We had a cookie-baking day 3 weeks ago with my dad's sisters, mom, step-mom & cousins. I love cookie baking day! It takes me back to childhood memories of spending way too much time decorating the cookies to have them look perfect. haha. My cousin Laura was there & is expecting her 1st baby (a girl! yay!) this March. I gave her a bunch of breastfeeding books, since she was asking if I had any to recommend. I also plan on sharing my experiences with her to encourage her! I am just so proud of her for wanting to nurse her baby!!!
The girls had a great time decorating cookies (Maddy was the unofficial sprinkle taste tester!) and were just so good & Noah got passed around all morning without a care. What a great baby!
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| Messy Maddy |
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| My Aunt Donna rolling out sand tarts |
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| Can you tell Sophie decorated these? |
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| My Gram & Noah |
So on Christmas Eve, we were at my dad's family's house again to celebrate. Tons of cousins, aunts, uncles, etc to talk to and show off the kiddos to. ;o) They had fun playing with my cousin's 2 y/o son and we left pretty late, so they fell asleep of course on the drive home. They all woke up once we got to my dad's house (where we spent the night) upon opening the doors and getting a blast of cold air. Oh no! So they were up late for Christmas Eve and were all finally asleep by midnight.
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| The girls table full of presents for them, Noah & Opa & Oma! |
I didn't realize how much FUN Christmas is until having kids excited for it. Just putting the gifts out for them and sneaking them out of their hiding places was SO much fun for me...just imagining how excited they would be when they come out and see all of their presents. And Sophie did not disappoint with that! lol! Maddy didn't care..she loved pointing out the elmos in her wrapping paper (thank you Dollar Tree!!), but Sophie freaked! It was so cute!!!
They unwrapped and I have to say we did manage to give them a good Christmas, despite not having money. I was very creative and thinking about Christmas since before Sophie's bday. Lots of things I won or won GCs to buy. They were quite pleased.
We had Christmas dinner with my Dad & Judy and brothers. It was very nice and the girls ate good (which for them is odd when there's so much going on to distract them from eating) & Sophie was BEGGING to open presents from her uncles, which cracked everyone up. We visited for a while longer before heading back to Brian's parents for their Christmas schindig.
My SIL & MIL were ticking me off with how they kept calling Brian and asking if he was still coming, and when we'd be there etc etc etc. ALL MORNING LONG! We originally said "we'll leave my dad's around 3, and be at the house by 5", so shouldn't that be enough of a guideline? Apparently not, since he got several calls about when we're going to get there & frankly stressed us both out too much we didn't want to even go. But we got there at 4:45 (look, we're early!), but decided that next year this is not happening. 1 Christmas during the day...not everyones!
Sophie got a ton of fun presents (lots of toys...despite MIL always complain she has too many toys & that's why the play room is always a mess...I don't get her sometimes) and loved opening them for me & her siblings who could care less. hehe. We had dessert with them & then Brian's sister & family left. I got a lot of things put away before and after the kids went to bed, so MIL wouldn't complain about the mess when she got up in the morning.
I got up super early to make baked corn for my grandma's Christmas party that afternoon (which we were worried about not making it too because of the threatening blizzard that ended up moving east thankfully!), and didn't have enough eggs, so I went to Walmart at 6:30am to get some. It was SOOOOO weird going there minus kids and I got in and out in record time, despite there only being 2 lines open and tons of people waiting in each. I made the corn, got dressed & ready and then the kids started waking up. We made it to the party in plenty of time and the girls played hard w/my cousins and some of my cousins kids (my cousins range in age from 42 to 4 months old on this side of the family, so there are tons of kids around!).
We had a good time & I got to talk to a few of my aunts & uncles and my mom mom, which is always so nice. I also learned that I am not alone w/my extreme disliking of my step-father. Apparently that's the general consensus of the family, but everyone is nice to mom about her awful choice in a 2nd husband. I felt like a weight has been lifted just hearing them vent about the exact same feelings I have had for the past decade! Mom Mom was still SO mad at Karl for making my mom cry this summer. She vented to me for like 20 minutes and I kept telling her about normal I feel now that I know I'm not alone w/my feelings. It made me love her even more! <3
We left in the afternoon as the snow started really laying & as we drove back here, there was less and less snow. By the time we got home, there was not even a flurry! Talk about AWESOME!!! hehe. :op
So we had a pretty decent Christmas. Long, lots of driving, and lots of trying to fit everything into a short amount of time, but it went well. And now that it's January, we can expect a break right? Or not...Christmas part 5? is in 3 weeks but also Maddy's 2nd birthday parties are coming up too. I'm thinking February might be our time to just chill. hehe.
How was your holiday?? :o)
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