Christmas Day 2011

We spent Christmas Day at my parents' house.  Ma and Pap came to help us celebrate.  I didn't get a ton of pictures of the kids opening their gifts or playing with their toys, but I did get lots of "family portraits" of many different configurations.  Oddly enough, as I'm usually behind the camera, I happen to be in almost all of them.

Santa baby. 

Lorelai in her new elf apron - it even lights up!

Almost a complete family portrait.  (Not sure how Miller missed out on this one.)

Mama and me.

Color-coordinated Pap and Ma.

A fetching photograph of Grandmother and Granddaddy.

Santa Was Here

Christmas morning arrived with a trove of presents under the tree - Santa had come!

The big gift that Lorelai requested from Santa was a dollhouse bigger than she is.  She must have been pretty good this year because the first thing she saw when she woke up Christmas morning was this HUGE dollhouse next to the tree.  She was so excited!

Miller had asked for a giant kitty cat, which I'm sad to say wasn't under the tree, but he did get several Thomas the Train sets, a Fisher-Price Rampway almost as tall as he is, Phineas and Ferb figurines,  and a monkey Pillow Pet for our little Monkey Man.

A few of the gifts that Lorelai got this year were a singing Rapunzel whose dress lights up, Barbie Charm School (both the DVD and the actual playset), high heels for playing dress up, Disney fairies light-up art set, and a unicorn Pillow Pet.  Her most requested gift from Mommy and Daddy, however, was the Monster High doll named Toralei.  She really wanted this doll because "it had a name that sounded almost like hers."  She was really worried she wouldn't get one because each time we went to the toy store Toralei was never on the shelves.  The next pictures capture her excitement/happiness perfectly when she opened it on Christmas morning.

Did I mention I got new pajamas from my fabulous husband?!

Christmas Eve 2011

We celebrated Christmas with tons of excitement, but it all had to start by preparing for the big day.

Since we live in an apartment and don't have a chimney, Grandmother Catherine (Ma) gave us a Santa key last year to leave outside our door so that Santa could be sure to get in.

Lorelai found the perfect place to leave it so that Santa would be sure to see it.

Next on the agenda was putting out the cookies.  I'm sad to say they were store bought, but on the bright side they did have M & M's in them.

A few pictures in front of the tree before heading off to bed.  Grandmother Catherine got these adorable matching pajamas for them.  Actually, she got a matching set for Sierra and Chase, as well, so be on the look out for an upcoming group photo of the crew in plaid pretty soon!

Ready for Santa!!

Holiday Christmas Program

This year's Kids & Company Holiday program was a big success.  Each age group performed a few classic Christmas songs and then the staff put together a slide show presentation of all the children for the director, Mrs. Becky.  The pictures I got during the show of Miller weren't great due to my location, but the ones I got before and afterof everybody else made up for it.

Acrobat Lorelai.

Sierra and Lorelai - All smiles and ready for some holiday cheer.

Miller Man - Rocking out with his ridiculously overpriced jingle bell prop.  Don't know if it was on purpose or if he just chose to sit there when the time came, but this little guy was on the front row all by himself singing, shaking his bell, and having a grand old time.  Precious Maria was on the step above him.

Then a bit of an uprising occurred...

...by not one classmate...

...but two.  But no worries from our laidback Mimmer.  He just kept on shaking his jungle bell and smiling. 

A great smile from Chase when his class came up to perform.  I moved locations and had a much better view of him.

Isabella backstage before she went on to perform.

Zoo Fun

After the cookie party we attended a birthday party at the Greenville Zoo.  I got very few pictures because I was busy chasing after the kids, but here are the ones I was able to capture.

Dan - "The Monkey Whisperer" 

This monkey was sitting all alone in a corner wrapped up playing with the branches from a Christmas tree.  It was so cute I couldn't help taking a picture.

I told Lorelai to stick her hand in the bear's mouth and pretend she was being eaten.

Annual Cookie Party

Each year my friend, Karen, hosts a cookie decorating party for her friends and their kids.  This year we even brought Isabella and her mom along.  According to Karen her philosophy is, "The more, the merrier!" 

Our fabulous hostess.

Miss Sassy, herself.

Miller getting some help from Stacie, my friend and co-worker.  She's the one who knew at one month that Lorelai would be filled with sass.  (She should tell fortunes.) 

Best friends hard at work.

I love this one!

Breakfast with Santa

On Saturday we went to Breakfast with Santa.  Last year Miller didn't want anything to do with Santa, but this year he was all prepped to sit on his lap and tell him what he wanted...that is, until we got to breakfast.  He was fine to call to him from afar, but that was as close as he was willing to get.

This handsome little man stayed back in the pew with me while Lorelai and Dan went up to the front of the church to sing Christmas carols before the breakfast with Santa began.

Here's the lovely Lorelai waiting for the caroling to begin.

Some fun daddy/daughter moments.

When Lorelai ran over to me while I was taking pictures of her with Dan I seized the opportunity to take a solo picture of my handsome husband as I have so few single photos of him.

The moment we all waited for!