Christmas 2011

We kicked off Christmas on Friday night. We celebrated with Adam's dad, step-mom, Lacey, and Adam's uncle, Wayne. Lacey just bought a house to we went there to eat and unwrap presents. 

We had a nice time visiting. Wayne had never seen Ella before so I think he enjoyed spending time with her. Ella was very shy at first, but she warmed up to him by the time the night was over. 

Ella had her mind set on one thing that night, PRESENTS! We got there a little earlier so she had to wait until Nana and Poppy got there before we could open gifts. She of course waited very patiently impatiently. :)

Here she is watching for Poppy and Nana. She could not wait to open something.

Once they arrived we went ahead and ate dinner so Ella had to wait a little bit longer. She of course would not even eat dinner, because she was so excited. She also would not go potty, until she opened gifts. Potty training definitely made this holiday a little more challenging considering Ella is not comfortable going anywhere, except our house and my parent's house. Luckily, she held it until she couldn't hold it anymore, and she went potty at Lacey's house. Hallelujah!

 Finally, after we ate, Ella was able to open gifts. As you can see, she really enjoyed them!

Duct tape, it's exactly what I wanted;) haha... 

The next day was Christmas Eve, and we celebrated with my family. It was such a nice day. My mom made appetizer food, which is my favorite (I might have eaten three times). The girls unwrapped gifts as soon as we got there, and they played together all day. It was so cute. It was a relaxing, quiet day just how we like it! 


The girls each got play-doh sets, lots of Melissa and Doug art supplies, key boards with mics, and they each got a big gift which they each got on Christmas morning at home.

 Autumn is destined to be a performer one day. The girl loves to sing! 

Playing play-doh with daddy (Uncle Adam).

Christmas day morning we enjoyed with Ella. She didn't wake up until 9:00am so Adam and I sat around until she woke up. She really enjoyed opening gifts this year. It was so cute to watch her. 

 She was so excited to see this "jump house" when we opened the door!

That afternoon we headed to Winslow to eat lunch with Adam's extended family. Ella was pretty irritable the whole time, and she would NOT go potty. She held it for hours. I was getting really frustrated, because I knew she had to go. I think she was just tired. After lunch and opening gifts we headed back to Lacey's house to open gifts and eat dinner with Adam's mom, step-dad. Ella perked up once she saw there were more gifts, and she finally went potty after holding it almost all day. 

I loved her outfit for Christmas. It was almost impossible to get a picture of her in it though. 

Christmas 2011 was probably one of the best yet. We started it off by riding the Polar Express in French Lick. We put up our Christmas tree, and Ella hung all of our ornaments. Adam and I were able to go to NYC the first week of December. New York during Christmas time is almost magical, and I will never forget it. We saw Christmas lights and baked Christmas cookies. We watched I can't tell you how many Christmas shows. We celebrated Ella's 3rd birthday the week before Christmas. It was a great Christmas season. It was the very first year Ella actually understood what was going on. I loved experiencing  Christmas through the eyes of a child. Even though I'm sad to see it end, I'm looking forward to 2012!!