More December Fun and Games

Kelly painting with her new "magic" paints, a Christmas present from Gramma Dot and Grampa.

Alyssa just being cute.

Christmas Day

A few pics from the Christmas Eve aftermath (aka Christmas Day).

Kelly and her first Barbie. Aunt Kate lavished Kelly with many many presents, including veterinarian Barbie. I'm not a big fan, but I have to admit this one is pretty good.

Alyssa in Kelly's Mickey Mouse ears (also a gift from Aunt Kate's trip to Disney World).

Kelly paused from helping me bake Grandma Cilla's birthday cake to pose for the camera. We celebrated later in the day.

Christmas Eve at Gramma and Grampa's

Alyssa all pretty in her Christmas bow. I think those headbands are kind of cruel for babies so this is the only one she's ever worn... and she didn't wear it for long.

Kelly riding the Uncle Joe horse. He gave her a tour of the whole house on his back, up the stairs and everything!

 

Alyssa taking a little nap in Gramma Dot's lap with her singing donkey from Santa.

 

Alyssa and Aunt Kate for the first time ever! Kate is not a fan of babies, but conceded to hold her since she was already asleep.

Alyssa awake again and ready for the present unwrapping festivities!


Bird's eye view of the family opening presents.

Sisters

Getting a picture of these two together is proving to be quite a challenge.  This is a rare one, taken with a cell phone, with a paci in Kelly's mouth (she thinks they're fun toys when she finds one floating around) and her hand over her face.  But I just love Alyssa's glee while she and Kelly played on Kelly's bed.

Snowed In

While we got about two feet of snow dumped on us yesterday, we managed to get a few pictures...

Kelly getting ready to go out and play.  Daddy was busy doing the first round of shoveling (he did 2 yesterday and I did 1... at least 6 inches of snow each round!) so no pictures of playing in the snow yet...  Maybe today we'll brave it all together.  It's hard to get the whole family out because Alyssa isn't really ready for snow play quite yet...

Alyssa didn't mind hanging out inside all day.

Daddy's Newest Hobby

These are so awesome I thought Kelly and Alyssa wouldn't mind sharing a little bit of blog space...

We hung a birdfeeder out on our deck which affords wonderful photo opportunities.  I was instructed to say that these were all taken through our closed sliding glass door.

Blue Jays.

Female cardinal.

Male cardinal and a couple others...

Action shot around the feeder.

As you can see, it was pretty busy out there for a while!

Rest in Peace, Granddaddy

Meeting Alyssa for the first time.

 

He said of his youngest grandchild that she was "the happiest baby" he ever met and that she was a "very handsome baby."  I'll never forget how Alyssa's smiles could light him up, even on his bad days. While it breaks my heart that Alyssa is too young to remember him, I am consoled that Kelly probably will.  They had a very special relationship.  Fortunately he got to see both of his youngest grandchildren quite often.  My father will be sorely missed.

Family Portrait

Another fun activity from the Breakfast with Santa was getting our "portrait" drawn by a caricaturist.  We thought this was good for a laugh...

Breakfast with Santa

Saturday morning we were up bright and early to go to Grampa's company's Breakfast with Santa festivities. We all had lots of fun. The coolest thing for me was probably the fact that Alyssa was with us this year because I had just found out that I was pregnant with her at last year's Breakfast with Santa.

Even though she looks scared, this year Kelly was so excited to see Santa that she tried to run up to see him before it was our turn.

To her/his credit, Alyssa was in the midst of a breakdown when it was our turn to see Santa.  I think that if we had tried to go back and see him later (after she was calmed by a brief nap), she wouldn't have minded him one bit.

Kelly and Mrs. Claus.  She always has lots of fun stuff like glitter and hedgehogs!

 

Kelly helping to open Alyssa's present.  Kelly's present is next to her.

 

 

There were also crafts.  Kelly got to make a bookmark and a bracelet and decorate cookies.

 

 

Of course, the event afforded plenty of Gramma photo-ops.

 

Close-Ups

Some new pics of our girls.

Kelly, probably watching TV... and talking... always talking!

Alyssa, having some fun time in the baby gym.


Gnawing on my finger.


Ticky-ticky!

Hanging out at Gramma and Grampa's House

Last Saturday we went over to Gramma and Grampa's to visit.

Kelly and Alyssa posed on the Elmo couch for a bit. You can see Alyssa is a bit stunned by the giant TV in front of her.

I like this picture because it's just so.... ridiculous.  I can't help but laugh whenever I see it.

Kelly enjoying the ice cream that Grampa got for her

Alyssa hanging in the bouncy chair... though she did fit pretty nicely on the couch.

I don't know if this was the beginning of a smile or a yawn...

Reading with Grampa

Almost every weekend Grampa comes down to see us and take us out to breakfast. Afterwards, Kelly keeps him busy. Lately she has been making him read to her.

Mr. T

Kelly and Daddy went through his box of old necklaces and Kelly ended up looking like Mr. T...

Reading with Daddy

[I apologize for the lousy quality/expressions... this was the best of the pictures though and I couldn't resist.]

Kelly Fix

Kelly has been neglected a little bit of late on here so....