Our Christmas...

We had a wonderful Christmas this year. My brother and his soon-to-be wife drove down from Minnesota for the holiday and we all had a blast hanging out. It was nice for Aspen to spend some time with her Uncle Matt and Auntie Corry since we don't get to see them as much. 

We spent Christmas Day over at my Dad's house. That morning Jason, Aspen, and I opened a few presents for each other. It was so much fun to see Aspen opening her couple of presents. She loves unwrapping the gifts and put on a show for everyone at my Dad's house. 

 

 Aspen's Poppy got her a "Rody" for Christmas. It's an inflatable bouncy animal and Aspen just loves it. It provided some good times for everyone once we saw on the box it holds up to 400lbs. Everyone had to give it a shot!

Check her out playing with Rody

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SON3xGdY_oM

 Santa dropped off some gifts for the adults too, which is always nice! Jason and Corry got a puzzle to work on that afternoon. It was quite the popular activity. However, Santa got the last laugh when the last piece of the puzzle was no where to be found. The only conclusion we have come up with--Aspen fed it to Kima (Matt and Corry's puppy). 

Santa also gave everyone a scratch ticket--even Aspen! Out of the six of us there wasn't one winner, but it was still a good time.

 It was a great Christmas and a delicious dinner. I unfortunately forgot to take any pictures of dinner, but that probably wouldn't do it justice. My dad made a whole leg of lamb and there was an array of wonderful vegetables on the side. Matt and Corry finished it off with an awesome cranberry apple crisp.

 The next morning everyone came over to our house for a huge breakfast because that's what the holidays are about--right? Stuff our faces for a few days and then don't eat for a few weeks! Aspen became very fond of Matt and Corry's puppy Kima. She was so sweet with Aspen!

A couple of different times when we were all together Aspen would love just going around the room and giving everyone  hugs. It was so nice watching her be such a sweet girl. She became very fond of Corry while she was here and I think they have a little bond with one another.

 The weather was pretty cold over the holiday, which was nice for getting into the Christmas spirit. However, it was a little chilly to go to the park. Yesterday it finally warmed up enough for us to take a ride in Aspen's new wagon from Santa. She had a great time riding all the way to the park. I still have the Radio Flyer that my brother and I used when we were kids. I hope Aspen cherishes her wagon as much as we did!

Matt and Corry left this morning to head back home. Last night they came over to say bye to Aspen before she went to bed. We went out to dinner to celebrate their last night in town. I'm so happy my brother came into town. There were so many great memories made and I love getting to watch Aspen spend time with her Uncle and Auntie. Thanks for making the trip!

What A Great Christmas!

We had a wonderful day and I'll do a post soon that includes more details, but we wanted to wish everyone a very, merry Christmas and share a couple of pictures.

Also, Jason got me a new camera for Christmas!!

Merry Christmas Eve!

I'm so excited Christmas is almost here!

Aspen joined in on some caroling this morning...

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Time Is Here

This weekend we were super busy. Trying to get all the Christmas decorations up in and outside of the house. Plus trying to clean up our yard--raking, raking, and more raking of leaves. It was a lot of hard work (with the help of my dad and his leaf blower--thanks you!), but we got it done and now it's so nice to sit back and enjoy the Christmas cheer.

We got our tree on Saturday morning. This year I almost broke down and bought a fake tree. Part of me didn't want to deal with cleaning up the needles everyday. Lazy I know! Jason snapped me out of that quickly and I'm so glad we got our real tree because the house smells great and our tree is gorgeous. While I was putting the lights on the tree I was trying to "involve" Aspen. She decided to put some of her favorite "stuffies" under the tree. I thought it was pretty cute and they look pretty nice hanging out under our tree.

I think Aspen wanted Bella to go under the tree too. There was no way it was happening, but Bella really does love this little girl---for all the abuse she puts up with :)

I don't have all my ornaments up yet, but I'm going to have to make sure the breakable ones stay towards the top of the tree this year. When I was hanging a couple up today, Aspen seemed very interested. Lately she loves being given little tasks: putting things in the trash, putting her book in the book draw, helping pick tomatoes and putting them back in the bowl, etc. So I gave her a kid ornament to hang up. I love that as she gets older we will decorate the tree together.

It was a busy weekend, but a good one. We are looking forward to a busy next few weeks--Yay for the holidays!

Not So Sure About Santa

Last year Aspen was only 4 months old when we went to see Santa. You can see from the picture that she didn't even have time to realize who was holding her and if it was scary or not. Well this year didn't turn out the same unfortunately.

Aspen with Santa last year.

 

I thought I had a great plan. The mall Santa opened at 11am and I would arrive right away during the week to avoid lines. I got her all dressed up in a little Christmas dress.  We arrived and I was right no lines! Aspen took one look at Santa and started the death grip on me. I tried to warm her up to the idea, but as soon as I put her in his lap--let the screaming begin! Thankfully they didn't make me pay for a picture. Hopefully next year she will be more excited to sit with Santa.

She was pretty happy to come home and I at least got a nice picture of her in her cute dress. 

She Sure Knows How to Give Me a Good Laugh...