Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, 2012

I am just sad.  My SD card failed me some way, somehow.  After the leading up to Christmas pictures, I ran out of space on my normal camera card.  I switched to a "back-up" card for the remainder of the holiday season.  Recently, I went to review all my pictures for printing and posting purposes and got nothing.  NADA.  UGH.  Christmas Eve, Christmas morning, and the day after Christmas celebrating with all of my brothers and sisters-in-law - GONE or never saved in the first place.  Boo.  Major BOO HISS.  Not sure what happened.

I am sad.  BUT, I'm here.  My darling husband is here.  My children are here.  We are all healthy.  Our extended family is here and healthy.  We have a home.  My husband has a job.  We are warm in this wintry mix.  Perspective.  It's okay.  I'm distressed about missing pictures, but in the grand scheme of things, it's ohhh-kay.

But for now I'm a little sad that I lost my sweet girls' Christmas pictures...they LOVED Christmas morning this year.  I captured our Christmas morning so well.  Our girls ate breakfast as usual, as in they had to go to school leave the house at 8:30 AM usual.  They didn't barge into the living room tearing into gifts as we expected.  It's almost like they forgot Santa dropped off a few things.  They wanted to eat breakfast "like normal".  So we did.  It made Eric and I smile that on Christmas morning, our children were more excited to have breakfast with my parents and us before ripping into the loot.  We know that will change as they get older, so we cherished it this year, AND we took pictures to document the sweetness.

Gifts were nothing Earth shattering, but in our world Barbies, books, nail polish, Hungry Hungry Hippos, a doctor's kit, a salon kit, a Melissa and Doug wire shopping cart  filled with food, coloring books, and Barbie DVDs made our world more perfect.  :) 

This is sadly the only picture I have of our Christmas (Santa):  When Eric was travelling, I did some wrapping.  I then laid out the gifts in our loft and snapped a phone pic to text Eric to show him that our children had Santa awaiting - Amelia on the left, Madeline on the right, and the shared gift in the middle.

 

Merry Christmas Eve, Merry Christmas, and Many Blessings in 2013 from our family to yours.



Leading up to Christmas

We had a fun holiday season!  The girls really got into the spirit of the season, and this was the first year that they seemed to "get it".  Madeline really started to understand the reason for the season, but she also enjoyed Patti's arrival and the search for her each morning.  Amelia felt Madeline's excitement, so she fed off of Madeline.  We had a nice balance of commercialism & true meaning of Christmas this year.

 

In no particular order, here are just a few snapshots of our days leading up to Christmas Eve.

 

December 1 - Patti's arrival:  She left a note for the girls as well as filled our Advent calendar with activities and a special treat here and there.

 

 A Snowman craft for the girls

FYI - That red looking thing is the SnowGIRL's skirt



 

My girls are old school - they LOVE getting letters in the real mailbox!  My Mom sends them a Christmas card, and they enjoy opening their mail.

 

A little photo shoot for our Happy New Year card since Amelia's black eye was much better.  They really hammed it up.

 

Another photo shoot that was not as successful 

 

Patti brought us a gingerbread house to decorate.

 

Madeline wrote a letter to Santa on our special plate.  I love how it quickly becomes part of the Christmas decor in the living room.  :)

 

 

Reindeer food is always a big hit!

 

Of course, Amelia's turned disastrous, and she was distressed about the mess.

 

Little OCD thing trying to wipe it up.  Love her!

 

We bagged our reindeer food for ourselves and some neighbors.  The girls placed all the bags under the Christmas tree until it was time to deliver them.

 

It was an incredible December - lots of family traditions continued and many sweet memories were made.

Amelia's Family Birthday Party

Eric and I opted not to throw a big birthday bash for Miss Amelia's second birthday.  This holiday season has been super busy, and we decided that she wouldn't remember that we didn't have a huge party for her.  Eric's parents were coming for a post-Amelia birthday/pre-Christmas visit, so we decided that we could invite my parents over to celebrate Amelia's second birthday.  What a lucky girl to have all four of her grandparents there to celebrate her birthday!

 

We got another wear out of her birthday outfit and hat!  Again, Amelia was super excited that this day was all about her!!  We enjoyed a yummy dinner together.

My girls don't love cake, so I made brownies instead.  After Tuesday, Amelia was well aware of what to do with the candles.

Singing to the birthday girl

Sweet Sisters although the big one doesn't enjoy posed pictures right now

We waited to open all gifts at "the party".

What a special day for a super special little girl!

Madeline's Preschool Christmas Program

It's hard to believe that Madeline participated in her last preschool Christmas program.  She did an awesome job, and it was awesome because I could see the growth from last year's performance. 

This year, Madeline led the entire group onto the stage with a huge smile on her face and walking proudly.
 

She sat down and set a good example for all the others coming down the aisle.

 

She sang her little heart out doing all the motions.

 

 

 

It was a cute performance, and Madeline was so excited to participate.  Afterwards, we indulged in delicious snacks.  What a fun morning!

Amelia is TWO!

Amelia is two years old!  She's so proud to be two, and she tries to do anything big girls do such as make the number two with her fingers.  Amelia knew the day was all about her, and she LOVED it. 

Amelia had a really great day.  She started her day by celebrating with her friends at school with a special snack.  She loved her special birthday outfit - the pom poms and furry cake on her shirt kept her hands busy rubbing her belly all day.

Madeline was equally excited to celebrate Amelia's birthday, and she shared the limelight well.

 

After naptime, Amelia and Madeline decorated cupcakes which is always a huge hit in the Stewart household.  Amelia's birthday hat from school was also a huge hit.  She wore that hat all day.

 (You'll notice her black eye is healing nicely at this point.)

 Madeline enjoyed cupcake decorating. She took her job very seriously.

 

 The best part of the day: right after decorating the cupcakes, we sang to the birthday girl,

helped her blow out the candles, AND

had cupcakes BEFORE dinner!!

YAY!

 

What a sweet, happy, two year old!