Ella has been a ham lately and is starting to know when she is being funny. One of her favorite things right now is to wear her winter hats while in the house. She can even put some of them on herself! Here are a couple of pictures.
So close!This past weekend we had Christmas with the Brash's (Marc's dad and stepmom). We had a good weekend, a little chaotic, but nice. Eric and Susan got in on Friday afternoon and Marc's brother, John, picked them up from the airport and they came on over to the house. That night we did dinner at Goose Island and everyone was good, for the most part. Ella learned how to "dip" at dinner! She had a couple of fries and Uncle John gave her a ramekin of ketchup and she was dipping!! She loved it.
Saturday we did Christmas and it was a busy day. Katie, Johnathon, and I made a gingerbread house, and I think we did a pretty good job.
We even made a big dinner and it was great once it finally cooked. We only had a 7.5lb turkey breast and it ended up taking almost 4 hours to cook, it postponed us a little bit. But once everything was done, Eric cut the turkey and we were finally able to eat.
Then after dinner it was time for presents. The time that our nephew, Johnathon, had been waiting for all day!!! Ella was so tired by that time that we weren't sure she was going to make it though. Once we started with the presents though she was asking for more (with her signs). Here are some pictures from the whole process.
All in all it was a good first Christmas celebration. The next Christmas, real Christmas, is just around the corner and we'll be in Missouri to celebrate with my family. Then we'll be home for a day and then head out to Ohio to do Christmas with the Keyes, Marc's mom and stepdad. It's going to be a very busy week and a half, but I'm looking forward to it.
It has been a busy week and we are just getting started. This weekend is our first Christmas with Marc's Dad and Stepmom. We are looking forward to it, but it's going to be busy having extra people in the house. I have been baking for the last three nights and it has been exhausting!! We made treats for Marc to bring in for his assistants and we also brought treats to all the ladies who work in the daycare at the gym. They all got their treats today and everyone had rave reviews, so all the work payed off!
I am started to get really excited for Christmas and seeing my family. Having Christmas this weekend with Eric and Susan will really kick off the holiday and make it real. I can't wait to see how Ella reacts to all the festivities. She is just growing up so much lately and acting like a toddler more and more each day. She understands almost everything we say and knows exactly what she wants and does her best to communicate it to us. She is also very into her winter hats now and wants to wear them all the time, even in the house. I don't have a picture yet, but I'll post one soon. She has so many of them that I let her pick out which one she wants to wear when we leave the house, it's pretty cute.
Of course December has been busy already as expected. Ella has been a trooper so far and is trying to roll with the punches. Last Friday I took Ella to an indoor play area in Skokie and she had a ton of fun. Here she is riding on the fish rocker.
Ella and I have been running a bunch of errands to try and get ready for the holidays and keep the house running at the same time. The other day we went downtown and met Marc for lunch and went to see Santa. I have to say the Santa was a little disappointing, not as cute as I was hoping for. I didn't think Ella would be afraid of him, but she was. She didn't cry, but would not go to him or even sit on his lap. So this was the only picture we got!
We have our Christmas tree up and Ella is very interested in it. She has been really good about not pulling on it or the decorations, however we still put up a baby gate around the tree. Here she is examining the tree.
With our new snowfall this past week Marc wanted to take Ella out into the snow. She spent about five minutes outside compared to the 15 minutes it took to get her all dressed for going outside. She wasn't a big fan of sitting in the snow, or even being outside in it at all. We got some really cute pictures though!
We are getting ready to do our three Christmas' with our families and a very busy next few weeks. I'm looking forward to it and seeing our families. I haven't seen my siblings and nieces and nephews in a long time and the kids are growing so fast!
