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31 December 2011

Christmas Restocking, err ReCAP

My goal is to get this Christmas post done by New Year's.  So, here I am starting this on Friday night {woot woot, this is how I par-tay!} and I have one day to get 'er done!  David has Olivia at the gym and is picking up Vietnamese for dinner and Sydney is snoozing in the Ergo.  I am currently uploading 33 pictures from Christmas, and yes, that was me weeding it down a bit.  I'll try to pick through some of those as well so there aren't so many pictures  Or would you rather have more pictures and less words?  Anywho, on to the post:

Awww, this Christmas was absolutely wonderful!  I wondered how it might top last year's seeing as how we were in Hawaii for two weeks, but it was honestly VERY nice just being HOME.  Was it hectic leading up to Christmas?  Of course.  But, seriously EVERY day is hectic around here.  As much as I would have loved to pull out all the stops for Christmas - name plates, gorgeous table setting, etc - I realized it was way more important to enjoy doing some of the fun, crafty Christmas things with the girls because those would be remembered more.

We ended up going over to my parents' house on Saturday {Christmas Eve morning} for a scrumptious breakfast casserole after Ryan & David did some last minute shopping.  It was SO incredibly nice to just RELAX at their house after breakfast.  Ryan and Mom ended up taking Olivia up to one of the outdoor malls to do some more last minute shopping {let me tell you, that brother of mine is a GOOD last minute shopper} and Sydney ended up falling asleep on me in Dad's recliner.  So nice and peaceful.

We did let Olivia open two presents early - she got a new baby doll with lots of "mommy accessories" and a new dollhouse with some furniture in it.  David took her out for a quick walk while we got it all set up with her Strawberry Shortcake dolls and she was so excited when she came in and found it.



Mom put Olivia down for a nap and made her yummy chili for dinner.  Once she was up, we all got ready and went to the Christmas Eve service up at the clubhouse.  My uncle did an amazing job leading the service and my aunt did a fabulous job on her solo, despite being very hoarse.  It was a pleasant surprise seeing my cousin's family there as well.  It would have been nice if we had gotten a family picture before or after the service, but that would have just made 34 pictures being uploaded.

We went back to Mom and Dad's after the service and got down to business!  We didn't take our presents over there, so it felt a bit one-sided opening their presents without being able to give any from us.  But, it was still lots of fun!

Opening her Charlie Brown book narrated by Nana and Poppy.


Mom in the shot!
And, how happy am I that one of my gifts from Santa is a trip to the salon?!

Sydney opens her first teddy bear, Cooper!

Uncle Rhino got Olivia some of the coolest gifts!  He got her a veterinarian kit with all sorts of tools, two stuffed animals and a medical bag AND a veterinarian jacket with even more tools.  So, even when she opened up other gifts, she naturally assumed that her Uncle Rhino got them for her!  We got zero credit!

After opening our gifts there, we loaded them up and headed over to our house for Round 2!  We had a few snacks - a punch and some Oreo cake balls {in regular and candy cane flavored} - at our house to re-energize ourselves.  



Giving Cheers!

In hindsight, I think I would have suggested that we open up some more of the presents in the afternoon because we didn't get to finish the ones at our house before I called a postponement around 11.  We still had to get our kiddos to bed AND play Santa!

We all got some really great gifts from each other!  Mom, Dad and Ryan got our family a membership to the Phoenix zoo!  We are so excited to be able to go there whenever we want.  My brother got me a book, a gift card to get some new clothes and Felicity Season 1 {which I have already finished}.  David got me my much-coveted Erin Condren life planner, a camera coat, some new day clothes {aka pajamas} and a new fleece jacket.  He really made out with some fun stuff like a new electric toothbrush, a Magnum/Olivia/Sydney calendar and some house shoes.  Ha ha, but I also got all creative {by stealing an idea off of Pinterest} and put together 12 pre-paid dates for the two of us.  I promise to go into more detail on that on another post.  

Here's to getting more organized in 2012!

And, to some alone time with my husband!



The girls {well, to be honest, mostly Olivia} seriously hit the jackpot this Christmas!  But, as David so geniusly pointed out, Sydney gets all of Olivia's old toys PLUS new ones, so she really is the lucky one!  Olivia got lots of fun toys that I am excited to play with.  She got a cash register, her doll house, a new baby doll, the vet kit, cookware for her kitchen, books and new clothes!  And, that was just from OUR family.  That doesn't include what Santa brought her or what she got from her Grandma/Poppa and her Aunt Marissa.  Sydney got a new bouncy jumper from her Uncle Rhino {can't wait to hang that up!}, some new clothes and TONS of new bibs!

After the girls went to bed, we ended up moving our stockings into the playroom {which is right off of the family room and has doors that can shut} so that it wouldn't be tempting for Olivia when she got up.  If I do say so myself, Santa did a fabulous job stuffing those stockings!

Sydney's stockings

Olivia's stockings - yes, that IS a pink dinosaur!*

Eyeing her goodies for the first time!

Loving all over her pink dinosaur.  *She talked about asking Santa for a pink dinosaur for at least a month.  I was about to buy a stuffed pink dinosaur from Etsy for $25 when we stumbled on a plastic dinosaur in the dollar bin at Target.  A few days before Christmas I took some pink spray paint (that we already had) and turned him pink!  She plays with that dinosaur every day!

A harmonica

Sydney stayed awake for everyone opening their stocking, but was asleep by the time it was her turn.  Poor thing had slept through almost all of the gift giving the night before too.

I finally got smart and fixed her hair a little bit.  All I could hear in my head was a 20 something Olivia looking back at these pictures and saying, "Thanks, Mom, couldn't you have at least brushed my hair?" Done and done.

Sharing some of her new barrettes with everyone.


She loves the microphone attachment to her new keyboard.

Let's see how Arizona wines compare to California ones!

Pretending to be a vet

After Sydney woke up from her {super long} nap, she got to open up some of her presents.


Checking out the goods in her stocking.

Mommy loves you!

We ended up lounging around for most of the early afternoon and then had a delicious dinner with Honeybaked ham, green bean casserole, hashbrown casserole, corn pudding, and our favorite overnight salad.

Believe it or not, we still hadn't opened up all of our presents!  We still had presents from David's family and if you don't know already, let me just fill you in:  Irma is one of the best gift givers around!  The girls got some really fun gifts from her and Poppa Peter!  My favorite is probably the mini Ergo carrier!  Olivia LOVES it and has been carrying her little animals and babies around all over the place.  She likes being just like her mama.  Olivia even got her own electric toothbrush - a Hello Kitty one - and I honestly have to say this might actually be a gift for me!  It has made toothbrushing FUN!  She has also been loving her Hello Kitty flashlight and has gone on many a scorpion hunt with her daddy.   Stay tuned for some fashionista posts with the cute little outfits that each of the girls got.  {Olivia is especially loving the bright pink tutu from her Aunt Marissa.}  We also got a new picnic blanket and a wipe warmer.  I have to admit I was a bit skeptical on the wipe warmer, but I am LOVING it!  I feel like I'm at a spa every time I change Syd's diaper!

Love that Ergo!!

I was really disappointed that I didn't get any shots of the girls in their Christmas pajamas opening up their gifts together.  By the time Sydney woke up from her nap, Olivia was already dressed in regular clothes, but I was lucky enough to get a couple of pictures of them together before bed.  Ooooh, they just look so cute together!  And, I love how they are almost always doing the same kind of thing/making the same facial expressions in each of the pictures!






To say that we were exhausted by the end of the night is an understatement.  I'm pretty sure I crawled into bed around 9:30 and watched the first two episodes of Felicity while snuggling with Sydney and putting her to bed.  But, it was such a wonderful, fun day.  I'm already looking forward to next year when Sydney will be older and will enjoy opening presents even more.  This was such a fun age with Olivia - seeing the excitement and wonder in her eye.  We are so blessed to be able to experience Christmas with family - either in person or via Skype.  We hope you had a wonderful Christmas as well and best wishes to you and your family for a fabulous 2012.

Thank you for sticking with me through this long and picture-laden post!  I'm sure half of it doesn't make much sense and it's probably out of order.  Such is life in this household!  ;)
Time check:  4:30 on NYE!  Mission accomplished!

2 comments:

Mom Cooper said...

Awesome post Amanda. Good job on choosing the pictures. I love the ones with the girls in matching pjs.

Christmas day may be over but I hope the spirit of Christmas lasts throughout the coming year.

Irma said...

Well...we really missed you this holiday season but reading your post almost made it feel like we were there! (I said almost). Glad Olivia is enjoying the gifts. Can't wait to see the girls again...hopefully sometime in the spring. Thanks for the virtual Christmas spirit!