Christmas Celebration Kick Off

Our family holiday got off to an early start when Brad's brother Jeff and his wife came in from Pennsylvania to visit, last weekend. We were so busy, spending as much time with them as possible, that I was exhausted every night. I got behind in my blog reading and then I got a little sick afterward. Nothing serious, just enough to feel a little run down, so if it feels like I've been a little MIA, now you know why☺

We spent most of their visit just being together, Aunt Jody and Uncle Jeff played with ER a lot and she loved it, of course! On their first day, all the adults also went out for our annual family dinner, this time to a really nice Italian restaurant. I think everyone had a great meal.

During the day Uncle Jeff, Daddy, and Grandma Normal all took ER to the community pool while I got to go shopping with Aunt Jody. It was so nice to be able to browse and look around, without having to keep one eye on a toddler the whole time. I even managed to try on and buy a sweater for myself, been awhile since I've been able to do that! Normally I'm buying things for ER.

The guys and Grandma spent all afternoon at the pool. ER had so much fun spraying them and on the slides at the indoor play area. I hear the she's pretty merciless and would aim the water cannons right at the guys and then giggle away. She also got her hands on some water noodles, when they went into the big pool. She always becomes obsessed with them when they show up in the stores, come spring.

For their second day in town they all came over to our house. We had a pretty laid back day: playing with ER and enjoying a big pasta dinner with homemade fettuccine and white sauce. Jeff is a great cook and seasoned the chicken and mushrooms that went with it really well. Grandma Norma commented that it was so nice to enjoy dinner and not have to make or clean up from it. Her boys took care of all that.

Emily showed off the tree and all her toys to Uncle Jeff and got Aunt Jody to read her new favorite book to her. She just loves Fancy Nancy: Splendiferous Christmas. My parents gave it to her at Thanksgiving, to get her in the mood for Christmas. It got her all concerned that we didn't have a tree topper. I've never been able to find one I liked and deciding between a star and an angel...Grandma Norma to the rescue. I'm happy to announce we now have a white star at the top of our tree. Now I'm free to procrastinate on finding the perfect topper for several more years☺ Here is ER modeling this year's holiday outfit, a gift from her Great Grandparents down in Missouri, that Aunt Cheri helped pick out. It's very festive and those reindeer antlers from Target's Dollar Spot, look great with it.Since this is their Christmas visit, Uncle Jeff and Aunt Jody gave ER their gifts now. They give fun presents. No socks or ugly clothing from them! Don't we all have relatives who used to do that? My Great Aunts always picked out the WORST clothing to give me and there was never a receipt so I was stuck with it. They of course meant well, but Great Aunties have very different taste than a Great Niece. C'mon admit it, we all had outfits that only left the closet when we saw the person who gave it to us!

Only a few days into December and ER's already got her hands on one of her top three Christmas wishes! She's been crazy for this Disney Princess Sparkle Doll, ever since she first laid eyes on it. That girl is all about anything and everything Cinderella! She's been carrying it around and lovingly feeding her a bottle ever since.
They also gave her a Kid Tough Digital Camera, which she loves! On the first day she took 400 pictures, I kid you not. Of course a vast majority are blurry and of the most random things imaginable. I think she did a whole series on our kitchen floor. What was really cute, was how she said after she took a bunch, she said she had to go upstairs and put them on her blog.

Both Aunt Jody and Uncle Jeff are dancers. One of Aunt Jody's friends from college has made a Dance Moves DVD, that was a big hit with ER. We had to watch it twice the first day she got it. She's so cute to watch following the dance steps, and she just loves to do the sparkles.

We spent Sunday back at Grandma Norma's and enjoyed a delicious family brunch. Grandma Norma can make cheesy scrambled eggs anytime, cause she doesn't skimp on the cheese like someone else I know...Brad!

Aunt Jody's birthday is at the beginning of December, so ER and Grandma made her a birthday cake. It was peanut butter flavored because Aunt Jody LOVES peanut butter. It might sound like an odd flavor for a cake but was yummy. The pieces fell apart a little bit, but it tasted good.ER had to frost it and add her signature cake decorations. I bet you're jealous you missed out, LOL! Really the cake was good, but I don't think I'd recommend using so much candy on top. It sure was colorful and ER had a lot of fun making it. We're sad their visit was so short and hope to go visit them next Spring or Summer because we had so much fun exploring Philadelphia and visiting their zoo and Please Touch Museum last June. ER is still talking about Hershey's Chocolate World.