Grammie and Babo's Family Photos

Before I move on from Christmas, I wanted to include some family photos. Back in November, Grammie hired a photographer to take some pictures of all of us for her Christmas cards. While I'm not especially fond of how they turned out of me, I know I should include them for posterity.

Here are my favorites of the four of us.






These are my favorites of the kids. The photographer commented on how easy they made her job when they posed together. They love "loving" each other. :)






Here are a few of me and Scott.





These are my favorite shots of the whole group -- which was the reason for the photography adventure in the first place.



Finally, I like this first one of my boys and the next one of Grammie and Babo with their grandchildren.

Celebrating Christmas, Part IV -- Christmas Dinner

Since we had such a relaxing Christmas day at home, both kids were in great shape to head to Grammie's for Christmas Dinner. Both kids were more social and comfortable in that setting, with all those people, than they've ever been. Most remarkably, Keira was a social butterfly and loved spending time with all her various family members. She had a ball.

Keira started her night with Bapa. She's come a long way from the days that she wouldn't even go to him. In fact, that night, she got upset with Bapa when he tried to get up. :)




Once Auntie Andrea and Uncle Jason arrived, both kids spent time with them. Elijah brought his kit to play school and he spent some time "teaching" Auntie Andrea. While Keira happily played with Grammie's toys.





While the kids were so well taken care of and entertained, I even had the opportunity to sit down and have an adult conversation with Aunt Seana and Mr. Josh. Amazing!


After dinner, Keira's favorite game was one she invented with Babo, Auntie Andrea and Uncle Jason. Babo gently swung her over to her aunt then uncle so that they could tickle her. She LOVED that game, and would've played it for hours if Babo's arms would've cooperated.





After the tickle game, she spent some time going between me and Dendi, then she enjoyed playing with Grammie's doll house with Aunt Seana.



Both kids had such a good time playing with the family that we practically had to drag them out of there at the end of the night. Keira definitely came out of her shell.

Celebrating Christmas, Part III -- Christmas Morning

Despite the fact that Scott had a gnarly cold, I think this was our best Christmas morning and day yet. It was wonderful to be able to wake up with both kids, open stockings, presents and play with their presents at our leisure. It felt indulgent, festive and relaxing.

The quote of the day was Keira saying, at the top of her lungs, her voice full of frustration, "But, where is my otoscope!?!" Keira loves playing doctor, and we had made due for a few months with our real thermometer, a book light and a Diego stethoscope. But, one of her favorite Dora books talked about an otoscope, the tool that the doctor uses to check your eyes, ears and nose. And, while playing in the WalMart toy aisle she had wanted to open and play with the Fisher Price medical kit -- it had an otoscope! I told her for the last month that maybe Santa would bring her that medical kit. Therefore, when anyone would ask her what she was hoping Santa would bring her she'd reply "an otoscope!" :) She was groggy and half asleep when Elijah and Keira started looking in their stockings, but she grew increasingly more agitated as she got to the bottom of her stocking. She started to shriek, "But, where is my otoscope?!?" I think she thought that the stockings were it. We soothed her by telling her that there were more presents from Santa under the tree. And, of course, I'm sure the early treat of M&M's (with a balance of banana) helped, too. :)





Fortunately, Santa did bring Keira the medical kit with an otoscope. But, Elijah had to open the present for her, since she still wasn't that interested in the whole "present thing." Often, she was content playing by herself in the play room while Elijah continued opening his presents, and occasionally encouraged her to open hers.



One of my favorite parts of Christmas this year was the look of sheer joy on Elijah's face. He loved his presents this year, and it was wonderful to share his enthusiasm. Some of the biggest hits for him Christmas morning were his school kit from Santa and Lego's from us and from Grandpa Jan and Grandma Karen.




Another huge hit on Christmas morning was the rocket ornament from Auntie Anne Disch. He had a huge grin as he unwrapped it and he even "loved" it once it was out of it's paper. In fact, today, while Scottie was packing up the tree and all the ornaments Elijah asked if he could keep the rocket ornament out all year long.



I was so thankful that we spread out our family celebrations this year so that the kids really got a chance to enjoy all their presents. We had plenty of time during our leisurely Christmas day to slowly open presents and then we had hours to play with all their recent acquisitions. Keira spent a lot of time playing with her new kitchen and her new tea set. She created an intricate game where she was rescuing me, as Goofy, from Tall Mountain (a Dora reference) by bringing me spaghetti and hot chocolate to warm me up since I was so cold.



Elijah spent much of his day building many of his new Lego sets. But, he also colored and played with his and Keira's new giant rocket.



Daddy also taught Elijah how to play Risk. Here he is posing with the board, complete with a silly grin, since he's about to win. I guess he caught on quickly.

Celebrating Christmas, Part II -- The 24th at Dendi and Bapa's

The 24th was a very exciting day. Not only was it Christmas Eve, and we were going to Dendi and Bapa's in the evening to open presents, but Elijah lost his first tooth! It had been loose for quite a while, and by lunchtime it was hanging by a thread. After he woke up from his nap, it just fell out! It was very exciting, and a bit of a relief as he was worried that it would hurt. We imagine the Tooth Fairy and Santa had a little party at our house late Christmas Eve. :)



After the tooth excitement, we headed down the street in our pajamas and sweats to open presents with Dendi, Bapa, Auntie Andrea and Uncle Jason. Of course, Elijah enthusiastically opened all his presents and LOVED his new space Lego's.



Keira loved her new giant elephant. Yet, she was still a little unclear on the concept of presents. In fact, she was a bit scared of the big box wrapped for her.




Yet, when she saw that it was a new kitchen for her, she was instantly enamored and happily played for the rest of the night after Daddy and I unwrapped all the "food". And, Elijah loved the giant box.





While the presents are always fun, especially for the kids, it was even more special to be able to share the occassion with our family.





Amazingly, after all the present excitement, Elijah wanted to wrap MORE presents!