Kids at Christmas

Here are a few quick videos of our kids on Christmas, courtesy of Catherine.

Tanner and his always smiling face.

There are two of Aine, but she is such a smoozer in front of the camera, especially when Aunt Catie is doing the recording.

This one is our favorite and requires some translation for all of you who don't speak Aine.

Aine: I am Aine. I is three. I even got my doll. Yesterday I got my dolls. See it turn around.

Catherine: Hmm... Hmm

Aine: I three. Ah. I is at Grandpa Burpee's (Durfee)

Catherine: Mmhmm

Aine: I am a a prince-ariace(princess). I am a coming my house. Aine's my o-o-o. Aine saying the kids AHHH! Because I Aine ...(not sure of that word, maybe princess again)... bye.

Christmas Morning & Grandma's Waffles

Every year growing up one of my family's Christmas traditions was to go to Grandma Durfee's for waffles topped with strawberrys and whipped cream. This year was the first that Spencer and I were able to go together.

It was fun to see Warren and Anna and their family this year.

Aine soaked up all the attention she could get from the cousins.

Unwrapping Christmas Gifts

We hope that everyone had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! We had fun with Aine's first Christmas. It was a big change for us to now have Aine and to have Santa visit our home. It took her a little while to warm up to the whole Christmas morning.As you can probably tell from these pictures, she was pretty sleepy when we first started. But she was so excited to find new and exciting gifts under each wrapping. So much that she couldn't care less about the rest of the gifts under the tree. She just wanted to play with the ones she had discovered. Who can blame her? I started to hide the unwrapped gifts behind my back so we could move onto the next one, but she was too smart for that. Oh well.
By the time she figured out that there were fun things to find if she would unwrap the gifts she was down to her last few. She got a lot of books for Christmas and I'm happy to say that they are her favorites. She will play with a toy for a couple of minutes and get bored of them, but a book she can flip through again and again. She just never gets tired of them and I couldn't be more thrilled.
This unwrapping was my favorite! We started it for her and it was enough that she could look in to see what was inside. She didn't care about unwrapping it anymore than that. She could get the toy to talk and sing right as it was. We had to finish it for her. Heehee!

Getting Ready for Christmas Day

So, remember how it wasn't feeling at all like Christmas? Well, it is only a day away and I think I'm starting to feel it. I mean how can I resist with a happy baby like Aine in front of a Christmas tree? Spencer and I sat down and watched "Meet the Robinsons" (thank you Catie!) while I rapped gifts tonight. I reaffirmed that I am no good at wrapping gifts, especially odd shaped ones. But most of them were for Aine, so I figured she wouldn't care much.

I'm hoping that she will have more fun just tearing the wrapping paper apart. Anyways, wrapping and just being able to spend some down time with Spencer and Aine has really helped my holiday spirits. I think, especially with this being Aine's first Christmas, that having her has really changed what Christmas is for me.

Now, I'm excited for her to see all the new experiences that Christmas brings. I'm excited for her to see the magic that comes this time of year and to feel it again in my heart. I know, it's cheesy, but that's exactly why this time of year has always been my favorite. It can be cheesy and it's okay.

I think, if I had it my way this year, I would be spending Christmas day with Aine and Spencer at home. Sorry Grandparents, I know that's selfish of me. It's just that with work and then all the stuff going on after work, I'm missing the one on one time with Spencer and Aine. It breaks my heart. I would just love to spend the day with them. I would be soaking in every minute I get to just be with them. Especially when I don't have to worry about anything else but enjoying their company. They truly are the very best gifts I have this Christmas!

P.S. Don't tell Spencer I put this picture up. Let's just see how long it takes him to realize it's on here and then kill me out of embarrassment. I think he thought I was just going to delete this when I was done, but I think its funny.

Picture Update

I know that we have been terrible about updating our blog and especially with pictures, but I will blame it on our camera's memory card. It's been on the blitz... it thinks it needs to be reformated, but when it is reformated the camera doesn't recognize that it is there. Any ideas? These were a couple taken on the internal memory. We went to visit Grandpa and Grandma Linton since we won't be able to see them on Christmas. Enjoy!