Merry Christmas

Hope everyone is having a wonderful Christmas day. McKenzie's second Christmas went off pretty well. It started at 4:45am and ended around 8pm. Long day but she got 2 naps...Mommy wasn't so lucky. Below are a bunch of pictures from our day.

This first one is actually from the other day. My mom got McKenzie this cute Vancouver 2010 Olympic sweat suit. It just fits her so we did not wait for Christmas to put it on her.

Before

We were all spoiled and thank you to everyone who got us gifts. It really makes us feel good to know we have such great friends and family out there. McKenzie in particular got very spoiled as you shall see.

This is the coolest xylophone and when we took it out of the box McKenzie started to "play" it almost right away. She's so smart...though I may be biased!
She was (and is) fascinated by this snowman. Mike's Dad got it for her and when you press his hand he lights up and sings. She can't make him do it yet on his own but hits his hand to get one of us to turn it on for her.

McKenzie did try unwrapping a bit herself but for the most part sat back and critiqued how I did it...faster Mom...you missed a bit...open it NOW! Or I'm sure she would have if, you know, she could talk!

This was her Santa gift. Yes it is a laptop. It is actually for 3 and up but she loves it. There is one button on the "screen" part for sound that she LOVES to press and Daddy HATES the sound it makes. I giggle every time.

Just so you know I was there opening away!

And Daddy was snapping picks.

Our friend Shona and her family got McKenzie this Care Bear. Hey Mom, it's purple! I realized after I opened it that it was collectors bear...oops...guess I should pay more attention to the boxes. Oh well, she had fun playing with it.

McKenzie was affectionately nicknamed Baby Budha by our friend DeeAnne at 7 weeks old. For Christmas, DeeAnn and her family gave McKenzie the cutest hoodie with a Baby Budha on it...too cute!

Oooh ... touchy feely

Beep Beep said the bus...McKenzie is still not sure about riding on this bus but she loves kneeling beside it and pushing the buttons!

We thought of Uncle Ryan when we opened this one. Mike's Aunt Anne got McKenzie a bunch of lovely stuff and in with everything else was this little basketball book with a squeaky basketball about Big Bird and Grover playing b-ball. My brother Ryan has already said he wants to train her up if she keeps growing as fast as she is. Well she has her first basketball now so she's well on her way!

Loving the b-ball

Yeah Christmas is FUN!

Afterward I piled our gifts on one side of the tree and McKenzie's on the other...Ummm I see some inequality!

Our Side of the Tree

McKenzie's side of the Tree!

Every kids favourite toy....the wrapping!

This box sure is fun

So is this tag!

This afternoon we headed over to my Aunt Lorraine's for Christmas dinner. Snapped a few shots of McKenzie hanging out there.

Sears Catalogue model

No more pictures Mom!

I agree!

Is that a dog or a rat?

Playing with Cousin Daniel

Thanks again to everyone and I hope that you all had a great day. Best wishes for the remainder of 2008 and hoping 2009 is the best year yet for everyone!

Sick!

But still darn cute!

Christmas came early

So we let McKenzie open a Christmas present today. My boss, Sandy, was so sweet and got McKenzie something for Christmas. McKenzie was fascinated by this wrapped thing all the way home so we let her open it. It's only a week early:)

What is this thing?

Is this how I get in?

Harley felt she was taking too long and he should help. (no joke - he loves opening presents)

Here we go!

How does it work?

Oooh the wrapping paper is fun to play with too!

Did you see what this thing can do?

I love it! Thank you Sandy!

Snow! It's cold!

Question...What does the house look like when Daddy gets up early with McKenzie and let's Mommy sleep in?

Answer...

Watching Daddy shovel that funny white stuff.

Lots of snow!

Balloons

We cut off one of the helium balloons from McKenzie's party so she could play with it. I think she had more fun letting it go so we would lift her up to get it.

photographic proof...

...That I made it through my first day of work and can still smile!

It was difficult, nerve wracking and intense but I did it and each day will be a little easier.

Birthday Party

McKenzie's 1!

(Pictures may be slightly out of order. My apologies.)

Opening Presents

Finger Lickin' Good!

Playing with the loot!

The Loot!

Thank you to everyone who came. Thank you cards will be in the mail shortly.

The Cake

The decorations

Playing with my new chair.

It's MY BIRTHDAY...I can relax if I want to.

Relaxing with Mom in preparation for my party...have to look good for my public today!

Drinking out of a glass

Grandma decided to see if McKenzie was ready for a glass instead of a bottle or sippy cup.

She did pretty good and kept asking for more drinks out of the glass

And was not very happy when I took it away!

History really does repeat itself

Watching McKenzie watch Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer really brought home for me how much history repeats itself. It seems that Christmas especially is steeped in so much tradition and introducing your kids to your time honoured traditions and creating new ones for your family is just so much fun.

I remember watching all these shows with Ryan and getting so excited that Christmas was coming...though I remember them being on much much closer to Christmas. Happy Holidays.