Keeping Up With the Vandegrifts: Christmas Celebrations 2011

We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas/holiday season! We sure did! It was busy, but we had a wonderful time with family. Christmas Eve we went to my grandma's(on my mom's side) before I had to work. That was a lot of fun and I loved watching Addy open her gifts and seeing her eyes get so big was really fun. She mostly liked the paper, but is now playing with all her new goodies. I had to work that night, normally on holidays it isn't too busy but man this year was really busy and nothing seemed to go right, thank goodness for a great co-worker, or else I don't know that I would have made it. Mom and Jason stayed at our house with Jared and Addyson, I was more than ready to get home to my little girl and husband. When I got home we saw what all Santa brought, opened gifts, read Santa's letter to us, and mom made our favorite breakfast, biscuits and gravy. Then we had to get going to the next stop. We went to my dad and stepmom's and had a great time. Santa had been there as well and we opened gifts and Penny made our traditional lunch of schnitzel, rice, green beans, and crescent rolls. As always, it was AMAZING! We then loaded up and headed down Greenfield, MO where Jared's extended family is. It was great to see everyone, and we had more great food. We definitely didn't go hungry that day!!We did our usual man and woman gift exchange and then the women also do an ornament exchange. We stayed the night with Grandma Betty and Addy had been sleeping through the night for awhile, but she woke up every couple hours and started coughing and sneezing, and had her first cold by morning. I highly suggest the batter operated nasal suction (suggested by a co-worker when I was pregnant). We have used it a lot this week and it works great. We had another great breakfast Monday morning, stopped by Jared's Mamaw's house and then headed home. Before coming home we had Christmas with Jared's mom and dad, and Kirk, Jenn, and the kids.We had another yummy meal, smoked brisket and other treats. It is so fun having kids around to see Christmas through their eyes. We then made it home and we were exhausted. Our great room looked like a tornado hit it. Addyson's pile was overwhelming and she was definitly loved a lot!! She got so many wonderful things and we made so many great memories. Jared took the tree down that night and got stuff ready for me to box up the next morning. When Christmas is over, I am ready to get my decorations down and clean up. Jared had off Tuesday as well so we finished picking up the decorations and went out to eat lunch before I had to nap. I ended up getting cancelled from work so Jason hung out with us that night and the next morning. Wednesday, Addy and I were lazy and caught up on sleep.We got the new stuff washed, cleaned, and put away. We brought up my wooden toybox my great grandpa had made for me, and it is now Addy's toybox. Last night, Addy had her first limo ride. My stepmom, Penny got a limo ride/lights tour and we went with her, dad, Jason, Angie, Jeff, Miami, and Henry. We had a great time and got to see some sights my mom had taken me to when I was younger like the house that was all decorated, including the entire garage, and candy cane lane. Addy was pretty good,and enjoyed the lights and not having to be in a carseat for the ride. She was tired at the end and fell fast asleep once we got in the truck to come home. Today we took my grandma shopping for her birthday and out to lunch and Addy is the best lil shopper (mainly sleeping the whole time!) . Tonight Addy weighed 13 pounds, 4 ounces on our scale and is 24 3/4 inches long. She has been eating oatmeal cereal in the mornings and rice cereal at night. I am still breastfeeding and that is going well. She is getting more rolls and doing new things all the time. She now holds her hands out more when we say "Come here Addy" and is starting to turn herself a little in her exersaucer. She loves having new toys to play with, and is laughing out loud but won't do it when we try to record her. We have had a wonderful 2011 and are looking forward to what 2012 has to bring and hope it is great too. We are praying for good health and happiness for our family and friends. Much love to all!!