Christmas Day!

Claire rushed downstairs to see if the reindeer left tracks on the lawn. AND THEY DID!!!!!!

Then we checked to see if Santa ate our cookies and the reindeer ate our carrots. AND THEY DID!!!

It's kind of blurry but this is Claire's face when she saw her presents from Santa for the first time.

Claire loved opening her presents! But the poor thing was sooo tired from the night before that she opened one gift and then wanted peanut butter and jelly. So we took a little break and then came back to the gifts!

Daddy loved opening his gift! He got a mini notebook computer from Santa! He must have been a good boy. It could have had something to do with him taking care of his pregnant wife for the last four months!


After Claire's PB&J she just wanted to play with her new art desk. So again, the other presents were on hold for a few minutes. Here she is making a thank you letter to Santa.


After that the robe came off and it was time to get those presents OPEN! She had a blast ripping off the wrapping paper and throwing it EVERYWHERE!


NOW THAT'S THE FACE OF CHRISTMAS MORNING!


After a well needed three hour nap we headed to Nana and Papa's for dinner. Then to Grandma and Grandpa's for more presents. Poor Claire was sooo tired that she almost didn't make it through her gifts. She just kept sucking her thumb and laying down!


Here is Claire "resting her eyes for a minute".



Baby Owen loved opening his gifts too!


The Komosinski/Kreibel/Young bunch.

'Twas The Night Before Christmas......


On Christmas Eve we continued our usual tradition of going to my Nonny's house. My Nonny's house IS Christmas. Ever since I was born we have gone there on Christmas Eve after church and had dinner and opened present. It was so heartwarming this year to see Claire and my cousin's daughter Ashlyn doing all the things we used to do.

Claire loved Ashlyn (who might I add is the HAPPIEST baby I have ever met in my life). Claire wanted to be right there to help with everything. Here she is helping to feed Ashlyn her dinner.


The two hot Mamas by the tree.

When I was a kid Santa always maybe a special stop at my Nonny's house. It has been a few years since he has stopped, but this year he made a special stop to see the girls.


This Claire's face when Santa walked into the living room.


Claire was thrilled to have Santa to herself for a little while. There was no line of kids waiting so she got to chat away.


Claire and Ashlyn had no problem posing for just a few pictures with Santa:)
It is so sweet to see these two sitting on Santa's lap. I can remember like it was yesterday when Christy (Ashlyn' mom and my cousin) and I used to sit on Santa's lap for pictures.


Claire very quietly and politely asked Santa if she could play with his bells. She was so excited when he said yes that she had to run right over to Ashlyn to show her. Ashlyn was so excited that she ate them :)


Santa even had time to listen to a few of the older kids :)


Everyone enjoyed opening their presents.


After all of our stops on Christmas Eve my immediate family always meets back up at my house to exchange our gifts and watch old family movies. Claire loved opening her presents. Nana got her a dress up box with all kinds of dress clothes. Here she is showing Peter her dress up shoes.


Here is Claire with Papa after she opened her PINK ROBE!!!! She was so excited to get her pink robe she wore it all night. When we put her to bed she was all sweaty.


Greg and Sue loved family time.


And before we went to bed we left a plate of cookies and milk for Santa and carrots for the reindeer.

Breakfast With Santa


Today Nana and Papa took us to Breakfast with Santa at their club. We had a delicious breakfast and a wonderful visit with Santa.

Claire loved seeing her friend again today!

Claire reminded Santa about the Quack Quack Duck and kissed him this time and
said thank you. It was precious.


We actually had to tell her "Ok Claire its time to give the other kids a
chance to see Santa now."


Even Mommy and Daddy let Santa know what we wanted for Christmas!


Thank you Nana and Papa we had a GREAT time today :)

On A Perfect Winter Day.......

two buddies suited up and went outside to play in the snow.


They sledded on snowpiles......


and loved it!

They slid down snow piles and loved it!


One of them posed for some pictures.


They started to build a snowman....


and ate some snow.


They continued with their snowman......


and then ate some more snow.


Then took to a break to eat some more snow.


Finally, the two buddies admired their work. It was a perfect winter day :)

On Sunday we went to our local park to see Santa. Claire just loved him! She climbed right on his lap and told him her name and that she wanted a "Quack quack duck". Then she thanked him. It was adorable!

Claire loves Santa. She thinks they are friends now.

How's That For Cozy?

Lately Claire has been all about our bathrobes. Every morning she has me wrap her up in my robe to make her "cozy". Today she relaxed after a hard day at school while snuggled in Daddy's robe. When we ask Claire what she wants from Santa she tells us three things: 1. A Quack Quack Duck (which if anyone has any idea what that means, please let us know), 2. An Art Desk (that was with a little help from Mama :), and 3. A pink robe (but she informed us that she does not want a robe from Santa, she wants Papa to get her that).

A STAR IS BORN!!!!


Today was Claire's first experience on stage. It was our Mommy and Me Christmas Show. After much stress (from me) Claire danced like a champ. That is, once she saw Santa in the audience watching her she did great! It was really cute to see her and her friends dancing away!

Let me just start by saying that I could never be a pageant mom! This whole recital thing is quite stressful!! Everything ended up being great and Claire had fun hanging with her friends before the show. It is really nice that a few of my close friends and their girls are in the class, it really makes it extra special. Can you notice Poppy's pigtails, they were soooo sweet!


I put a little make up on her before her the show. Claire thought that was the greatest thing in the world!


Here I am helping Claire fix the last few bows on her costume.


Mommy and Me.


Here Claire is jammin away. She was a little stiff at first but, then she saw Santa and she was dancing up a storm. Sorry the pics are a little dark, Mark said it was hard to get a good shot.


Tap, tap, tap.



The whole class (photo compliments of Marc and Amanda who have an amazing camera!).


Overall, Claire's favorite part of the whole day was when Nana, Papa, Grandpa, and Grandma brought her flowers "backstage".

I was to say a special thank you to Auntie/Miss Jacqie (and Miss Gabbie) for all of their hard work. I seriously don't know how you guys do it! The show came out great (so great in fact that I think we should have tomorrow off ;)