table to have in the kitchen.  They enjoy it, but Aaron just trips over it - it's a sore subject!

 

 

Unfortunately, none of the next photos captured just how hilarious Maren looked, but basically she was like a minature Muhamed Ali.  She loves to wear coats (we weren't leaving in her mustache picture above, she had just brought us her coat and wanted to put it on).  This is actually Kayla's robe that matches her new jammies, but Maren really wanted to wear it.

 

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Musings from all of our holiday travel:

•  On our way to see family on Christmas Eve, Kayla exclaims that she is going to throw up.  Talk about two deer in headlights.  Aaron and I feared the worst.  Mind you, I've seen my fair share of car vomit, Maren, my nephews (the long car rides to/from Virginia were torture!).  Anyway, our girls really haven't been ones to get car sick, so we were quite unprepared.  We finally gave her a large letter size evelope, which she stuck over her face.  When the feeling, thankfully, subsided, she decided she was thirsty and wanted a drink of milk...uh, no!  Then she was starving.  Could she have a snack, she asked...uh, no!  Lesson learned: keep towels, bags, trash bags, something handy.  And, know that your kids don't always know how to read their stomach or at least verbalize how it feels.

• On the way home from grandma's on Christmas night, Kayla exclaims that she has to potty.  Considering that the roads were pure ice, and we'd just made it around a pack of slow moving cars, Aaron had no interest in stopping.  Also, we weren't in a heavily populated area, and a lot of places are closed Christmas night.  So we told her to hold it in (she literally was using her hands) for a few more miles, and then we jetted off at the next exit ramp.  I jumped out of the car, grabbed her out of her car seat, hung her booty out over the grass, and then loaded her back in so we could go on our merry way.  Yes, it was freezing cold and snowy.  Lesson learned: limit your kid's liquid intake and be sure they make a pit stop before a long car ride.

• Sleeping together in one room, the four of us, is not recommended.  Kayla woke up in the middle of the night, and because I was worrying that she would distrub Maren, then I couldn't sleep.  Kayla likes to listen to music to fall asleep, but Maren doesn't.  So, I was trying to play music loud enough for Kayla to be appeased, but quiet enough that it wouldn't bother Maren.  Needless to say, after worrying, searching for music, etc. I finally moved Kayla onto the couch in another room.  I fell asleep on the floor next to her, and later woke up and moved myself back into bed.  Lesson learned: always, always put Kayla in her own room (or don't travel overnight for the holidays)!

• Another fun event in the car.  Maren got a plush magic wand for Christmas that makes sounds when you shake it.  Thus, it also makes sounds when you hit someone with it, like your sister.  The girls' car seats are next to each other, so Maren proceeded to hit Kayla with it, repeatedly.  Not violently or too hard, but just enough to really be annoying.  How did we respond?  Whipped out the video camera, of course.  Lesson learned: laugh at your kids, otherwise they might drive you crazy.

Hope your holidays were as joyful and blessed as ours were.  Best wishes for 2010!

Leading up to Christmas

We kicked off the excitement for Christmas with a neighbor's birthday party. Cara turned 6, and her mom had Santa and one of his elves come into their home to visit with the kids. The elf painted faces, and Kayla chose a tree and snowman.  Unfortunately, Kayla had no interest in sitting on Santa's lap, so no adorable Christmas card pictures for me.  As Santa was on his way out the door, he offered to hold Maren for a pic.  I laid her in his arms, and she burst into tears.  So much for that idea.

My mom came into town to stay with the girls so we could go to my office Christmas party.  It also allowed us to go to a neighbor's party without the kids.  Kayla got to try out a gift from Christmas last year (chef hat and apron) and help make cut-out cookies - an annual Christmas tradition from when my sisters and I were little.

As is well known from previous blogs, Aaron loves to have the girls do the "stand-up trick", so Maren's already been doing this for months (see Maren's first blog picture of doing it and here's Kayla's).  Maren has the one-legged stand down to a science, but it never seems like I have the camera out when Aaron's tossing her around.  I made an effort one day to get some photos.

Kayla had a little Christmas program at school, so I decked them both out in their Christmas sweaters.  Kayla's was actually from last year, but I still made it work.  I was trying to snap some photos before I took them to school.  For anyone that has a 1-yr-old, you know it's virtually impossible to get them to hold still for a picture.  I think this one highlights Maren's understanding of karate.

If I haven't mentioned this fact yet, shame on me.  If I have, sorry for the repetition, but Maren loves to climb through our kitchen table.  There's a nice ledge at the lower part of the bar height table, and Maren has claimed this as her own personal jungle gym.  She's always crawling through, around, and over it.

Here's another Maren favorite, my Blackberry.  Thank goodness you can lock the keys.  I honestly think she'd be content with this for hours.

We felt very special this year because Santa was able to visit us one day early!  On Christmas Eve eve, we set out cookies for Santa, and the girls opened their traditional Christmas Eve gift, holiday jammies!  The girls were dancing around in excitement, and we caught this photo, which I thought was pretty cute.

On Christmas morning, Kayla was VERY patient, letting us get ready before she went out to look at the presents and stockings.  She found that Santa had left her a little bit of cookie, so she cleaned the plate for him (and notice the cute Dora Christmas PJ's).  Kayla brought out her little stool to put the cookies on for Santa, and even set out her rocking chair next to it so he'd have somewhere to sit.  We discussed that the rocking chair was probably too small for Santa, and she agreed and pulled it away.  But you can still see it off to the side.  Hilarious!

I had a tough time finding Maren's jammies this year, but couldn't resist these when I saw these.  The tutu was just awesome.  She looked like the perfect portly ballerina!

Here they start digging into their stockings.  This was always my favorite part when I was growing up.

Maren had more toys down in her stocking, but as soon as she found her new milk cup, she didn't care about anything else.  Unfortunately it was empty, so tried to get it from her so I could fill it up.  But she wasn't about to let it go!  Kayla had asked for a black cat for Christmas - thanks to Aunt Wendy fostering some kittens a couple months ago.  Fortunately, Santa didn't bring a real one (though this kitty does have his own snow board!).

Our big gift to Kayla this year was a new princess bike.  We wrapped her princess helmet, which she was almost equally excited about.  We then told her we should go try out the helmet with her roller skates in the basement.  She was surprised to find her bike waiting for her instead!

Maren wanted to take a spin on the bike too!