Snow Days!

Well, we did have a white Christmas this year, although the snow was just left over from last Friday. BUT...we more than made up for it the day after Christmas, when we received somewhere between 4 and 6 inches! It was a good "packing" snow, too, meaning that we easily built a large snowman! Well, by easily I mean it was easy to make snowballs. Lifting the middle snowball onto the bottom one was a bit of a challenge, and I didn't feel right asking Todd to help considering he'd just shoveled the heavy snow off of our driveway! I finally resorted to using a card table from our garage as a ramp to lift it, while Emma stood by giggling!***On Thursday, Emma's friend Jessica came over for a playdate, and we ended up going outside again. By then the snow wasn't packing as well, but we did manage to make a rather cute snow doggy and, as Emma said, "A whole choir of snow angels"!

Christmas 2012!

We spent Christmas Eve mostly at home baking cookies and wrapping presents before heading to church for the 7:00 service. Emma was beyond excited-she seems to get more into the anticipation part of Santa's visit every year-and it was close to midnight before she finally settled down! On Christmas morning, Emma slept in until 10:15 (thankfully!), but once she was up, watch out! She had 3 presents open before I could even snap one picture!***In the afternoon we headed up to Mom and Dad's for a get-together with Dad's side of the family. My cousin Jared, his wife Julia, and their son Justin had come up from Florida, and Emma really enjoyed playing with Justin again, who's just a few months older than her. It all ended too quickly, of course, but it was still a very enjoyable visit!

'Twas the Weekend Before Christmas...

The weekend before Christmas we went to Toledo and stayed with Grandma Karen. While we were there, we had a Christmas gathering at Papa Norm and Grandma Sheila's, with Todd's family and step family. Emma especially enjoyed playing with her cousin Lily, and they even got a few matching gifts! We also went to Children's Wonderland indoor lights display, where Emma got to ride a train, write a letter to Santa, meet Rudolph, and even visit with Santa one more time before the big day. On Sunday we went to Papa Norm's church before going to see Disney on Ice! By the way...the picture of Emma in the snow was actually taken at our house right before we headed North; for once, we had about 3 inches and Toledo had NONE!!!

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas!

We've had a lot of fun attending Christmas events the past two weeks! Pictured above are: A Candlelight Walking Tour in a nearby town (which included a Dr. Seuss train display, Santa and Mrs. Claus); A Victorian Christmas at a historical house in town (with the decorated trees and Old-Fashioned Santa; our tree and house decorations; A Pancake Supper at Mom's School (face painting picture); Emma's Preschool Program; and "Tumbling With Santa" at the Y (gymnastics pictures).