Christmas Holiday

On December 21st we left in the wee hours of the morning to drive down to Florida! It was the first Christmas we spent there with my family since Amelia was born and we had a wonderful time. The drive was long, but as soon as we got there Amelia warmed up to everyone. The next day we all went to Lakes Park where we played on a huge playground, rode the Christmas Train and walked through the gardens! When we got home Mark and I went to lunch with Uncle Daniel and Andrea, and then when we got back to Grandma and Grandpa’s Daddy took Amelia swimming in the FREEZING COLD pool!

Friday was Amelia’s third birthday! Grandma and I put together these sheep cupcakes the night before – we must have spent at least an hour just cutting the marshmallows in half so they could stick to the sheep! On Friday morning we put some balloons, some presents and the cupcakes on the back porch and didn’t let Amelia peek out there until everyone had arrived. We had her “party” at 8:30AM because Grandpa had to work at 10 and wouldn’t be back home until right before her bedtime. She LOVED the sheep cupcakes, the balloons on her chair and the purple “3″ candle that she got to blow out! She was also very excited to wear The Birthday Hat! She thought the presents were neat but she was more interested in trying to get back into the swimming pool than opening her gifts! We just stayed around the house for the rest of the day, playing with new toys and going for a few walks around the neighborhood.

On Christmas Eve Grandma had to work, so we went with Uncle Erik to the hospital surprise her! She was happy to see us and show Amelia off to her coworkers. Grandma gave Amelia a cup of ice water (hospital ice is the best!) and some graham crackers – Amelia loved all of the attention! After we left the hospital we went to the yacht club to play in the sand. Amelia was thrilled to be at the beach! Daddy and Uncle Erik helped her make a sand castle (which was really more of a sand tunnel). What a fun day!

On Christmas morning we woke up early and Amelia opened her stocking while we were waiting for everyone to wake up and/or arrive. After our traditional Norwegian breakfast we started opening presents! The second picture is of everyone opening their gifts from us – we kept baby’s sex a secret until Christmas morning and they all found out when they opened our gift! They had been trying to “trick” us into giving it away ever since we got down there. Grandma was leaping out of her chair with excitement! They found out that we are having ANOTHER GIRL!!!!!! Everyone guessed that our baby was a boy except for Andrea and Cheryl, Uncle Dan and Uncle Erik’s girlfriends – they both guessed girl and they were right!!! Christmas was a wonderful day full of amazing gifts and generosity – there were even a few tears shed!!! We are so incredibly thankful that we were able to spend the day with our Florida family.

On the day after Christmas we went to the beach again – this time to Sanibel Island! We had a lot of fun playing in the sand, and we finally got to meet Rebecca! Rebecca’s mommy is one of my close friends from childhood – Becca is 17 months old and this was our first time getting her and Amelia together to play. They took to each other quickly and had a great time playing together! At the end of the day we took Amelia down to the river to watch the sunset and then Uncle Erik took us to see a house with thousands of Christmas lights that were all synchronized to music. Quite the fun-filled day!

On Tuesday we did lots of laundry and figured out how to pack all of our gifts into the car. My best friend Daisha arrived around 3PM and we had fun catching up. We (me, Mark, Daisha and Erik) went to the movies that evening and on Wednesday we got up early and left Grandma and Grandpa’s house. We (Grandma, Grandpa, Daisha and the three of us) drove to Legoland and had a lot of fun! We only stayed about 5 hours though, because the park had reached maximum capacity and it was way too hard to maneuver through the crowds. After leaving the park we drove to Daisha’s house near St. Augustine – we had fun catching up with her and her mom that evening and then the next morning we left to drive back home. We had a fun-filled and jam packed trip, and we were very glad to get back home.

On New Year’s Eve we went to Grandma & Grandpa’s house for our Christmas with them. Uncle Paul was in town and we had a lot of fun seeing him! Amelia helped Grandma makes some yummy chocolate chip cookies and later in the evening we ate some delicious smoked turkey.

Our Christmas holiday was wonderful, and we enjoyed every minute of time we spent with our families. 2011 was a wonderful year for us – the biggest events were buying our first home and finding out that we would be adding another member to our family! We are looking forward to what 2012 holds for us, and are very excited about meeting our new little girl in April!

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