Christmas Eve

A friend through work has been making hats. When Dani saw my first one she decided she wanted us to have matching pink hats, so that's one of the presents we got. Of course Dani got to open them.


As is tradition, we all got new Christmas pj's and Dani got to open them.

Next she got her first pair of roller skates. I couldn't get over how tall they made her look! The skates and all 4 pads have Tinkerbelle on them so that's always a bonus.

She never stopped smiling even when she fell down.

Next was her shopping cart, which she wouldn't take her skates off to push.

Lots of little stuff.

Last came her first BIKE!!!

And what's the point in getting a new bike if you can't ride it immediately?

And this is what I got after her first wreck.

And here it is, the traditional Christmas new pj's picture.

Christmas Traditions, Part 1

We have lots of little Christmas traditions that start long before this one but this is the first BIG one each year. We spend Christmas Eve at Grandpa's house with the Thornberry branch of the family. This year they just couldn't make it on the 24th so we had our first Chrismas Eve gathering on the 23rd. Besides...having family together and being in the spirit of the season is what it's all about, so who cares if we did it a day early?

Of course, when you have Christmas with little ones, you also have presents.

Money was tight so the grown Thornberrys got an album full of pictures of the family, mostly Ellie. Maryann actually cried over their gift album (we didn't know at the time that pregnancy hormones may have played a small role in her tears).

Dani got a Dr. kit which both girls had lots of fun with :)

I was so busy enjoying everybody's company that I hardly took any pictures.
The best gift was time with family.

School Christmas party spirit :)

12-17-2010

Party time again! Dani showing off her school Christmas party shirt.

Parker's Party

12-12-2010

It's time for Parker's birthday party! Of course there was family, cake, and presents.

And pin the tail on the donkey.

Uncle Tim was a great sport playing pin the tail with Dani.

Christmas card faves

These are some of my favorites from our Christmas card shots. I like them so much I didn't want to put any of them in a collage and decided to post them individually.

And the final result...

(sorry it it's a bit grainy, it's a scanned copy.)

I hope you enjoy these pictures as much as I do!

More family beach time!

12-5-2010

We had another great family beach weekend. The morning sun coming in through the front door was just beautiful.

Dani loves her "Baby Ellie".

While there we took a lot of pictures hoping for just the right ones to use on our Christmas card this year. So of course there are a lot of extras for me to share here :)

Later there will be a separate post of my favorites.

And can I just take a moment to say how much I love living in Florida!!! I mean really... how many places can you do beach pictures in short sleeves with bare feet in December and be totally comfortable?

Dani and Ellie found two big holes to play in and lay in.

We are so lucky to get to spend time with our family and enjoy the beach at the same time!

Halloween!

10-31-2010

First we took our little Tinkerbell to the pumpkin patch.

Then we went to visit Mr. Merry. We are so blessed to have him in our lives and love him so much!

Then we went back to Grandpa's house.

After changing from Tinkerbell to Dani she helped us carve the pumpkin.

She wasn't too sure about touching the "guts".

She wanted Grandpa to draw a face on her too.

Then she got to enjoy a very messy cupcake.

And the final result.