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Thursday, December 29, 2011

Merry Christmas 2011

Merry Christmas 2011 - From Our Family to Yours

'Twas the Night before Christmas and early Christmas morning

Daddy and his girls ready to start opening Christmas gifts


Daddy, mommy, the girls and all their gifts


Having fun unwrapping her gifts

Elise tearing through her presents

Lots of gifts for baby Alina on her first Christmas

Mommy with her two favorite girls; the best gift ever

Opening more and more

Baby Alina going after the bow :)

Elise with her new jewelry box and Alina inspecting her seahorse

A special gift from Santa to little Elise

Alina doll and her Christmas stocking

Elise approved of all her gifts; look at that happy face

Adorable baby Alina was all smiles on her first Christmas


We celebrated baby Alina's very first Christmas this year! It was extra special, getting to cuddle and shower our newest little baby girl with gifts. Of course, Elise did very well too. She made the nice list this year, so Santa was generous and answered all her gift requests. It really is the best feeling watching your kid's eyes light up on Christmas morning. Elise is at the age, where every holiday is exciting. She has been talking about Christmas, Santa, and gifts non-stop for the past month. When she walked out Christmas morning and saw all her gifts under the tree, she was jumping for joy. She loved opening all her presents, and gave plenty of smiles, laughs and squeals of happiness, when she discovered the gifts inside. Elise also made sure to find and help open all Alina's gifts; as any good big sister would. Four-month-old baby Alina really enjoyed her first Christmas too. The extent of her involvement, was tearing off pieces of wrapping paper and shaking them furiously in the air, removing bows (which were far more interesting than the actual gifts themselves), and chewing on all her toys.

The girls had three Christmas celebrations this year. They spent all day Christmas Eve opening gifts at nana & papa's with their aunt, uncle and cousins; Christmas morning with mommy and daddy; and Christmas afternoon and evening with their grandma, grandpa, aunt and two uncles. We also celebrated grandpa's big 70th birthday this year, with a nice Christmas dinner and daddy's specialty - deep-fried turkey (which turned out perfectly tender and delicious). It was a very enjoyable two day Christmas celebration. They were spoiled with plenty of gifts and as usual loved getting to spend time surrounded by all their wonderful family.


Happy Elise opening gifts at nana and papa's

Christmas 2011 at nana and papa's

She had a smile on her face the entire time
  
Sweet little girls enjoying the day

Baby Alina opening gifts all on her own

The girls loved their presents

Baby Alina has the cutest chubby cheeks!

The cousins had fun playing; Alina cuddled up with papa 

Grandma cuddling baby Alina on her first Christmas

Elise helped open all the gifts

Super excited about her new Disney princess castle

Alina with Uncle Colin

Enjoying Christmas 2011 - Happy 70th to grandpa!

Adorable sisters playing after a very fun Christmas Day

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Holiday Photo Shoot 2011

Cute little Elise loves her candy canes

Beautiful babydoll Alina

Adorable sisters happy together


Elise posing by the tree; more candy cane love

  
I LOVE this photo of bright-eyed 3-1/2-month-old baby Alina




Elise gave kisses to all the ornaments. How cute is that!




Cute and cuddly baby girl. It's nearly impossible to resist picking her up



The, borderline impossible to achieve, family shot

Daddy and his littlest girl

My good friend Christy, was nice enough to take some beautiful holiday photos of the girls. I love how they turned out! I will always look back on these photos and remember just how little, adorable and sweet they once were.

As great as these shots are, let me just add that it is INSANE trying to get family photos with a toddler AND baby. Thankfully, Christy was able to capture some incredibly sweet moments, in between both girl's squirminess, silly expressions and dueling fuss sessions. We also had an uphill battle against Alina's inhumanly massive amounts of spit-up and Elise's constant fidgeting, running away and writhing on the ground in fits of toddler angst and frustration. I thought we had it hard last year, but man this year was indeed crazier. Props to Christy for pulling out some great shots in spite of all this. Thanks for giving us these beautiful family memories, and for making my girls look like the little angels, that I know deep down, they really are.


Alina smiling for her big sister Elise; LOVE these two!



Such adorable sisters


Sweet little girls



Aren't they precious? These photos are definitely favorites


Looking a bit more mischievous; I love Elise's little smirk



 Beautiful baby in her crochet teddy bear hat - Gotta love Etsy




 
 The early stages of crawling. I'm not ready for her to go mobile just yet!




 Elise playing peek-a-boo under the quilt


  
Her heart-melting baby smile; nothing in this world beats it!




Our adorable thumbsucker.
Can she just stay this little and sweet forever?

Friday, December 23, 2011

Dovewood Court Holiday Lights 2011

Dovewood Court Holiday Lights 2011

Beautiful lights and holiday cheer on Dovewood Court

Alina's 1st holiday season; she loved all the Christmas lights

Mr. Grinch 2011; I want one for our yard!!

Alice and Wonderland holiday light display

The 2011 holiday light tunnel

The crowd all in the Christmas spirit

Great polar theme display

Walking through the huge holiday light tunnel

Love it!

Alina enjoyed her first Dovewood holiday light experience

Cute little sisters sharing their first holiday season together

Run Charlie, it's Red Baron Rudolph Snoopy