Thursday, December 30, 2010

Christmas 2010!

We had a wonderful Christmas this year.  This was really the first year Mya understood exactly what was going on.  She learned about Santa Claus and his reindeer, we watched all kinds of fun holiday movies, made Christmas cookies, decorated the house and our trees, wrapped presents together, stamped Christmas cards, went light-looking... we did it all! And, without further ado, here are all the pictures to prove it:)

Let's Start from the beginning- the Christmas trees.  I know I've posted a few pics of these already, but I just love them, so here's a few more!
My new favorite ornament.  The "Day After Christmas Shopping" was redonkulous this year!  I bought some ornaments, of course, who could resist!?  Everything is 50% off people!  Load up!  Anyway, I brought the ornaments home and walked over to the tree to put them on.... hmmmm... where shall I put them?  Look for a hole.  Is there a blank spot anywhere?  Hmmm....  can't seem to find one.  Oh my gosh, is my tree full?  It is!  It's full!  Uggh.  I once told a friend, "You really know you've succeeded in life when you can fill the back of your tree with ornaments."  Well, looks like I've made it people!

Who's that crazy lady constantly taking pictures of a tree!?

Mya and Ya Ya (her grandma) made these cute snowman ornaments on Thanksgiving this year.

Mya's first word was "turtle".  That same year I found this adorable little turtle family ornament!

Mya and I made these squirrels this year...

Miss Mya's tree topper.  I hope she "believes" for a long time!!

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The first party of the season was the Grotluschen Christmas.  They always do it up big.  The family has gotten so large that they've started renting out the Senior Center so that we have enough room for everyone!  Here's a pictue of Mya helping her Great Grandpa Grotluschen (Randy's Grandpa) open his present.


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Next Up- Daycare Christmas Party


The whole daycare crew!

Mya and her buddy Gabe.

Santa visited the party and brought Mya presents!!  Mya REFUSES to sit on Santa's lap, or even go near him for that matter, but that doesn't mean she won't accept his gifts:) 

The kids all draw names for gifts and Mya got these receiving blankets for her babies.  They are a hit!  We swaddle them, too.  She put them all "to bed" when we got home. Adorable.

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Making Christmas Cookies!!
Alright Mom- I'm ready!  Let's Do this!

Mya's first job was to put the little cupcake wrappers in the pan.


Next she unwrapped all the little reeses.

 




Here's the finished product..  Uggh- it's hard for me to even look at these things.  I definitely OD'd on these this year.  They are so good.  Thank you Keisha for the recipe and tips!!

Mya said, "Take a picture.  This is my cookie face!"


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Introducing Mya's Christmas Dress:) 
She picked out the clip in her hair.  Very glamourous.  She also loves jewelry, so I bought her some cute little Christmas bracelets. 



On the 23rd we went out to my dad's to celebrate Christmas with him, my mom, sister, and Grandma Bev.
Mya loves whip cream, so my mother gave her a cup full of it! Just whip cream and a spoon!  No wonder she loves her Ya Ya so much:)


Dad's Tree...

Mya and her Auntie Ashley. 

Mya got a portable bed from Ya Ya.  Here she is testing it out with her favorite friends!  Thank you Great Grandma Bev for baby Belle!

On our way home the next day with Baby Belle and Baby Snow White in tow!

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Next Came Christmas Eve

Mya all ready to head to church.  She also learned this year that we celebrate Christmas because it's baby Jesus' birthday.  We didn't foget about that part:)

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Chrismtas Day!!

All the presents under the tree...

Santa is so smart!  He knew Mya loves cheetos, so stuffed some in her stocking!  That Santa!

Randy tells Mya that he goes to work each day so that he can make money to put in her piggy bank.  Nearly every day he brings her home some change.  Her little piggy bank was plum full, so Daddy thought a new, big one, was in order!

Mya and her first "Baby Alive"

But, of course, the real hit of the morning... bubble wrap!

Great Grandma and Ya Ya came over Christmas morning for breakfast.  Mya talked them into playing her new ice cream stacking game....over and over.

Thank you to everyone who helped make our Christmas so wonderful!

Phew!  Composing this monster post was about as exhausting as our Chrismtas Adventures!!!  Happy New Year !!



Wednesday, December 29, 2010

A Sneak Peak at our Christmas Adventures

Here's Mya and I at the Grotluschen Family Christmas:)  More Christmas photos to come as soon as I have a free second!  Happy New Year everyone!!!

Thursday, December 16, 2010

2010 Christmas Card!

Just thought I'd spread the Christmas love!  If you know me, you know that I love Christmas cards.  I love creating them, I love sending them, I love getting them...  The last couple years I've even gotten in the habit of sending out two different versions.  Here's the first....  (The second version was from a different website and I'm not able to copy/paste the image from that site).  Merry Christmas to You and Yours!


 

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Light-Looking!

  I LOVE LOVE LOVE looking at Christmas lights.  Love it.  This year I talked Randy into going with me.   Mya came too, of course!  I like making new family traditions and this is definitely going to be one of them.
  Here's Missy Mya all loaded up and ready to go!  We stopped at" Mickey Donalds" and got a chickie nuggets happy meal for the munchkin and off we went.

Fun stuff!

This one (below) has been my absolute favorite for years.  The pictures do not do it justice.  She has these beautiful light up holly leaves on the tree on the left.  Even Randy said, "Wow, that is really pretty!"

We have this house in town that is the token "crazy Christmas lights house".  Think the Griswolds from National Lampoons Christmas Vacation, but with a zillion inflatables.  I should have gotten more pictures of it, but there was actually a car accident at this locatin last year.  Someone was gawking at the lights and ran into another car!  What is wrong with people!:)  I was driving and taking pictures at the same time and didn't want my husband to completely freak out, so put the camera away after just a couple.

Dora and Thomas are new this year, I think....  Oh, and Mya started calling this place "Santa's House" last year, so we've kept calling it that.   It just makes sense that Santa would actually live here:)

Eeeek!!  Just love it!


Wednesday, December 08, 2010

All Decorated for Christmas

Merry Christmas!  It took awhile, but my entire house is finally jazzed up for the holidays!  I bought one beautiful bright red antique hutch for my dining room last year and ever since I've had this crazy obsession with bright red.  It dominated my Christmas decorating this year as well and I LOVE it:)

I have always wanted to hang a wreath over this mirror...

My apothecaries...

Okay, I know the cords behind that tree look terrilbe!  I raced around taking these photos and really didn't take the time to primp the shots... just pretend you don't see them:)  That's a black feather boa wrapped around the tree if you're wondering...  Yes, I'm that kind of girl:)

Just a shot of red on the table... a little berry tree.  Oh, and that hutch is jammed behind the chair to make room for my mammoth tree in the living room!

Another little shot of red.  Yep, I think red looks best in "little shots".

I got those wire baskets on that shelf from Ikea for, I think, a buck!  The saying above the shelf says, "Never get so busy making a living that you forget to make a life."  I put that there so my husband sees it each day when he leaves for work.  Hint, hint:)

My big fat wreath.  It's a beast hanging that thing!  The plastic candies on the rail Mya loves.  I kind of had her in mind when I bought them at "day after christmas clearance madness" last year...

Just a little sugar bowl filled with mini mirror ball ornaments...

That is an old picture of me and Randy at our Junior Prom!  Who knew....  the good old days:)

My new shelves:)  Thanks hubby for hanging these for me.... twice:{ eek!

Hallways



Love how there's some cord hanging out of my computer hutch.  Lovely...

Ta Da!  The tree...  I have no idea how to photograph these things.  Maybe I'll try for a better one in daylight.  And, uggh, more cords...

A couple of my favorite ornaments.


Daddy's tree in the basement.

My My's Bed

And, My My's sweet little tree!

Have a sweet little Christmas!!