Christmas Afternoon

Christmas afternoon involved more presents, more family, and more food! Caroline stayed in her pj's until after Nana and Grampy arrived. Open up a couple of more gifts and then we got dressed in her Christmas dress. I will have to find a few more occasions to have her wear this because I just love this dress! Great Gram, Aunt Barbara, and Uncle Richard came over and there were more presents and dinner! Dinner took a little bit longer than expected, but we made do with great snacks and some entertainment. I was on food duty so my pictures ended, but I'm waiting for some pictures from Richard to fill in the blank from 1pm and on :)

After the morning presents, Daddy had already cleaned up some

 Opening Nana and Grampy's gifts

 A fishing pole!

Trying for a nice picture in her dress, 

but she was more interested in the guys setting up her princess castle!

Christmas Morning

We woke up Christmas morning and waited for Caroline to wake up. She has been sleeping late lately and she had a lot of excitement the past couple of days so we were surprised when she woke up at 8:30. Still late, but not as late as we thought! When we heard some noise from her room we ran up to start the excitement! Her first words? "I want an ice cream cone!" Huh? Sorry kiddo, you get presents! We headed downstairs and checked out the gifts, opened stockings, opened presents, enjoyed a delicious breakfast of apple pull-apart bread and the got ready for everyone to arrive for Christmas dinner. The best part was there were flurries the whole day. Nothing really accumulated, but it was very picturesque!

 

 

 

Getting a good shot

Each year I envision a lovely shot of my beautiful daughter in front of our Christmas tree. I have plenty of opportunity since we do a Christmas eve dress, cute Christmas pj's, and of course her beautiful Christmas dress. Each year I think the next will be better, she will be older and more patient. I will be older and more patient. Nope! I thought I would share the out takes from the Christmas eve shoot. :)

 This was the best picture!

 Because sometimes you have to scratch that itch

 Or pick your nose...

 

 Or there is the over zealous "cheese!"

 You need to break out into dance

 You are asked to put your hands down at your side

 ...and asked to act naturally

Sometimes a prop can ease the subject, 

or make them feel like they are holding a bomb :P

Christmas Eve

We spent the day cleaning and preparing for Christmas dinner at our house. Finishing up treats and doing some advance prep in the kitchen. Then, we headed to Aunt Kathy's for a family get together. Caroline loved playing with her cousins and they just adore her! We came home and got into our Christmas jammies and set out cookies for Santa. Read a little "The Night Before Christmas" and Caroline was out like a light. Partly due to the fact that she hadn't napped that day and partly because she knew Saint Nicholas would soon be here! :)

 Quick shot before we head to Aunt Kathy's 

(Next post will have some great outtakes!)

 At least someone is paying attention!

Lucy was getting frustrated with Caroline for not giving it all for the camera :)

The day before Christmas Eve!

On Sunday, two days before Christmas, we were all finally feeling pretty good. We made lots of goodies for Christmas and for our annual cookie/candy tins, decorated the house, and headed up to see the light show at LL Bean in Freeport. Nana and Grampy joined us and we hit Ninety Nine's for dinner afterwards. Caroline was definitely feeling better as she didn't stop talking the entire time and had some funny antics along the way!

 Daddy with the great idea of letting Caroline help smash candy canes!

 She was very good at it though!

 The light show at LL Bean

 She had to dance (spin) during the entire thing!

The second song she ran around the tree with Daddy & the other kids!

Joining Grampy for some ice cream, with sprinkles and whipped cream. 

Who needs an ice cream sandwich?

Photo Friday

We're back on track with the photos and videos as of tonight. Hopefully, it will stay that way. I wish I could say we were back on track in the health department, but not so. Caroline is finally better, Daddy is still good, but now I am full on sick. I've been battling it all week and just cant' shake it. Keeping fingers crossed for feeling better by Sunday night? Full week, I think that is being generous to this bug that is staying with me :)

So, this weeks pictures are more of the same. Lots of indoor activities or lack thereof. No gymnastics and no going out for us. We stayed in all week. Caroline finally got to go to the store tonight and pick up some dinner with Daddy since we lost power. A full one and a half weeks since she had been out and was in real clothes. She was pretty happy!

 Mommy being crafty again

That ended real quick once I got sick

 Caroline not happy she can't go out in the snow

 My little Rudolph

 Caroline's little Rudolph

Notice his cushy bed, pillow and blanket :)

 She says after placing her pipecleaner crown on,

"I'm the queeeen"

 Caroline's door decoration. 

The same little stocking that used to go on my doorknob :)

 Very rainy Friday. Someone is bored since she is healthy and Mommy is not. 

Notice the leg crossed :)

 Daddy came home early to go get someone after nap. 

This called for a rare mid-afternoon story time :)

Finally in some real clothes! 

Although, not happy about not getting to jump in muddy puddles right away :)

Grumpy Rudolph :)

Decorating the Christmas Tree

As I said in yesterdays post, we're a little behind on some things because of "the cold that will never go away." We finally got the tree decorated last weekend after letting it sit inside for almost a week! The pictures aren't the best since it was dark and no one really had the patience to fix things, but we got it done and had a good time doing it. Caroline had more fun emptying out the boxes and commandeering a few ornaments, but since then she hasn't touched the tree once. Ahh, so much better than last year!

 Big fan of the bell :)

 Showing Caroline her ornamnet