holiday hooplah

We had a wonderful Christmas. The time spent with family and friends is worth more to us any any other type of gift. We have so much to be thankful for and enjoyed every minute. And, Santa was good to all of us this year too.

Although Harper still doesn't get the whole concept of Santa, she was very surprised to see some new toys on Christmas morning. Santa brought her a little slipcovered chair, a big car she can ride in (while we push), and a couple dolls, books, and little surprises in her stocking. She wanted down and went to her new toys immediately. She loved her car so much she wouldn't get out to eat breakfast, so we let her eat in her car. Why not!? I cooked breakfast pizza and we all munched in the living room.

At first she would only try to get into the car backwards...

My family stopped by on their way to Tennessee on Christmas morning for a quick visit and to drop off some more gifts for Harper. I'm starting to wonder by this point where we are going to put all this stuff!

She got a very real looking toy cell phone and toy keys with beeping key chain from Chad's parents which she loves. She loves phones, remotes, and anything with buttons!

We had Christmas with Chad's family that afternoon and we were all pretty tired, but that didn't stop us... we decided to head on to Tennessee that night. We left around 7:30pm (had to drop off the dog and then get gas) and were hoping Harper would sleep the whole way. That she did, and we made our usual 5+ hour trip in 4 hours, 20 minutes. It was FABULOUS. We slept in a bit the next day and enjoyed not having to worry about spending our Saturday in the car. We had a great time there with more family, enjoyed the babysitting service and even went to see 2 movies (2 nights in a row!)

She cut her 10th tooth on the trip too...

We thoroughly enjoyed being cooked breakfast each morning... some of us enjoyed it so much they opted to eat right from the big bowl of oatmeal. (this is my brother)

Harper loved this adorable little set of play cookware and the back of the box is a little play cooktop! (She cooked with me in the kitchen today)

On Monday we drove 3 hours across Tennessee for more family Christmas-ing (again, perfect... Harper slept 2 hours). Had lunch and visited a while and headed back to Birmingham (this time she slept the whole way... this is great stuff). Ever since we've been recooperating, doing laundry, and trying to get organized as there are TOYS everywhere! I did clean out some of the older more "baby" toys she doesn't play with as much anymore, we will be depositing them at the grandparents' houses. :)

We are looking forward to the new year and a big goal for us this next year is going to be to de-clutter and work on organization. Wow, things can get out of control in a hurry. If you have any clever organizational tips (from toys to anything) please share! Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday... looking forward to 2010! (It is going to be hard for me not to say "0-10", since I'm so used to saying 0-8, 0-9, etc.) A couple other favorites-

Chad is jumping out acting like he is going to chase her...

We have a child who can raise one eyebrow... wonder where she got that trick?