Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas, everyone! Hope you all enjoyed a wonderful day full of friends and family, and had time to stop and reflect on the blessings of the season.

Our kids must have been extra good this year, because Santa came early to our house! He dropped off most of his presents on Saturday afternoon, which meant Jonathan got to open some of his gifts before he left for his mom's and help Elizabeth open and play with hers. Of course, he has to wait until he comes back to get his SPECIAL present, which is being delivered tomorrow morning - stay tuned for details!

Elizabeth loved all of her presents. She got a new play kitchen:



Plus, Santa delivered a special family baby crib, which Santa had already brought to me AND my Aunt on previous Christmas mornings. She had lots of fun moving all her toys and animals back and forth between the baby crib and her new baby stroller:



After church on Christmas Eve morning, we all loaded in the car to drop Jonathan off at the airport, then head to Mother Dot's to spend the night. We thought Elizabeth had it made - she had both her blankets, Elmo, and Barney sitting with her while she watched DVDs:



However, she seemed to think differently. Although it had been a while since our last roadtrip, she quickly remembered that she does not like riding in the car. And, her vastly increased vocabulary meant she could express her displeasure in more detail. I don't think we ever want to hear the words "out", "down", "no", or whining and crying ever again!

But, it was all worth it to see how much Mother Dot, Granddad, and Granny Pat enjoyed having her there that evening.



She was the center of attention, and she seemed to enjoy it! She even showed off her newfound knowledge of the names of all the basic colors to anyone who would listen. Plus, Mother Dot had some fun toys that made music that she loved watching:





Unfortunately, that's where the fun ended. She didn't sleep very well at all last night...which meant David and I didn't get any sleep either. She seemed to be scared by her new surroundings, and woke up or cried out about every 15 minutes. Yikes! So, this morning, she was a very grumpy bear. We ended up leaving fairly early with hopes that she would sleep in the car on the way back. No doing - she repeated her protests of the car seat most of the way home. We hate to admit defeat, but we've decided we won't be doing much traveling by car until she grows out of this stage once and for all!


She did get to try out her "elf" costume today in preparation for the Waggener festivities later this week. She's ready to take her rightful place away from Aunt Erin!