Merry First Christmas!

We had our first Christmas yesterday, and had a wonderful time. We came out to the cabin bright and early in our pajamas and found Sophie’s cousins excited and waiting for her. We had a quick breakfast and then prepared for the whirlwind that is opening presents with kids. Sophie needed no encouragement or help opening presents this year. She charged in and had to be reminded to slow down, and wait her turn. She received many, many gifts that left us wondering how they might all fit in our little house. Sophie loved every second of it, and will be thrilled to learn she gets to do it all again next weekend.

Uncle Ry looks on as Sophie and Kyle build blocks.

Santa brought Sophie a Dora backpack and map. Sophie was thrilled and has been carrying it around ever since. Santa also brought Dora underwear, we get the hint Santa- it's time.

Grandma and Grampa got Sophie and Elly Princess Chairs. They both loved them!

After all the presents were opened, we bundled the kids up and headed outside into the snow. All the kids were thrilled to play in the snow, and played outside at least 3 hours. It was a wonderful day!

Carl and Sophie out on the frozen lake.

Sophie and Elly in their Snow Chairs that Val built for them.

Kyle escorted Sophie and Daddy around in the golf cart.

Grandpa braved the cold and built a snowman with the kids. Sophie is adding a finishing touch. By the way, the clump of snow on top of his head is a hat.

All the kids posing by the finished product! They worked great together!

Christmas Cookies

It's probably some rare form of child abuse that we have never let Sophie have her own cookie before. Certainly not one with frosting. But, we decided that since she has reached the age of 2 1/2, it's probably time. So while Sophie had "quiet time" in her room, I baked the cookies and let her frost one after dinner. She was, of course, thrilled- and kept saying that the cookies were "yummy", and "tasty". We then gave her a nice long bath and put her to bed, where she literally bounced off the walls for about 45 min. Perhaps she will have her next cookie when she is 5.

As you can see, Sophie's frosting skills mirror my own, the more the better!

Yummy, Yummy cookie!

It's Beginning to Look a lot Like Christmas

Sophie was Thrilled to help us decorate for Christmas. Thrilled. She especially loved helping us put our tree up. She could hardly stand all the excitement and had to be part of every step.

Coming to investigate what exactly this giant box was in our living room.

Carl and I had never set the tree up this fast before- Sophie kept bringing us more and more branches and did not seem to care that they were supposed to go in a certain order.

Christmas lights are very exciting.

Daddy was moving a little too slowly while putting the lights on the tree- Sophie had to come help.

We decorated the tree later, it's a good thing we have lots of non-breakable ornaments.