Christmas

Christmas has officially come and gone.  What a whirlwind!  We had a wonderful holiday, celebrated over about a week's time....

First, we celebrated with my side of the family in Indiana:

me, Eric & Natalie

Natalie opens her stocking from Grandma & Grandpa P.

time out for a snack

her aunts and uncles in Indiana gave Nat her very first pony

(I like it because it's low maintenance!)

with Aunt Beth & Uncle Adam and Aunt Jessica and Uncle Ronnie

guarding the fire-proof safe

Then, we headed north to Wisconsin to celebrate for a few days with Eric's side of the family.  My camera didn't make the trip, so hopefully some pictures from there will be forthcoming from other sources!

Late Christmas Eve, we drove back south so that Natalie could wake up in our house Christmas morning, and open gifts from us, and find anything that Santa Claus may have left under our tree.

And, boy did he leave a haul!

Nat's first glimpse of toys from Santa

she went straight for the books!

then stopped to read one...

so excited for Letter Saurus

and Weebles 

(did anybody else know they still made those?)

a wagon!

and a trike from mom and dad

This was the big hit of Christmas Day...

you've never seen a kid happy like Natalie being pushed around on her Radio Flyer tricycle.

giving the wagon a closer inspection

modeling her Aran sweater from Ireland (or Scotland?),

and demo-ing her reading chair

Natalie demonstrated that there is more than one use for the muscle roller that I received as a gift:

stick pony

walking stick

This week we're busy preparing for Natalie's 1-year check up with her doctor, and her birthday party this weekend!  I will be attempting to bake an assortment of sweet treats for all party go-ers, so come hungry!  Also, the completion of our year-long photo project is this week...plus some exciting announcements for 2012 adventures.

We hope you all had as wonderful of a holiday as we had!