Christmas

My Girls must have made it onto Santa's nice list because this is the loot they had waiting for them under the tree Christmas morning!

Aubrey surprised us when she woke up and made no mention at all about Christmas or Santa. She just jumped into bed with us as usual. We were happy to snuggle in bed a bit longer, so we didn't say anything either. A while later she asked if she could watch a show. At this point I asked Aubrey, "Do you think someone came last night?" She responded with, "I don't know." So I said, "Do you think Santa came last night?" Aubrey said, "No, I don't think he came." She had been convinced that she would hear Santa and his reindeer and see them at our house before they left. I think it's from all of the Christmas movies that show the kids and families seeing Santa at their house. I had been trying to convince her that she would in fact not see Santa at our house, but I guess she had not been convinced. So I asked her, "Should we check and see if he came?" At that point she got excited and jumped up and said, "Yeah lets go see!"

She was very happy to see he had visited and brought her presents!

After playing with her Little People Zoo for a bit, she went over to check out the note Santa left and to see if he ate his milk and cookies.

Then she noticed that Brooke got some toys too. She was so sweet because when she saw what Brooke got she said, "Look Mommy there are balls in this toy, Brookie LOVES balls!" She was so excited for her sister to get something that she loves.

She then noticed Brooke's stocking and we let her know that she had a stocking too. She got excited and ran right over to her stocking to take a look.

Since it's Christmas, kids must be allowed a piece of candy before breakfast!

She LOVED going through her stocking and finding all of the surprises.

Here she is being introduced to Pez for the first time. She ended up eating all three Pez packages before her nap that day. It was a big hit.

Then Brooke finally woke up. We decided that since Brooke really wouldn't know what is going on this year, we wouldn't wait for her to wake up. Next year we will - but this year it was nice to get to focus on each one individually.

Aubrey was right, Brooke went right for her balls as soon as she saw them.



She doesn't know what is going on but is very happy for the attention and new balls!



This ball rarely left her mouth all morning.



Aubrey had to come over and show Brookie how her toy worked.

And then was very willing to go through Brooke's stocking and show her what she got.

We then just let them play with their Santa stuff for a while.

Then we told Aubrey that she could pass out all of the presents. She thought that was great fun. She just started arbitrarily giving presents to people. We had to explain that there was a tag and that said who the present was for. As luck would have it the first several presents Aubrey grabbed where for Brooke.

Aubrey just kept piling them on Brooke's lap. She was enjoying the wrapping paper so much we didn't even bother opening them for a while.

She finally got a good grip on one and got it opened.

I was excited that I finally got a picture of Brooke waving!

Hooray - Aubrey found one that was for her!

Aubrey giving the present she helped pick out from her to Daddy.

The girls got a Barbie movie from cousins JJ & Cali. We have watched that movie over and over again the last few days. Thanks cousins for a great present!

And of course Aubrey had to play with all of her things after opening each one. We had discussed it before and had decided we'd just let her take her time opening the gifts. We don't have any older kids in a hurry to rush it along, so we'd take all morning if she wanted. And that we did!

Oh yeah, I was there too! Mostly behind the camera - where I like to be!

Grandma Buell sent a cute little makeup kit in the shape of a rocking horse. Aubrey loves it! I am sure she's going to use it all up by weeks end. Grandma Buell - if you find any more of these I am sure Aubrey wouldn't mind a refill!

After opening quite a few presents Aubrey announced, "I am all done opening presents - I'm going to play with my zoo now."

We took that opportunity to turn our focus to Brooke and open more of her gifts.

Brooke checking out the singing and talking bear we gave her. She's both interested and a little nervous about it.

The minute Aubrey caught eyes on it, she said, "Can I have this?" The nice thing about having a baby sister who is not quite old enough to appreciate her toys yet, is that big sister gets double the presents! (Or so she thinks!)



The bear brought Aubrey back into present opening territory and she was now up for round 2 of present opening.

That only lasted for one gift though. We got her a doll highchair/swing, with Minnie Mouse sitting in it. The minute she saw Minnie she fell in love. She pretty much did not leave her side the rest of the day. Minnie helped open gifts and helped play with all of the new toys. Go figure the $5 toy is the hit of the day!

Aubrey ran immediately to her room to get a bowl and a spoon to feed Minnie her cereal.

During this break, Jeff & I opened our gifts. (I have pictures of it, but it's just not that cute!)

Then we convinced Aubrey to begin round 3 of present opening. Once again, that only lasted for 1 present. G & G Bagley got her a Little People House that was a BIG hit. She had to play with that for a long time!



We finally convinced her for round 4 - the final round. That was dedicated to the surprise presents Daddy got for her (well and Brooke too - but she won't quite appreciate them yet.) After Mommy had completed the shopping for the girls, Daddy got in the Christmas spirit and got more presents. Lucky kids!

Here is Aubrey with her loot.

And here's Brooke with hers.

And we thought that we were going to have a small Christmas. The grandparents and the Daddy sure did spoil them! (Ok maybe Mommy & Santa too)

And here is Brooke still with the ball in mouth as she explores other toys.

One of Daddy's surprises to the girls was a play tent.

Aubrey had a ball with it!

My girls playing together.

We played all morning, had a late breakfast, played some more, napped in the afternoon and ate and played in the evening.

Then right before the girls went off to bed Aunt Summer & Uncle Steve stopped by on their way home from Steve's parents house.

Aubrey enjoyed showing off her new stuff to them!

It was a nice, relaxing, pj's all day kind of Christmas. I already can't wait for next year! I hope all of your Christmas' were just as fun!