Merrry Christmas!

Merry Christmas Everyone!


We certainly had one and little Josie Dong Dong was completely overwhelmed by the day's activities. Wim and I are most happy to say that Josie's fever was gone yesterday morning-- she does have a bit of a cold, but nothing that held her back--Not by a long shot!


I was the first to wake-up on Christmas Day! I was so excited for Christmas to get here, I am surprised that I slept at all. Wim insists that I didn't really sleep and kept him up most of the night.

Santa did come to our house, and I could not believe all the wonderful presents that he brought for Josie. We asked to Santa to simply set-up Josie's presents and not to wrap them.



I was quite surprised to find that there wasn't enough room under our tree for Santa to fit everything . . .

. . . he had to set-up gifts all over our living-room!

I barely had enough time to warm some milk, start some oatmeal, and set a pot of coffee before Josie Dong Dong was up and calling for me. After a quick breakfast it was time to show her what Santa had done during his visit the night before.

"WHOAAAA! What happened here?"

After the initial shock and few head shakes, Josie was ready to jump in and try out some of her new toys!

Josie wasn't the only one feeling super cool with a bunch of new loot. She gave Daddy his special Christmas gift from her and Mommy-- a fab black leather coat!

Now he can sport around town being 'Fonzie cool."

After Daddy's big gift, Josie didn't waste any time getting back to her toys.

"Look at me! I am a shopper just like Mommy!"

Even though she received a lot of new toys, Josie Dong Dong couldn't let such a special time go bye without sharing it with her special kitties. Especially not after getting her new Hello Kitty purse and DVD from Mommy.

She asked and asked for them to join in the Christmas fun, so I relented and brought them out to play on her new table and chair. I was a little worried later that night when I could not find her little Hello Kitty figurines-- but soon discovered that Josie had tucked them away quite nicely in her new Hello Kitty purse.

Whadda girl!

Josie received lots-- LOTS of toys! I got her a dress-me doll from China Sprout and Auntie Andrada got her a dress me monkey.

Can you guess which one she like the most.

"Oh boy! An Elmo phone that sings!"

Auntie Gisele and her husband sent Josie a new dinner set featuring Baby Wild Animals and a subscription to the magazine! Josie Dong Dong will be excited beyond words to get her own REAL mail!






Around mid-morning we were delighted to have Josie's friend Angeline and her Mommy and Daddy join us for a little while. Josie enjoyed giving out Christmas gifts just as much as she did getting them!

"Merry Christmas Angeline!

Here are some present from me."

The girls spent the next few hours playing together and having a great morning.

We enjoyed lunch with Angeline and her Mommy and Daddy before they left and Gabrielle and Xavier joined us at about the same time.

Josie took this opportunity to go down for a nap and Gabrielle and Xavier had some quality time to open their presents from their Dad and me.

Xavier was especially excited to open . . . . .

his very own Wii!

Round three, the rest of the family began to arrive and it was a present free for-all!



And, not just for the kids--


Look at these big boys and their happy faces to get Christmas presents from their Mommy!

The big question of the day-- how exactly do you hook-up a Wii?

est assured, the problem was solved, I won't say quickly-- but it was solved. Xavier was VERY determined and then very occupied with his new game.







After a few hours, Wim managed to pry Xavier away from the Wii. Actually, I think Wim threatened to return it.

Whatever, we attempted to get a picture of all seven cousins sitting together.

Notice I said attempted.

Here is the first shot-- Nate wanted to stand so he could see his other cousins.

Problem-- his back is toward the photographers.

Abbie wanted nothing to do with sitting on the couch next to the rest of her cousins . . .

The cousins still sitting on the couch decided to moon her.

A little later and a different couch-- all the cousins, a couple of adults, and No Baby Emily.

We gave up!



We decided to be more diplomatic and went back to simply playing with all the kids and their new presents.

Nate and Uncle Wim playing with Nate's new toddler computer.

Don't be confused, Nate had to show Uncle Wim how to use it-- Not the other way around!

Ethan getting some help from his Mommy opening a present.

Gabrielle opening some presents from Grandma while her cousin Emily sits next to her playing with her new dolly.









Baby Emily thought that her big cousin Xavier needed to brush his hair so she offered him her dolly brush.

Xavier chose to pass on her very generous offer.
Cousin Abbie explained to Josie how to make pictures with bendables.

That is all I know.

Me and Baby Emily decided to join in at the craft table.

Ethan gave me a physical as Baby Emily watched very intently to what was going on.

Every time Ethan gave me a pretend shot, I would cry.

Ethan explained to me that it didn't hurt because it was just pretend.

I told Ethan that I was pretending that it hurt.

Ethan was confused by this type of pretend play.






Josie and Nate met by the couch for a quick Christmas smooch . . .

Toddler style.

Josie was blushing and feeling obviously exhilirated afterward.

Nate moved on to play on Josie's new piano toy with Gabrielle.

Gabrielle was happier than a clam in a full moon hide tide when she opened her gift from Grandma-- full of Juicy Cotoure apparell.

After a day full of opening presents, eating lots of goodies-- way too many Goodies, and hooping it up with all the cousins, Aunties, Uncles, and Grandma it was time to say good-bye and begin calming down for the night.

Josie was happy to help Mommy clean-up with her new broom that Santa brought her.

Then she remembered that she still needed to give Xavier his gift from her.





"Merry Christmas Xavier!"

Josie also still had her stocking to empty!

"WoW! Look at everything in here!"

Her stocking wasn't the only thing Josie still had left to open! She still had nearly a dozen presents to open!

But, Josie Dong Dong was too busy on Christmas night to finish opening her presents. She was busy playing with the box that Daddy's Leather Coat came in . . . . and,

She was busy filling HER shopping cart with MOMMY'S spices!

After a good night's rest, Josie Dong Dong was ready to open a few more presents.

"Whoa! Bath Basket Ball from Auntie Becky, Uncle Bob, and my cousins!"

"Thanks Auntie Becky, Uncle Bob, Nate and Emily! I can't wait to take a bath and play with these new toys!"

Josie also opened a geometrical stacking toy from Auntie Becky, Uncle Bob, Nate and Emily that she had big fun playing with the morning after Christmas!

Josie even received a gift from Elmo!

"Mo Mo! Mo Mo! Mo MOOOOO!"

The morning after Christmas was almost as much fun as Christmas morning-- not as many presents, but much less hectic.

Josie and Gabrielle enjoyed some quality sister time coloring in one of Josie's water color books.

There are a few more toys left to open, another family party to attend, and hopefully a couple more hours of sleep for this Mommy enjoy before this Christmas Season is called--a Wrap.

Yea, yea! I'm an Economist, whaddaya expect?

Cookies Full of Cheer

Hi Everyone,


We've been busy preparing to have a festive Christmas at our house. My work has been insane since the week of Thanksgiving with a very huge audit. Today we finally hit the mark we needed to hit for everyone to be granted their Christmas leave, which has made for a very happy day at work.

Unfortunately, this evening hasn't been quite as much fun due to Josie running a fever shortly after dinner. Hopefully she will be past the worst of it by Christmas. Fingers crossed!

Wim and I kept busy this past weekend doing all kinds of fun Christmasy things with Josie Dong Dong.

"I'm not so sure about this cookie-making thing."

After watching me roll out some dough and press shapes, Josie got in the swing of how to do it and was ready to roll out some dough herself.

After pressing shapes for the sugar cookies, we worked on the chocolate chip cookies.









We soon had racks full of cookies-- ready to decorate. Although, Josie Dong Dong thought they looked pretty good for eating without decorating.



"Cookies? What Cookies? I don't see any COOKIES."

"Oh, these cookies?"

"OK. I maybe I did notice these cookies."

"Oh No! I'm not planning to eat any of these . . .

giggle-giggle."

More giggling.

A lot more GIGGLING!

"HA! I got one! I got one. I got one of the COOKIES!"

I don't know if I have mentioned it before or not, but it is super hard to get good pictures of Josie. She will not sit still for me to take a picture or two and she gets fussy really quickly if she even suspects I am trying to get her to sit or stand somewhere 'special' for a picture.

I was hoping to get some pictures of her in front of the Christmas tree, but she was being her typical self. She did sit on the ottoman next to the tree.

"What is wrong with me sitting here Mommy?"
"OOOOooooo, these lights are really pretty!"

After her afternoon nap, Josie has a snack and since we made cookies I let her have one after she ate her fruit.

"Don't even try to tell me there aren't any cookies!"

"Mmmmmm!"

After her snack we took Josie for a little sled ride around the neighborhood on her new sled. Yea, Christmas is right around the corner, but like a lot of states, we got socked pretty good with some snow and wanted to make the most of it.

This is Wim pulling Josie on her sled on the street in front of our house.

On Sunday Wim decided to get some of his wrapping done. Much to his dismay, Josie Dong Dong didn't nap for very long and was quite interested in Daddy and his new 'task.'

If there is one thing Josie LOVES more than cookies it is watching either her Mommy or Daddy do 'tasks' and joining in to 'help.'




"What is Daddy doing? I need to investigate!"

"I can be a big help to you Daddy!"

"Daddy is talking to me in his funny Grumpy voice."

Hmmmm. I wonder what Wim is thinking in this picture as Josie continues to 'help' him and I continue to watch her 'help' and take pictures. Did I mention that he isn't all that into "wrapping?"

It's Almost Christmas and nothing is going to put a damper on this little girl's spirit!!!!