Christmas 2009

(I know this post is VERY late. I'm sorry.)

This Christmas we stayed here in Arizona. Christmas morning is so much fun with little kids. They get really excited about everything. We actually didn't get up and start opening presents until 10 o'clock!! That was nice, considering how late we went to bed the night before! 

This year we had the kids use their allowance from doing their jobs to buy presents for each other. It was fun to help them pick out the presents, 'help' them wrap the presents, and see their excitement as they watched their gifts being opened. Here is a picture of Michael opening a present from one of his sisters.

And here is Katelynn showing off the Cinderella slap bracelet that Emma gave her.

Remember how I said that Emma loves pink piggies? Well, she finally got one!

 

The kids were excited to see a Play-Doh activity table, which included a bunch of tools and different colors of Play-Doh. Oops..looks like I forgot to take off the price tag before wrapping it. Good thing they aren't old enough to notice or care! Ha ha!

While we were at Disneyland, Katelynn was obsessed with all the Baby Minnie and Baby Jessie dolls in the gift shops. So, we decided to get one for her as a Christmas gift. When she opened it she said, "Why did you get this for me?" And we said, "Well, you like it, don't you? Want us to take it back?" "No, no, I like it!!"

While in California we also picked up these dress-up dresses (I guess that's kind of redundant...) for the girls. They are actually nightgowns, so they were a heck of a lot cheaper than the actual 'dress-up' clothes. But, the girls don't seem to care, and they wear them all the time.

 Another Disneyland purchase was for Scott. I got him 2 cute little ornaments. It's kind of a tradition to get some kind of Disney figurine or something for Christmas.

Scott got me something from Disneyland, too. He gave me this gorgeous Lenox figurine of Mickey & Minnie having a picnic, called "Recipe for Romance", because the story "Mickey Mouse's Picnic" is special thing at our house. He used his birthday gift certificate from Disneyland to buy it. What a sweetie!

image from Lenox

Here is Michael playing with one of his favorite presents, a box full of dinosaurs! He has such an active imagination, and now has to take a dinosaur almost everywhere with him.

I {finally} gave Scott this picture frame! I have been "working on it" with my friend Jenn for months (she has a vinyl cutter & basically did it for me, 'cause she's cool like that). It was originally going to be an anniversary gift, because on the mat are the words to the song "Eternity", which I wrote for Scott & sang to him at our wedding reception. When I didn't give it to him for our anniversary, I planned to give it to him on his birthday in November. Still didn't happen. I was, like, "Sheesh! I *have* to give it to him on Christmas, or he's NEVER going to get it!!" So, here is the elusive anniversary/birthday/Christmas gift.

 

Here is a video of the kids opening their "big" gift- roller blades! You can't hear it very well in the video, but when Michael first starts opening his, he said, "What the heck is this..." Hilarious!

After presents we made the traditional Eggs Benedict, then went with the Stringhams to see "The Princess & the Frog". Later that evening we went over to my Aunt Cecelia & Uncle Jack's house for dinner with my aunts, uncles & cousins. It was fun to see everyone, and they couldn't believe how big the kids have gotten. It was a lovely Christmas!