Our holiday so far . . .

We went bowling Christmas Eve afternoon, a tradition from my sister-in-law Codi's family. It was a lot of fun, especially for Andrew who got his all-time high score of 220. I bowled on the kid's lane so I could make use of the bumpers. Thanks to them I got a strike. . . . Naturally Lizzie bowled in a dress.

Codi helped the little girls decorate cookies for Santa on Christmas Eve. They each got three: two to decorate and one to eat. Lizzie brought her third to me and said, "This is for you Mommy. I'm sorry I took a bite out of it . . . and licked it." Luckily she made this confession before took a bite.

Initially I thought Liz would be too hyper to sleep or worse, it would be like our drive the night before when every half hour she asked if we were almost to Nana's house. But, she and Iris were so excited about Santa coming that they quickly bathed and put themselves to bed at 6:30--an hour and a half early for Lizzie. I loved it.

Christmas morning with little kids is so fun. When Liz saw the pile of presents under the tree she exclaimed, "Santa came! He really did come!" And when she saw that most of the cookies were gone she became even more excited and hollared for Iris to come examine the remains.

As far as the gifts were concerned, Liz was appropriately happy with her skis, though as soon as she picked up the package to put it in her present pile she guessed it's contents. With most of her gifts, she exclaimed, "my favorite!" or "it's just what I wanted" and ran to hug the giver.

When Iris opened her kitchen Liz said, "Iris, you got what you wanted! Santa heard you! He hears everything!"

For Christmas we re-gifted Alaina things she already received as baby gifts because she really doesn't need much. I didn't notice until I looked at this picture, but the stocking is longer than she is.

Aside from re-gifts, we gave Alaina a cool mist humidifier (cuz she has a cold), pacifier leashes, Desitin (because I forgot to pack some), and a contraption to make washing bottles in the dishwasher easier. It may sound like she got the shaft, but she actually got more than Lizzie did her first Christmas. Five years ago we only gave Liz one solitary stuffed toy and no stocking. Speaking of, after Liz opened all her gifts, she opened Lainey's.

The girls played well together (such a welcome change from last August). They pretty much spent the day rotating between Lizzie's ponies, Iris' kitchen, and Willa's Dora house.

After everything was opened, Uncle Scott made German pancakes for breakfast. Delicious.

And, we stayed in our pajamas all day. It was lovely.

Ahhh, the Wii that almost wasn't. After days of unsuccessfully checking with multiple stores my mother found one at Walmart on the 23rd. I received the good news during our 9.5 hour drive to South Carolina. Thank goodness. I always swore I wouldn't own a video games, but oh well. Drew wore me down. Nearly everyone enjoyed playing it (though I must admit that I haven't tried it out yet). As for my gifts, Drew did well. Amongst other things, he gave me Anne of Green Gables DVDs which he promises to watch with me, lotion for foot rubs (my fav), and some white house ornaments even though he doesn't really like them (or at least he doesn't see what all the fuss is about).
On the 26th we went to see the Christmas lights at the Columbia Zoo. It was so fun. The weather was wonderfully mild and the kids were well-behaved. Aside from the lights, Liz liked the simulated snow and carousel. I liked the light show timed to music.

Once the kids were in bed, Scott and Codi taught us a card game called Golf. We LOVED it. We played till about 2 in the morning and still, I can't wait to play again and again. Luckily it can be played with only two people so Drew and I can continue playing even when we aren't surrounded by our extended family (maybe while we watch Anne).

For Lizzie's first Christmas I took pictures of her in a Santa hat:

I wanted to do the same with Alaina, but the first session didn't go so well.

Take two went much better . . . . .

Until I laid her on her tummy. Obviously we aren't as good with "tummy time" with Lainey as we were with Liz (who was almost a whole month younger when her pictures where taken).