Christmas Day

We've been in Atlanta for the past five days celebrating Christmas with our families, so this post is almost a week late, but at least I'm getting it out before the new year! Christmas day was so much fun! The girls are at such a great age, and they were so excited to see what Santa had brought for them.

The girls' Santa presents

Santa was good to the girls again this year!

They woke up around 8am, which was later than normal, but they had gone to bed a little later the night before.  We got Alli out of bed, then walked through the bathroom to get Lila so that Alli didn't see any presents yet. After we got Lila up, we brought them both outside to the living room where Santa had set up shop.  Both girls were so shocked and thrilled at all of their new things. Lila ran to the art cart first and started painting right away, where Alli took a look at all of her things before picking the cars to check out first.

Alli was into the art too

digging into their stockings

enjoying some stocking stuffers

making art together

They played for a while by the playroom before they noticed the huge bouncy house that was set up in the family room. We ALL had a great time jumping in the bouncy house, and Lila was able to watch her new favorite movie, The Wizard of Oz, inside of it.

having fun and watching The Wizard of Oz

creating a masterpiece

having a blast in the bouncy house

Josh made us a big breakfast of eggs, sausage, and pancakes, and it was so good. The girls especially loved the pancakes :). The rest of the day was spent lounging around, playing with the new toys, and learning to ride Lila's new bicycle with daddy. We all had such a wonderful Christmas!

playing with the cars ramp

learning to ride her blue bicycle with daddy

Lila and daddy playing with the bouncy balls in the bouncy house

A beautiful creation

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve is always such an exciting day, filled with hope and wonder of what is to come the following morning. Our girls are too young to understand exactly what comes Christmas morning, but Christmas Eve is still a fun time of celebration in our house! 

Christmas Eve Eve jammies from Mamu

The girls went down for their naps early to make sure they were well-rested for the Christmas Eve church service. We went to the service at Lila's preschool church since it was at a good time and close by.  It was a really special candlelight service. Lila didn't understand why her friends weren't there at school with her, but I think she had fun playing with Alli in the nursery.

enjoying Christmas suckers before church

checking out the tree

sweet sisters

Lila posing for me before church

After church, we went home and got the spaghetti for dinner ready. We all scarfed down our food since we were starving, changed into our Christmas jammies, and the girls opened up the presents from mom and dad.  We let the girls play with their new toys for a while before all heading to bed to prepare for Santa to come.

Lila opening her presents from mom and dad

Alli did a good job unwrapping her gifts too

Add caption

Alli relaxing with daddy

I love my girls!

Once the girls were in their beds, Santa began putting all of the toys out for the girls. Josh and I also exchanged presents to each other. He got me a pink tazer gun, a huge pink umbrella (Josh loves practical gifts), and a cute blue and orange Nike workout outfit. I got him some Polo shirts and a boudoir photo shoot :). Santa finished around 9:30, so we had the rest of the night to relax, drink champagne, and watch movies. It was a great Christmas Eve!

Magic of Christmas

"In the eyes of children, we find the joy of Christmas. In their hearts, we find its meaning."

-Leland Thomas

Merry Christmas!

I hope that you all have a wonderful Christmas!

Santa comes to Marbella

One of our neighbors made a HUGE red sparkly sleigh and invited Santa to come visit for some pictures and holiday cheer. The sleigh was so pretty, and Lila had a fun time sitting in it while visiting with Santa. The whole family got to get a picture with Santa in the sleigh, so Alli got to see Santa within a safe distance this time (she's not too fond of the bearded guy). I wish I would have been more prepared to be in a Christmas-y picture, but my hot pink jacket will have to do.

The best part about our Santa visit for Lila was running into her preschool teacher, Ms. Toni. It was such a fun surprise, and Lila was SO excited to see her outside of school. I love our neighborhood and the area where we live so much!

Walking up to Santa together

So excited to see Ms. Toni (sorry for the super flash face)

November iPhone photo dump

It always makes me feel better when I get these off of my phone and put them somewhere that I will actually print out. Here's what we were up to in November:

her prize for going potty at school

Alli was thrilled to be shopping 

Alli put on her ears by herself!

her favorite drawer

postcard from yeye and edaddy from Disney world

Lila and Alli reading their postcards from Disney

eating lunch at the gym bistro

playing with Chevy

watching tv with daddy

excited for the new Christmas tree

excited that Buddy the elf is here to visit from the North Pole

Christmas decor

Alli got into the Keurig coffee and loved it :)