Merry Christmas!

Parents have been holding out on a very big secret all these years...having children makes you enjoy Christmas just as much as when it was you waiting to see what Santa brought. We have had such a fun morning (although all of us are battling a very bad cold), which you can see in the videos and pictures below. Next we're on our way to Mimi and Boppa's. We hope that you are having as much fun as we are today!

Ellie comes down the steps to see what happened last night....

Ellie opens more of her presents...

What a big girl on her tricycle!

We'll try the helmet again later. It didn't go over so well this morning!

Ellie's favorite gift is of course her new baby doll that cries.

Baby's turn to ride!

We wish you all a very merry Christmas!

Our First Christmas Tree

(By JPC)

Most other years, Lori and I have gotten a small table top tree, but since we knew Ellie would love it, this year we decided to get a great big tree for the first time! As predicted, Ellie loves it!

"I'm freezing."

"Could we please just pick a tree and go home?"

Although she didn't enjoy the Christmas tree shopping as much as we did, she was fascinated by the fact that we drove home with it on top of our car.

After much laughter, we finally get the tree off the car and into our house...with a little help from a neighbor who took pity on us!

Once the tree was up, Ellie hung the first ornaments.

I love my tree!!

Ellie's birthday party

(By JPC)

Ellie's birthday party was the Saturday after her 2nd birthday. As you'll see below, Elmo was the theme of her party. We had family and friends over to celebrate her special day with us. And with seven kids under the age of six, it was a busy and loud gathering! Ellie had a fantastic day - helping to make the cake, playing with her friends, eating the cake, and opening her presents. Happy birthday, my girl!

Eating cake batter while still in her PJs! The benefit of not using eggs is that eating the cake batter isn't a problem :-)

Playing "pin the nose on Elmo"

And then we had an Elmo pinata....thankfully the kind with pull strings on the bottom so no swinging bats involved!

Ellie's homemade Elmo cake, which I am very proud of! She loved it!

Opening her birthday presents

Click below for our fun "Elf" dance routine!

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1468607971

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1460069923

Florida

(By JPC)

We realized how much we've done in the last month and we haven't posted a single thing! So we're going to try to do it in chronological order, starting with our trip to Fort Lauderdale in November. Lori had to go for a work-related meeting so Ellie and I tagged along to enjoy the sunshine. We celebrated Lori's birthday while we were there and then flew home the day before Ellie's birthday. We had a very fun time and it was hard returning to the frozen north!

We took the train to the airport and it was Ellie's first really train ride. She loved it even though it was 5 am!

Waiting at the airport - she loved watching the planes taking off and landing.

Ready for take off

After an early morning and lots of excitement, Ellie starts to fade...

and then spent the rest of the plane trip sound asleep!

Back on land!

Ellie's favorite thing about our hotel room was the view of the ocean and the beach volleyball players. She loved watching them play and would yell, "Missed!" every time the ball hit the ground!

Having dinner on the bay

Lucky girl got to have Frosted Flakes for breakfast - a real treat after oatmeal at home everyday!

Ellie and Jana enjoying the clear, warm water

Ellie loved playing in the sand!

The little organizer arranged all the toys one afternoon in order of type and then bucket height.

We took a water taxi ride to check out the beautiful homes on the canal

Ellie slept the entire water taxi ride!

It was a challenge finding food that Ellie could eat at every restaurant and some places were more helpful than others. She ate a lot of turkey, tomatoes, and applesauce!

The great kids area that the hotel prepared every morning with lots of toys








Heading home!