Baby's First Christmas

Three weeks old and Penny already has a Christmas holiday under her belt.  It's hard to believe and frankly a bit depressing to think that Christmas is already over!  2013 is over already and we are ready to take on whatever 2014 brings!  One of the most exciting parts of the year will be to see how this little one changes and grows.  The changes that happen in the first year of life are stunning.  One of the biggest differences in the way I feel with the third child is that I catch myself savoring the sweet newborn moments a lot. I KNOW how it all goes by so fast.  It doesn't seem that long ago that my first baby, Lizzie, was scooting around in diapers, and here I have my third girl now. Babies are challenging, yes.  However, it's a stage that comes and goes so quickly you have to relish the precious moments.  

I wish I had captured her smile because she is already smiling a lot!  She smiled for the first time at Grandma when she was one week old.  Then, she continued to smile more and more after that.  I know babies "don't" smile this early but she really did I swear!  She is a big time smiler these days.

Christmas 2013

Merry Christmas!  Christmas this year was so special.  I imagined having a baby in December would be quite stressful, but it was actually very low key.  We had a simple Christmas with a lot of family time at home and it was amazing. We talked a lot about the true meaning of Christmas and how it is a celebration of a miracle: we were celebrating Jesus' birthday. For Christmas Eve, we got together with family, played volleyball, went caroling, ate pizza, acted out the nativity, played games, gave a gift to Jesus, and had a little talent show.  Lizzie and Julie sang "Jingle, Jingle, Jingle."  Then Lizzie played "Jingle Bells" on the piano while Julie sang and danced around with a little jingle bell.  It was so stinkin cute.

Then after the program the kids opened their "Santa Bags" from Grammy and Papa.  They LOVED that part and little Miss Penny even got a stocking of her own.  It was such a fun night!

Then, we all headed off to bed in anticipation of Christmas morning!

The girls were so anxious to go downstairs and peek at what Santa had brought them!  

It looked like Santa dropped his whole sleigh at our house!  The kids eyes were so wide with excitement and wonder at the sight!

Grammy and Papa were even there too! Christmas day was spent at home, playing with all the new toys!  Family time is the best and we got a lot of it this December!

Julie got a new bike.  Both girls received large Mickey and Minnie stuffed animals and stockings from Santa.

They opened all kinds of fun gifts.  Hello Kitty was definitely a big part of their gifts this year.  They are both so into Hello Kitty and Disney items.

They also received all kinds of crafting items from Grandma and Grandpa (a favorite activity of theirs).  They got some pretty cool things from Korea, too.  (From Abby and Leah).  It was a great Christmas and end to the year 2013!