Last Post of 2010

We told the girls they could stay up until midnight tonight, which was rather brave of us since we didn't even make it all the way last year before giving up and going to bed! Addie lasted until 10pm and Ella is still up and at 'em, reading in our bed at 11pm. I must admit I am surprised...especially since Addie is the one that takes so long to fall asleep typically. Tonight we had fun celebrating my mom's birthday and while going through those pictures I remembered I had these pictures of the kitties all ready to go but had never blogged them. 

So, the last post of the year is of the kitties that often drive me crazy. I know very soon they will be full grown, and one day after a long night with them I tried to document how cute they were in an effort to help my love for them grow :-). And it definitely helped a bit! Happy 2011!!!

Beauty

Ella's sweet, calm and beautiful baby

Tom

Addie's crazy, stubborn and tough guy

attacking my knee while I try and take pictures

the poor ornaments from Meema took a beating from Tom...I ended up just taking the remaining ones off the tree to salvage them for next year

Just Taking it Easy

Since Christmas we have been taking it easy around here. We've been enjoying having Mike home for one more week, playing in the backyard, watching movies, packing up Christmas and trying to keep the house picked up. I've been trying to get us back on track for the new year with more healthy food choices and I've been hitting the gym again. I've also been catching up on my pictures and blogging (this post means I'm all caught up!) and today started working on the 2nd half of our 2009 Blurb book. It feels great to be getting things done, having fun together and getting back into a healthy routine again (I have had a hard time doing this consistently since Preston was born, but now that he is 1 1/2 years old I think it's about time :-)!). It also has been SOOO nice to not have places to be or things that have to be done at a certain time. The freedom has definitely been welcome!
Here's to a Happy New Year!

The house definitely looks empty and plain initially when the holiday decor comes down. Saying goodbye to the Christmas card wall is always my least favorite part. I love it that we actually get real mail during the holidays!

Monday night Mike and I headed out for a date night and today we were kid free again while all 3 played at my friend Emily's house. It is amazing how quiet the house seems or how calm a shopping trip to Sam's club is when there aren't kids around! Of course, it gets boring pretty quickly too :-).

Santa Came!

But first, some pictures from Cheryl of Christmas Eve...

I think Mike took this one with her camera. Oh, how I need a wide angle :-). I love that you can see the whole room and pretty much everyone in it!

Mike and I were pleasantly surprised that no children (or cats for that matter) woke us up until a little before 7am! A typical morning for us starts around 6:30am so it was a treat! Preston actually even slept in until nearly 7:30am, and we decided to just let him sleep and go downstairs with the girls. It would have been mean to make them wait!

I don't think any reaction will ever match 2008's, but the girls definitely were happy with what Santa brought them!

Santa even left the kitties a little bag of treats and a laser pointer toy.

Preston joined the party not too much later. I was surprised that it took him so long to notice his big car. He loves it though and is quite possessive of it if Addie tries to go for a ride. Sharing is one of his goals for 2011 :-). After taking some time to look through all the Santa goodies we opened our presents from each other and relaxed and played.

(I'll have to explain Preston's face bandaids later)

Nothing says Christmas morning like treats from you stocking for breakfast :-).

After a nice morning watching one of the new movies from Santa and playing with the fun new toys, we all got dressed in new Christmas clothes and headed over to my parents' house for our yummy brunch. I posted the menu here. YUM is all I have to say. I think I look forward to brunch the most...I just love breakfast food!

And some more pictures from Cheryl of the morning...

After our yummy brunch, it was movie time. Mike and I traded off watching the kids so we both could see one with the rest of the gang. I went and saw How Do You Know and Mike got to see True Grit. He had been dying to see the movie and I was going to buy tickets for us to go see it as a Christmas present (just to be a nice wife, I had NO desire to see it). So I was thrilled when at our family dinner on the 23rd people started talking about going to see it on Christmas day. We went out to eat on Monday night for our date instead and he still got to see the movie. A win-win :-)!

It was such a fun Christmas! I'm sad we have to wait a whole year for the next one to come around :-)!

Christmas Eve 2010!

The girls could not believe it when Christmas Eve finally arrived!!! 

Last year we went to McDonald's for breakfast on Christmas Eve and Ella told us that she wanted that to be a tradition, so we went again this year and now it is officially a new tradition :-).

We spent a lot of time that day shopping and then headed over to my grandparents later for our Christmas Eve dinner and gift exchange with my family. The food was, of course, Amazing! The table looked beautiful and my grandma even had little activities for the girls to do at their table which was a genius idea. Mike took some pictures of the decorations before we sat down to eat.

We all looked awesome in the crowns from our poppers :-)

The kiddos took turns opening all their presents first and man alive were they spoiled rotten by their aunts, uncles and grandparents! Thank you, thank you :-)!

(Addie got 2 Furr Real kitties, one from Grammy & Greatfrog and one from Mack & Cheryl, and she LOVES them)

Ella got this dog from Grammy and Greatfrog and it is pretty hilarious. It laughs and rolls around :-).

It has become a tradition for Mike and I to get some new clothes during Banana Republic's big sale at Christmas time, so BR giftcards have become a perfect Christmas present for him!

Yes, there is really a vacuum in that box, and yes Scott is really that excited about it. I didn't understand it either...until I heard he wanted it to clean his car with and not his room.

Scott (and Kayley) drew my name this year and I got fabulous new slippers that I desperately needed along with some adorable notecards. Kayley has started a little design business to go along with her art (check her out on Etsy at Pink Coconut Designs).

I always like Mike's artistic shots.

After dessert we hurried home to finish up with the rest of our Christmas Eve traditions. The kids opened their one present of new PJs (and since Ella was giving Mike pajamas this year, he got to open one too). We read the story of Christ's birth in the Old Testament and then put out the treats for Santa and the reindeer. That night when I was tucking Addie in she told me to hurry and go to sleep so Santa would come. I promised her I was just going to clean up the kitchen a little and then go right to bed. She told me, "Oh mom, Santa will clean the kitchen for you!" I wish :-). Addie had really been hoping to spot Rudolph's red nose in the sky that night, but we ended up having a rainstorm so we couldn't even see any stars. Poor Adeline...maybe next year!