Christmas Eve pictures (Foster Family Christmas)

 Excited!

Daddy helping Arya open presents.

 She really likes her new duck from Grandma Joan. Mommy had to sanitize it because she picks it up and it goes straight into her mouth.

Trying on Uncle Steve's hat.

Sittin' pretty in front of the tree.

 Big Yawn!

All pictures were taken by my cousin, Grant.

Christmas Day Pictures (Photo Bomb!)

 Family. (I look tired because our dog ran away at 7 in the morning. Don't worry, we got her back.)

 Arya's first Christmas bib.

 Having fun with Grandma!

 Arya's first stocking!

 Andrea helping Ruthanne open her stocking.

 Bradley with his Genius shirt from Shannon. (Notice the gift bow on his head.)

 Arya with the toy camera from Grandma Suzanne. She is yawning but I think this picture makes it look like she is amazed by it.

 Ruthanne relaxing on her daddy.

 We had to take a break from opening presents. The babies were tired and I think all 3 kids were getting a little over-stimulated.

 Arya with her Laugh and Learn Puppy from Aunt Shannon.

I love the expression on her face.

All these pictures were taken by Aunt Shannon.

When Daddy does my hair.

Tonight Bradley decided to play with Arya's hair ties. He has been trying to convince me to get her hair cut. (Sorry for the quality of the pictures. It's from my phone.)

A New Tradition!

This year I wanted Arya to get her picture with Santa. Bradley and I have already agreed that Arya will never believe in Santa. Bradley never believed in Santa and my mom told me when I was in preschool that she and Dad were Santa, the Easter Bunny, etc (I was not upset by this). We will still do stockings every year and Arya will know the true story of St. Nick. She will also know that she is not to ruin it for other children!
Despite this I think the pictures with Santa are cute and could be a fun tradition each year.
This year we got it done up in Iowa. I really wanted a Santa with a real beard since the fake ones look ridiculous. Also, Aunt Shannon had fun going with us.
Silly Arya decided to not give us one of her big happy smiles. Just little grins-one while looking up and one while looking to the side. (After the photo she met my former voice teacher. Of course then Arya was laughing, giggling, and smiling huge smiles. Goofy girl!)

I think some day it will be fun to look at all her Santa pictures next to each other and see how she has changed and grown each year.

Legos!

As mentioned in my last post, we were up at Grandma and Grampa's house for Christmas. One day Arya and I were downstairs in the family room along with Arya's cousin JD. When JD left his legos out Arya had great fun with them. (They were the big legos not the little ones that could fit in her mouth.)

Stairway to Heaven

We went up to Grandma and Grampa's for Christmas. When we got there on Thursday, Grampa Brian thought it was important to learn how to crawl down the steps rather than topple head first. Arya mainly ignored him.
The next day Aunt Shannon and Grandma Suzanne were upstairs while Arya was downstairs with Daddy and me. All of a sudden we look over. Arya had crawled over to the stairs and was climbing up them all on her own!

(I do want to point out: Arya never figured this out before because we don't have stairs here at home.)

Oops....

So I realized in my Christmas decoration post I forgot to include a few decorations. We also have Christmas picture frames and then a few decorations on some shelves. Sorry, no pictures of those. I know it's not a big deal but thought I might let you know anyway.