Merry Christmas

It was a nice white Christmas in Iowa. The first picture is Amelia wearing her new robe and reading the book "The Night Before Christmas" from Grandma Marilyn.

This year Amelia was very focused on opening any presents in sight. As soon as she opened a present she wasn't interested in playing with it, just in opening the next present. Later in the day she enjoyed playing with them. It was a good Christmas for all.

Visiting Father Christmas

Lets just say, she wasn't impressed.

Sledding

Today we tried out one of Amelia's Christmas gifts (thanks Mike, Sima, Zara, and Kaan). While she had to put up with her Dad's driving (flipping it over twice and on its side once) she seemed to have fun. As you can see from the picture of her when I tipped it on the side, she couldn't really move much with all the layers of clothes.

Freedman Christmas

Grandma, Auntie Suzie, Uncle Jason and cousin Tom came to celebrate Christmas a little early with us. Amelia and Tom got on well and Amelia even managed to give him a hug or two. We had a fake Christmas cake (chocolate cake decorated like a Christmas cake).

Visiting Father Christmas

We went to see Father Christmas with our playgroup friends. Amelia was not at all interested, this was the closest she got by far.

Blizzard!

Just to add a sense of scale to the drift in the driveway. Kevin's outside clearing it now so, if they do get the streets clear overnight, we can head out.




Over the last 24 hours we've seen 14 inches of snow and wind at 40-50 mph. Needless to say we are snowed in for the day.

Christmas Tree

As we will be staying home this Christmas, Kate managed to convince Kevin to get a live tree this year. Getting it home and up wasn't nearly as bad as we thought it would be so maybe this won't be a one off :)

Amelia wasn't too interested in it until the baubles went on it. Now they're gradually being moved up the tree as she takes them off, pulls them apart and sticks them on her fingers.

Building a Toy at Lowes

So this was from a while ago, but I just downloaded the pictures. For a Mom's Club Activity we went to Lowes and got to build stuff. Amelia enjoyed the goggles but thankfully wasn't as into the hammer as these pictures may suggest.

Thanksgiving/Christmas with the McLeans

Jim, Becky and Mark all came to visit us for Thanksgiving and we exchanged Christmas gifts at the same time since we will be apart this year. Amelia did well when it came to presents, with the rocking moose, giant ladybug, "winter purse", a Minnesota Wild fleece from Mark, among other things.

Celebrating the Holidays - a little early

In the last few days we've had some Christmas events. First we went to "Tour de Lights" in a nearby park. It was a nice night to walk. Amelia wasn't too impressed at the beginning, but got into it towards the end.

A few days later we went to the "Festival of Trees". Lots of decorated trees to look at. Amelia's favorite tree was the one with books surrounding it. She also liked the swing set they were auctioning off!

Halloween

This week we headed to the Pumpkin Patch again with our friends from playgroup then on Friday Amelia dressed up for Beggar's Night. We're not quite sure why Des Moines does Trick or Treating the day before Halloween.

Amelia kept trying to move the candy away from the door and ran away every time the door bell rang. Good job the weather was so bad that we only had three trick or treaters.

Thanks Grandma Becky for the outfit!

Sliding the Amelia Way

Amelia has added to her swinging expertise by mastering sliding. Here's some video and pictures of our recent trip to the park.