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Merry Christmas to our friends and family! Wishing you a year full of LIFE, LOVE, and true HAPPINESS:)
Love,
Lateaf, Kandra, Harper, and Liv



We have a total of 6 Christmas family gatherings this year, not including our own little gathering between the four of us. (which we did the Sunday after X-mas) WHOA that equals A LOT of presents and a busy holiday season. We had one the weekend before X-mas, two Christmas Eve, two Christmas Day and one more to go on New Year's day. And thats not counting a drop by to Lateaf's cousin where we ate quick and exchanged gifts on the way out of Lincoln Sunday. I am EXHAUSTED not only from all the family gatherings but if you work in Pediatrics and especially Child Life, you know that Christmas is busy accepting donations, organizing toys, holiday parties, etc. I feel like a bear...full and ready to hybernate for winter. One more to go and I just might do that:)

Jolly Ol Saint Nick

We did the whole sit on santa's lap thing this year. We didn't take her last year because she would have totally flipped then. This year was a mild case of the scaries. She has been talking about sitting on his lap for days. A couple weeks ago we tried to go to Bass Pro but it was CRAZY. We ended up at the mall. She was excited in line, but when the time came she was nervous with no smiles. The picture was taken right as she put her lip out and almost started melting down. They snapped the pic and I scooped her up. She left Santa saying "I sat on Santa's lap." Liv was just bright eyed and taking in all the stimulation. Another memory made.

Ginger Bread House

Last Thursday we made a Gingerbread House. This was a first for everyone involved. I think Harper's favorite parts were sniffing and licking the walls of the house and eat the candy and icing. Liv was a bystander and was getting in a fight with her rattle. For some reason whenever she has a rattle type toy, its starts out all good and then it gets ugly. She ends up cussing at the toy until its out of her hands and then she's back to happy girl. She's too funny....

It's colorful though...

This is what happens when you've had a long day at work and a busy night at home with 2 little ones. I forgot that I was boiling the new binkies I just bought and ALL the other ones around the house besides the ones in their mouths...

Thank goodness the fire alarm works! I told Lateaf that I was just testing it:) He says "there are other ways to do that honey" Ahh...typical Kandra move.

MJ

This is what you call "a good time." We recieved an early x-mas gift from Lateaf's dad and step mom. After the play on Saturday we spent our evening jammin to Micheal Jackson. Grandpa & Grandma D, Aunties Shannon, Kate, and Amy were all there to enjoy the experience. Harper LOVED it and was dancing all around saying "I doin it" and "I love it" Liv sat and cracked up while watching Harper dance. Fun times!

Annie

We headed to see the play Annie this past weekend with Grandma & Grandpa D, Aunties Shannon & Kate, and Lateaf. It was our first theatre experience with Harper. It was at a community playhouse in Lincoln. Harper did a great job of whispering and paying attention. (we practiced all week:) It was a bit long for a two year old. (almost 3 hours including a 15 minture intermission) After the first 30 minutes or so, she kept telling me she had to go potty. (BTW she is potty trained...WHOOHOOO!! We spent three days a few weeks ago restricted to the house and running around naked. It only took her one day to figure it out and a few accidents later. She hasn't had any accidents since that weekend.) Back to Annie...so we had a few dry runs to the bathroom. It was also not in our favor that the show was during naptime. After the play she was able to meet Annie herself. She was a tad shy and puzzled during their meeting but ran around afterward saying "that was fun." It was a great Saturday evening spent with the fam!

Eating popcorn before the show started and all throughout:)

Eating cupcakes at Intermission

Enjoying our bathroom trips during the show:)

Not too sure about her:) She was fantastic in the play and a really sweet girl.

Burn Unit X-mas Party 2010

Tonight we headed to my work Christams Party. It was hosted by the Burn Unit doc. There were a lot of peeps there I didn't know because I'm new but we had a great time eating fantastic food, drinking great wine, and being a family. It's funny because we drive by the place all the time because it's in our "hood." Harper always points and ahhs over the lights. The place is lit with LED Christmas lights and each one retails at well over our budget:) The place is a store by day selling these festive light decorations and then they have parties at night. Harper had a blast running around with all the other kiddos but had a bit of a melt down when we were leaving saying "I don't want to go." Again, she is like her momma..doesn't want the fun to end... What a great Sunday evening outing!

Decorating

So after we brought the tree home, next order of business was to deck the halls...Harper loved hanging the ornaments and the angel tree topper. It was so fun to look through all of them. My Grandma Dorsey made all the grandkids ornaments back in the day and labeled them with our names and the years. WOW, what time and energy she put into these great pieces of Christmas. Thanks Grandma D for the amazing ornaments that we will forever cherish on our tree each year. It gives such a warm family feel to our tree.



Liv was taking it all in from her bumbo chair...
Also thanks to Lateaf for being in the Christmas spirit every year. He is like a kid in the candy store around the holidays. He loves to decorate and really gets into it. He told me.. "just wait honey.. in 50 years it will be way crazier than Clark Griswold at our house." Oh how I can't wait:)

X-mas Tree Farm

We headed out with Grandma Cindy and Grandpa Frank this past weekend to pick out our tree and their tree. What a fiasco this was:) Harp had a blast picking up sticks and touching the "pokey" trees. Tis the Season...