Christmas 2009!

Paige and Virginia had a great Christmas last week! We had a really busy 3 days, but they were also a lot of fun.

Christmas Eve is Grandpa Dude's birthday, so we met up with my parents and Ben's parents at PF Chang for lunch on Thursday (Ben and I weren't working). We had a really nice lunch and it was a great way to start the celebrating. Then we went home and played until nap time. At nap time Ben took all of the Christmas gifts over to his parents' house so they would be there Friday morning when we got there. My parents dropped their gifts off at Lloyd and Nancy's as well and then came to our house. The weather reports were calling for freezing rain/sleet Friday morning, so rather than worry about getting trapped at home, my parents decided to come spend Christmas Eve night at our house. I even got to open a Christmas present from Ben's parents early (a blow up mattress) so that my parents would have somewhere to sleep! My grandparents were supposed to come up, too, but they had ice Thursday morning, so they decided not to risk it and stayed home.

We went to church on Christmas Eve with my parents and met Ben's parents there. This was only the second church service Paige and Virginia had been to- the other being when they were baptized. They did great and the service was short and sweet- perfect for our girls! Before the service, though, our moms and I were letting the girls run around the church a little bit before they had to sit still through the service. Paige was walking on a linoleum floor and slipped and bumped her head. She cried for a minute, but then was fine. She does have a bit of a bruise from it, but she's just fine. The service was about 30 minutes long and I think the girls actually enjoyed it for the most part. They had children doing the Christmas pageant and when the angels raised their hands to heaven, Virginia also raised her hands. It was adorable!

Our little family on Christmas Eve before church
Notice the decorations on the wall behind us? Paige and Virginia made those at daycare.

Christmas morning we all got up, the adults all showered and we headed over to Ben's parents' house. Ben and I are really, really lucky that our parents get along really well and we can do holiday celebrations all together instead of us having to do things multiple times. We got to Ben's parents' house and took the girls in to see what Santa had brought them. Of course, that was after they said hello to everyone, including their Uncle Lloyd and his dog, Irie, who had gotten into town the night before. Their new couches were sitting in the living room and they went straight to them. They loved them from the moment they saw them! We had to drag them away from their new couches so that we could all eat breakfast.

After breakfast it was time to start opening presents, or at least for Paige and Virginia to start opening presents. My goodness, they must have been good girls this year because they had a bunch of presents! They did pretty well opening them, and even wanted the toys (and sometimes clothes) when they got them open. Virginia opened a pair of pants from my parents and immediately wanted to put them on. She was wearing a sleeper, but that didn't matter to her. So we obliged her and put the pants on over her sleeper. Then Paige had to open a pair of pants and wear them over her sleeper. Goofy girls! After opening some presents, it was time for Paige and Virginia to take a nap. We took them up and put them in the pack n' plays and then we went down and the adults got to open their presents!

Ben helping Paige open a gift while Virginia watches

The girls are sitting on their new couches.

Virginia enjoying some Goldfish that she got in her stocking.
Jefferson waiting for Virginia to drop something.

Paige and Virginia on the loveseat eating Goldfish.

Virginia playing with her new cell phone that she got from Grandma Cindy and Grandpa Dude/

Virginia and Paige with their Grandma Cindy.
Paige is wearing her new Spongebob hat that she loves!

Virginia playing with the stacking blocks she and Paige got from Uncle Lloyd.

Grandpa Dude, Virginia, Grandma Cindy, Paige and Tobi
The girls are wearing their new pants that they just had to put on.

We managed to get through everything while the girls napped. And we all (except my dad) cried a little when Ben's dad opened his gift from his sons, daughter-in-law, and granddaughters. We received and gave some great gifts, including the scrapblog books that Ben made for our parents, grandparents and brothers about Paige and Virginia's 2009. Ben really did a great job on them and everyone loved them.

Pops and Mimi reading their book.

Uncle Lloyd with his book.

Grandpa Dude and Grandma Cindy checking out their book.

The gift Pops got from all of us. We had a picture of him, Ben, Lloyd and Granddaddy (Ben's grandfather) made into a watercolor painting. It turned out great!
After the girls' nap, it was time to eat lunch. We had a great meal that was prepared by Ben's mom. It was delicious! Then it was time for the girls to open more presents. They didn't finish opening all of their gifts until after their afternoon nap. They got a lot of great gifts! My parents left about mid-afternoon to head home. We finally went home after dinner. It was a long day, but lots of fun!

Virginia opening more presents while Paige plays with Grandpa Dude in the background.

Paige and Virginia showing Grandpa Dude their new Clipo Hippo from Uncle Lloyd.

Paige and Grandma Cindy reading "Goodnight Moon."
This is Paige's newest and 5th copy of the book.

Paige hanging out in her chair with her book, and wearing her new shoes.
Virginia is in the background giving Irie a toy.

Ben, Paige, Tobi, Virginia, Grandma Cindy and Grandpa Dude

Our family on Christmas day.
Ben has Paige and I have Virginia.

Mimi, Ben, Paige, Virginia, Pops and Uncle Lloyd

Jefferson loves the girls' new couches, too.
Here he's hanging out with Paige on hers.

Virginia lounging on her couch with her bear.

Paige hanging out on her couch reading her book.
She knows it so well she can read it upside down.

Everyone loved the girls' new couches.
Uncle Lloyd and Irie decided to nap on them.

Virginia looking through her new tunnel that she got from Mimi and Pops.

Paige in her new tunnel from Mimi and Pops.

Saturday we had a more relaxed day than we did on Friday, but we were still on the move. We stayed home in the morning- ate breakfast, the girls napped. Then we met Ben's parents and brother for lunch. We had a nice lunch and then we went back home for awhile. After the girls' afternoon nap we headed back to Ben's parents house. We hung out there, ate dinner and headed home for bedtime. It was another great day!

Sunday was a nice, relaxing day. I went to the grocery store during morning nap and I think that's the only time any of us left the house. We needed the day at home to rest. The girls also turned 18 months old on Sunday! They're getting so big!