kids

kids

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Finally.....Christmas pics!

We had a wonderfully full house for Christmas. Grandma Bonnie and Papa Jeff drove down to Milwaukee and stayed with us December 22-29. On the 23rd, our family friends Ruthanne and Steve drove Grandma Kay Ellen up from Lisle for a 3-day visit. Aunt Katharine and Uncle Jarey drove up on Christmas morning.

Papa Jeff and Daddy entertained John and Lila with a little "chicken fighting" the night that Papa and Grandma Bonnie arrived.....
On Christmas Eve, Lila wasn't feeling very well. She had a slight fever and was acting very lethargic, so she stayed home with Grandma Bonnie and Papa Jeff while Mommy, Daddy, John and Grandma Kay Ellen went to the 4:00 church service. Here's Lila hanging out with Grandma and Papa.....
For Christmas Eve dinner, we had chicken parmesan, rice and mixed vegetables. For dessert, there was a huge selection of cookies. (We are very lucky that Grandma Bonnie bakes a lot during the holidays!) Grandma Kay Ellen was very excited to see such a spread and enjoyed a peanut butter cookie.

Ruthanne and Steve had brought the kids two of the most delicious-looking snowman cookies you could imagine from a really good bakery near where they live. John and Lila were completely infatuated with them.

Before bedtime on Christmas Eve, Daddy helped John put out a plate of cookies and a cup of milk for Santa. Daddy also helped him write a little note to Santa telling Santa to enjoy his snack. I forgot to take a picture of this -- whoops!

On Christmas morning, we let each of the kiddos open their one "Santa gift" (wrapped with paper that was different from all the other papers, since John always notices every detail), and they would have been content to play with those gifts for the rest of the morning. It was then that we realized we had all gone way overboard with the presents.....we still had a million presents under the tree for them!

Some photos from the morning.....my favorites are the ones of John playing with Lila's baby doll, which was a gift from Grandma and Papa. He fed the baby and then promptly took it upstairs to lay her down in Lila's crib. He even remembered to give the baby a blanket and turn on the fan!
Around 11 a.m., Aunt Katharine and Uncle Jarey arrived from Naperville. Then Ruthanne, Steve and Grandma Kay Ellen arrived from their hotel in downtown Milwaukee, and we had another marathon gift-opening session. Our living room was busting at the seams with all the people and presents!
Aunt Katharine and Uncle Jarey.....
Grandma Kay Ellen.....
Little Lila-pie.....
Little Johnny-cake.....
Ruthanne and Steve......nice neck scarf, Uncle Steve!
Lila pushing her new baby stroller with her auntie K.....
John enjoyed helping Lila open and play with all of her presents -- it was like a double Christmas for him!
Lila-pie lounging with her namesake, Grandma Kay Ellen.....
Lila with Grandma Bonnie.....
We were so sad to see all our guests leave :( We were so happy to have you all with us for Christmas (our first Christmas together as a family of four!), and we miss you all so much!

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