Christmas Morning at Home

After Juliana was in bed Wedenesday night, we assembled the Santa presents for the morning. Scott assembled the work bench and I filled her stocking. When she came downstairs in the morning she was excited to see the work bench and find presents in her stocking. She spent quite some time with those surprises and we had to coax her into opening the presents from under the tree. Eventually everything was open and she was happy to play with her new things.

Christmas Eve

We spent Christmas Eve with my parents, brother and sister-in-law. Juliana still isn't back to normal, so she rested on the couch while the rest of us enjoyed the yummy turkey dinner - it was much quieter without her at the dinner table.


After dinner and clean-up we started opening presents. Juliana received so many wonderful presents including a bouncy seat for her baby doll, cool school computer keyboard and games, and books and clothes. One of her presents was a rocket chair (Little Einsteins) that Unle Nick had to blow up for her.

The Horse

When the first Christmas present you open is bigger than you are, makes sound, moves and you can ride it...will the other presents pale in comparison? Leave it to Uncle Nick to buy something over-the-top. I have a feeling the kids will always look forward to seeing what's under the tree (or in this case in another room) from Uncle Nick and Aunt Becky.

Christmas Card Pictures Not Used

This year I really wanted to take Juliana's picture outside - she has an adorable coat and hat that look perfect over her Christmas dress. I should have learned my lesson 2 years ago when I tried to take a picture outside in early December. However, I thought we could take a quick picture and be done even though it was very cold. It was clear that Juliana was not going to be a willing participant as soon as we got outside - she had no interest in standing next to the Penguin and started complaining immediately that her hands were cold...it's not like I was wearing gloves.

There was no coaxing a pleasant expression for one good picture so we gave up and wandered around the house - looking for a Plan B. We ended up taking pictures of her on an old trunk and the one that we used in the Christmas card was good in the end (after bribing her to smile and look in the direction of the camera of course). Here are some of the pictures that we did not use.

They are Called Stockings

The Gym Party

I haven't posted in a while. Last week I was away on business for a full week and this week has been a long one - so much to do to get ready for Christmas and Juliana is sick. We have had some good and bad nights - lots of coughing, waking up crying - I guess I need to get used to waking up at night again - I forgot how much those night-time interruptions make the next day so long.

So with that, here are some pictures from a birthday party that we went to way back in October that I had yet to post. She particularly loved jumping on the trampoline and running and driving in the pit. Wild Juliana who hopefully will be back to normal for Christmas.

Quiet Playtime

Juliana was so wild Sunday morning, no activity was holding her attention for more than a few minutes - so I asked her if she wanted to use her paints and stamps - that is an activity guaranteed to keep her sitting quietly and occupied for about half an hour. I was sitting no more than 10-ft away at my computer doing some online Christmas shopping, while stopping every few minutes to add more paint, swap stamps, wash brushes, etc. This worked well until I the final time I went to check and found this...at least she was quiet for a while...but we did need to have a pre-lunch bath.