Christmas Day 2012

Note: I've created a few posts the past few days, so make sure you scroll down to see them all.  You may even need to go to the bottom and click "Older Posts" to see all of them. :)

Christmas Day!
As always, we stayed in bed until 9am.  After changing, etc., we ate breakfast--"eggs and cheese" (according to Makenna), grits, and toast & jam:

 Then, we went and opened presents!  We tried to pile all of the presents on top of them to take a picture before opening them but they were too excited and Makenna opened one of Jared's presents--some ties:

 They got a container of assorted animal figurines:

 I got a new skillet, another lens for my camera, a set of 3 ceramic knives, and a Ninja pulse blender (for my smoothies).

 Jared received some ties, an inflatable travel pillow, and a massage peanut for his feet.

 The girls also got two sets of play food and a kitchen set (pans, utensils, tea set, etc.) for them to use with the play kitchen Kiki gave them (Carma's old kitchen).

 

 They already loved pretending to eat the food and drink from the teacups:

 After all the presents were opened, the girls wanted to admire the tree a bit and kiss several of the ornaments, ha ha:

 

 We took all the food and blocks downstairs and put them on the table cloth from their birthday party and they played for a while.  We all took turns "eating" some of the food:

 

 

 

 I tortured Cleo with this Santa hat and bells:

 Jared took the girls out in the snow in the backyard for just a few seconds:

 

 Kiki and her family came over for dinner that night (it was very last minute and she was willing to risk getting sick, since her kids had been around mine the couple of days before Makenna got sick and only her husband had gotten sick).  I had asked her to take some pictures of us and I was testing the camera before she arrived and got this shot (the best I could get):

 Once she got there, we tried to get some family photos but the girls were freaking out because they saw the kitchen that Kiki brought and they only wanted to play with it!  So we took a break and I gave her kids their presents:

A Spider Man t-shirt that glows in the dark for Wy-wy!

A Smurfette shirt with glitter on it for Carma!

A couple of drawing books for Juddy

 Kiki gave me this awesome casserole dish and carrier that she sewed.  Makenna saw the present and walked right over and started opening it, ha ha!

 We decided to try family photos again and these are the best we could get--Avery was not feeling it at all!

 

 

I was so sad that we didn't go to the family gathering (on Grandma's side of the family), due to not wanting to get anyone sick.  So I was glad that Kiki was willing to come over for a bit last night.  We had a nice, relaxing day together as a family and it was a great Christmas, despite some grumpiness, ha ha!

Christmas Eve 2012

The girls were pretty grumpy all morning, still not feeling 100%, so we didn't do very much.  After breakfast, Jared watched "Prancer" with them while I cleaned the house a bit--it was still a wreck from the birthday party!  I finally wrapped all the gifts while the girls took their nap and I took some pictures of the tree (not as perky as it was when we first got it but it is still pretty):

It's the year of mismatched wrapping paper, ha ha!  I used up every bit of Christmas wrapping paper I had left--so I can start fresh next year, woohoo!

 It snowed most of the day.  HOORAY FOR A WHITE CHRISTMAS!

Jared went out in the cold and snow (he had to wait for it to actually stop snowing) to take pics of our house as it looked on Christmas Eve.  A winter wonderland!  I love it!

We let the girls open one present on Christmas Eve--a set of "girly" Mega Bloks. :)  They had fun playing with them for a little while before bedtime, and they even helped me pick them up.

It was a very laid back Christmas Eve but nice to be together as a family!

2nd Birthday Party!!!

So after our big Louisiana dinner party Thursday night (12/20), I stayed up until after 2am cleaning and making cupcakes--also, Makenna was having a rough time sleeping.  I woke at up 7:30 Friday morning and starting preparations for the party.  It took me several hours just to decorate the cupcakes.  THANKFULLY, Kiki and Jason came over in the afternoon to help me or I wouldn't have been able to finish everything I wanted to do (still didn't do everything I wanted to do but we did get all the "important" stuff done).

We had a Sesame Street party and the girls wore their Elmo and Abby tutus from Halloween; we had mostly family over (Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Jason, Aunt Laura's family, Aunt Kiki's family, Uncle Timmy, and one neighbor boy and his parents).

Decorations and Food:

 

The cupcake tower I made from cardboard boxes, tin cans, crepe paper and acrylic paint

For the game we played

I let Jason go crazy with the crepe paper and he hung all the decorations for me--for the ones that are really high, he got up on top of a stool that was on top of a chair!  CRAZY BOY!  I about had a heart attack!

The character cupcakes [the pink one is Abby--I didn't have time to had her hair poofs]

Avery enjoyed the Goldfish

 Some of the guests in party hats, ha ha:

Juddy

Uncle Jason

Daddy in his Oscar shirt with an Oscar cupcake  :)

Carma

Wyatt

DJ & Laura

Pizza!

Makenna

Avery

 Cupcakes!

 

 

 

 

 

I had a Cookie monster shirt, hat, & cupcake! :)

 Party favors:

 Opening gifts:

Cards and princess ponytail holders from Aunt Carrie's family

A little baby with accessories (high chair, stroller, bouncer, exersaucer, diaper bag, etc.) from Maw-maw and Paw-paw

Purses from Grandma

Cute hats from the neighbors

Musical instruments (tambourines and a horn) from Laura's family

A magnetic dress-up doll set (over 200 pcs.!) from Mommy and Daddy

A set of Sesame Street board books from Grandma

A Sesamet Street Playset from Kiki's family--all the kids wanted to break into it!

 We went outside on the deck for just a few minutes (it was COLD!) to blow bubbles from the Sesame Street character bubble containers Jared brought home from his last trip.  :)

 Then, we played Oscar's Trash Toss--basically just had the kids throw trash in a can, ha ha!

I think the girls had a lot of fun but, just as the last of the family was leaving (around 9pm?), Makenna puked on the kitchen floor. We got her cleaned up and changed and I was holding her (facing me) and she puked again. AAAAACK!!! I do NOT do well with puking and was gagging, which makes Jared mad, ha ha, but I can't help it! So we got us both changed again and put the girls to bed. She ended up puking in her crib twice and Jared finally decided to stay on the couch with her all night, surrounded by towels. So we went through 5 or 6 sleepers and two crib sheets and who knows how many towels. She puked all night, poor thing. She finally stopped puking around 9am and didn't puke again until that evening, after I gave her what was probably too much water. She was so grumpy all day, though! Jared stayed home with the girls on Sunday while I went to church and directed the choir--so glad I didn't get sick!!! Jared and Avery started puking that afternoon--of course I was holding Avery the first time she puked. Poor baby. 

No one has puked since Sunday night but they still weren't feeling 100% yesterday (Christmas Eve) and were pretty grumpy and clingy. I still can't believe I didn't catch it! *knock on wood!*  We decided to just stay home tonight, instead of driving to the family gathering with Grandma's side of the family; we didn't want to chance getting anyone sick, especially since one of the cousins is pregnant with twins.  Kiki just decided to come over tonight and bring dinner--good thing since I didn't prepare to have a proper Christmas dinner, since I thought we would be hanging out with family.  Kiki's family was around us the two days before Makenna got sick and only her husband got sick, so hopefully it will stay that way!

We hope everyone is having a wonderful Christmas!  We sure do love and miss all of you!!!  We wish we could be with EVERYONE on Christmas!  

Christmas post coming soon....