Merry Christmas Everyone!!

Merry Christmas from Me to You ...



Santa did it again...showed up, filled our stockings and spoiled us all!!

McClellan's stocking was filled to the brim and them some! Maddie was no different, over flowing with her favorite bones!

McClellan was waiting for us to start opening presents-I think she was eyeing the packages and deciding which to open first!!

Pardon the less than beautiful picture-I was sick as heck with a horrible cold that decided to show up on Christmas Eve. Super excited about my Rock Chalk Chocolate though!!

McClellan's first boom box!! It lights up and plays all kinds of music-she loves it!! Thanks Great Aunt Nancy!!

Happy about this one-a framed picture of my Sister and I!!

Matt was super excited about getting this hard to find beer for Christmas-he didn't think I'd actually look for it, let alone find it for him!! Surprise honey!!

McClellan and her Daddy reading one of the many books she got for Christmas - she was getting a little sleepy by this point, hence the thumb sucking.

Matt was pretty darn excited about the photo of McClellan in her Bronco's gear-Thanks to Ann my amazing friend and photographer!!

A sock Moose for Punky!! Way more Colorado appropriate than a monkey wouldn't you say?

The big hit of the day was the kitchen!! It sings, talks in Spanish and English & even makes "real" noises of the appliances-she loves it!!

And when it was all over...there was a HUGE mess. It stayed that way for awhile because we had to race around getting food ready and showering so we could get ready to head up to Longmont, again, for Christmas dinner.

I am hopeful this is the last year we do the two days in a row- I always have fun when we're up there but hate rushing around and not getting to spend time with "us". I think that going one day is a good compromise-ask me in 2012 how this worked out.

After two days of tons of activities, two days of driving back and forth to Longmont, McClellan was crashed out!! Her little reindeer booty up the air-too cute!!

I can't believe that McClellan's first Christmas is over-gone, done, behind us. It makes me sad. I'll be honest, it wasn't the Christmas I'd dreamed of. Moments of it certainly were. She was spoiled beyond belief by all of her family, absolutely. But what I really wanted, really and truly wanted, was time. Just time to be with her, time to watch her experience Christmas for the first time.

Maybe, hopefully, next year there will be more time.

McClellan's first Christmas Eve

As you can see McClellan was pretty darn excited about her first Christmas Eve.

This will probably be the last time she wears this Christmas dress - unless I can figure out a way to make it into a Valentine's dress in a couple of months!!




She loved sitting under the tree amongst all the packages - she couldn't decide which one to tear into first - yes, she has no problem helping open packages!!



We headed up to Longmont for the evening-lots of yummy food and tons of family to give out lots of attention. Here's cousin Zack with McClellan-

Great-Grandma & McClellan - I love seeing them together. Tonight "GGma" asked me what McClellan needed and what she could get her-I told her, "time, just time to be with you."

When we got home Santa had dropped off our "Santa Jams" - this is a tradition that Matt helped Santa start a few years ago. Every year that we are in Colorado for Christmas, Santa brings "Santa Jams" while we're in Longmont and leaves them for us to find when we get home. This was McClellan's first year getting Santa Jams and she was a real trooper staying up extra, extra late to take our Santa Jam photo.

"The children we're nestled all snug in their beds, while visions of sugar plums danced in their heads."

Santa & some time with McClellan's BFF

This morning we headed to Southlands to get McClellan's picture with Santa-she has actually already done this once but I wanted one with her Christmas dress, so we did the whole Santa picture thing again today. We met our friends Betsy and Clare up there and both of the girls rocked their Santa photo shoot!

McClellan did great and if I do say so myself, looked completely adorable in the dress that her Mimi bought her!!

McClellan told Santa that she wanted the Jayhawks to start playing like the #3 team in the Nation & wanted them to win the National Championship this year. Santa looked at me, with that deer in the headlights kind of look, and I told him not to worry, I'd break it to her.

I explained that this year, Santa might not be able to come through for her, especially with the National Championship. I thought this was a great time to talk to McClellan about being thankful for what we do have-so I reminded her that Josh Selby is eligible to play now and that we should be thankful for that. I also told her that she shouldn't give up hope and that we cheer the Jayhawks on each and every game, up until their season ends, no matter when that might be. She seemed to understand.



After the Santa shoot was complete, and our wallets lighter after buying the "Donner package", we headed up the sidewalk to get some pictures of the girls together -


Clare- "They are seriously going to make us sit out here in the cold and take more pictures aren't they?
McClellan - "Yep - looks that way."



McClellan - "Hey-maybe if we cheese it up a bit they'll get their shot and we can go home to eat and nap?!"

Clare - "You look at my mom and I'll look at your mom."

~apparently McClellan agreed to Clare's plan

"Let's try the deer in the headlights expression - Mom's think that's all sorts of cute and innocent looking."

McClellan - "Hold my hand Clare ... I think if we give them the BFF's holding hands shot they'll finally decide they have enough and wrap this thing up."

~they were right - we got our perfect shots and called it a wrap.

The whole time we were taking their pictures, and believe me, it wasn't quick, people were stopping to comment on how cute our girls are-one little boy even walked by with his dad and said "Hey-their humans!" We laughed and his Dad said "Yes they are, and I'd say they are two of the most adorable humans ever." We of course agreed 100% - who wouldn't??

Ok, seriously, I can't tell you how happy I am that I have Betsy (yeah sorry, we don't do photos) and that McClellan has Clare. It's been so fun getting the girls together, watching them change and grow ... and it's been so nice for ME to have Betsy to bounce new mom stuff off of, laugh and be "real" with.

Thank you Betsy and Clare!! We love you guys - we'll miss you when you head to Jolly Joplin for Christmas but we can't wait to get together when you get back!!

7 months old today!!

"The whole world in my arms"

It's been a rough week, a really rough week, and it's only been 2 days long. Frankly, it's really been a rough month or so. Work has been super chaotic and it's been a struggle.

Today was the straw that broke the camel's back. It's a long story and frankly not one worth the time to type it all out and certainly not worth your time to read.

The short version is that I *had* to leave work exactly on time today in order to pick up our CSA share in Castle Rock (I had to switch our pick up time/location this week as we're leaving town tomorrow morning) and still get to daycare on time. Simple enough, right?

Wrong.

I got a last minute call, right as I should have been walking out the door. Something that I *had* to deal with before leaving since I wasn't going to be in the office again until next week.

So, I did eventually leave. Late. 20 minutes late.

No time to go pick up our CSA share and barely enough time to get to day care on time.

So I raced to day care, sliding in just under the wire.

And then...

I drove back to Castle Rock and went to pick up our CSA share.

Except there was a roll over accident on I25 so it took forever to get there.

On the drive back home, one lane of Parker Road was shut down, so it took forever to get home.

So my little girl sat in her car seat for 2 1/2 hours tonight. I should have just said "forget it" and blown off the CSA pick up. But I didn't...so completely not fair to her.

She didn't make a sound. She napped for a little bit. She babbled and "told me about her day" and I apologized to her over and over again while tears streamed down my face. She was perfect.

We made it home, I fed her a batch of oatmeal and some butternut squash, two hours late.

30 minutes later, I was feeding her a bottle, with my face nestled up against hers. Feeling her soft cheek against mine. Smelling that wonderful baby smell. She wrapped her hand around my finger and held on tight while she finished her bottle.

I had my whole world in my arms and all of a sudden the stress of the day, the week, the past month no longer mattered.

In those moments I realized, at least tonight, if not always, I need her more than she needs me.

Mimi & Papa were here!!

My parents were/are here this week and we couldn't be happier. They got to our house on Friday afternoon & McClellan was so happy to see her Mimi & Papa!! They were only here overnight, on their way up to Estes Park, but long enough for us to have some fun together!

McClellan was more than eager to show off her eating skills with her Mimi-lucky for her Mimi she spared her the "raspberry treatment" that she has learned. Green beans on Mimi's white sweater would not have looked so pretty!

Of course McClellan stole Papa's hat, who wouldn't? It's a KU hat after all!!

We all bundled up and headed over to Littleton to the Hudson Holiday light show. Matt and I went last year and were amazed! We decided we had to show my parents this amazing display and they weren't disappointed-cold maybe, but not disappointed!

The house is one of my favorite things-all the lights are choreographed to music!

Mimi & Papa in the tunnel of lights.

McClellan slept through the whole thing!! We thought we'd better take a picture anyway...last year when we were there I was pregnant with McClellan!

Which one of these is *not* like the others?