Christmas Re-cap

Whew, what a whirlwind!  We had a fun Christmas at home and up at my in-laws.

The evening of the 23rd, Makena was allowed to open her presents from us.  She got some new pjs, an ants in the pants game, food for her kitchen, and a little people play set.  The next day she took a bath and we headed up to Grandma and Grandpa's.  Once there we played and played and played. Grandma had bought some barbies to keep up there and Makena loved them! She was so excited to get to go up there and now I understand why - different toys!

Let me tell you about packing for up there though ... not easy with a newborn and a 2 year old.  It was just starting to get easy with packing up Makena because she doesn't need much, the BAM new baby and we start the packing of the whole house process again.  It really wasn't THAT bad, but just not as easy as it was.  I was able to get all 4 of us packed into one suitcase.  Of course we had a bunch of other things to pack: presents, dog stuff, dogs, milk, computer, etc etc etc.

On Christmas morning we got all dressed up in our Christmas garb and we were ready to have a fun day of seeing the entire family!  Of course I was TERRIBLE about taking pictures this year.  I think I only got a couple of Matthew and a few of Makena.  It's just a lot harder to manage a camera plus feed/hold a newborn.  I'm sure the family understands.  The day was filled with lots of presents for all.

Matthew's thoughts of Christmas:

Braden is VERY excited to get the Star Wars Guess Who game!

My little fashionista:

Still loving Christmas, huh Matthew?

Makena REALLY wanted to play play-dough right then and there

 More presents:

Toy chest of dress up clothes:

 bwah hahahahaha

The spread:

She ate so nicely at the table ...... or not

Makena was also able to play with her cousins.  Her favorite right now is Maddi.  I think it's because she was allowed to play her DSi and there was a zhu zhu pet game in it.  Maddi also sat by her and helped her play it.  It was SO cute. She had more fun playing with that one than she does with mine.  Probably because I don't have any kid games.

I got to partake in the kid fun when they all wanted to go outside.  After the older kids were all bundled and out the door Makena asked to go out.  Good thing I brought her snow stuff with.  We went sledding, swung on the swings, and smashed snow balls.  Once again she had a ton of fun with Maddi.  Maddi brought her down in the sled with her, made snow balls for her to smash, and even threw snow up in the air so it was "snowing".  It was so fun to watch and hear them laughing together.  I'll also have to say that when the kids were inside they were fairly quiet and they were all very good with one another.  It was such a nice break from the usual.  The meal consisted of appetizers and it was wonderful. I was able to take just what I wanted and not feel guilty!!

Once we got home Saturday night we unpacked while the kids slept. And I thought packing was bad ... there was SO much new stuff, I just didn't know what to do with it all.  I spent 2 hours unpack-aging all the new toys.  Those things are locked up tighter than a prison.

Sunday I spent most of my time playing with the new toys.  After Makena went to bed I rearranged the play room to fit the new toy chest (that Grandpa made) filled with dress up clothes.  I also added all the dolls and their clothes to the chest.  There is still room to spare!  I also packed up some of the older toys and re-arranged the play room closet so we could fit all of her new (and old) games into it.

I got to test drive the new layout today.  I like it, Makena didn't seem to care and Matthew REALLY didn't care.  It was a LOT easier to play games though.  I didn't have to try to dig them out from the cupboard behind the bar.  I still have all of her craft things in that cupboard, but once we put shelves in the closet, I hope to move those items as well.  It will be crazy having all that space back.