And Happy New Year!

We had a fantastic Christmas, with Emily and Andy coming to visit.  Isaac loved the attention, loved having new people to read to him, and loved the extra cuddles.  It was so much fun having a houseful of family!  Maybe next year Katie, Kyle and the kiddos and Ben can all join us :).

I was so eager to get everything ready for our visitors, that we put up the Christmas tree a couple weeks before I normally do.  Isaac loves the Christmas tree!  He enjoyed helping us decorate it…and undecorate it again.  He loves the lights, and has a favorite ornament, “piggy”:

After a few days of picking up ornaments off the floor, I just decided to leave the bottom of the tree bare this year.  It’s just easier that way.

We had a little pre-Christmas weenie roast.  Isaac loves watching us build a fire, then throws sticks in.  He has great aim!  We had such great weather – chilly, but sunny.  Perfect for some time outdoors.

There’s nothing like some fresh air to tire a little guy out.  And a big guy, apparently…

Christmas Eve was a whirlwind of baking, cooking and assembling Isaac’s big gift.  It’s the first year I’ve had toys to put together – such a quintessential parent experience!  The girls all put on a Christmas movie, had a glass of wine, and enjoyed ourselves :).

Christmas morning was so much fun this year!  Isaac enjoyed passing out presents to everyone, and really loved everything he was given this year.  So many fun things – new books, a wheelbarrow (he kept calling it a boat), play kitchen, tent, train set, stuffed owl and Piglet.

All pooped out from the excitement:

He was too overexcited to nap, so we put on A Charlie Brown Christmas while everyone else rested.

Lovin’ some special Daddy cuddle time:

Yay, everyone’s up!

It was a great day!  We had a great Christmas meal, and Isaac went to bed early…a happy little boy.  The next day we were surprised by some wintry weather:

We had a power outage – some electrical lines went down nearby – and spent most of the afternoon in the increasing darkness, trying to keep the little guy happy.  He is always pretty antsy when we can’t get outside during the day, but he did pretty well.  Thank goodness for aunts and uncles for extra distraction!

We had a couple other fun excursions before Emily and Andy left town.  We visited the children’s museum in Baltimore Thursday, and the National Aquarium (also in Baltimore) on Friday, but unfortunately didn’t get pictures of either outing.  Friday night and Saturday they spent down in D.C. with Rachel, and then they had to leave early on Sunday morning.  We miss them already!

As we still have a few days of Christmastime left, I’ve still got the Christmas carols playing (at least until Chris gets up in the morning).  Isaac definitely has his favorites.  Warming his Mama’s Bing Crosby-loving-heart, his favorite song is White Christmas!  Every time it comes on Pandora, or I sing it to him, he stops and listens and sings along.  He especially loves the Otis Redding version, and screws up his little face and belts out the words he knows at the top of his lungs.  His other favorites are Oh Holy Night, Silent Night, and Hark the Herald Angels Sing.  He finds Jingle Bells and Deck the Halls rather hilarious at times, and other times he refuses to let me sing them at all.  He loves rocking out to Cee-lo’s Christmas album, but refuses to let me dance with him.  “No, no, no Mommy!”.

Last Christmas was a blast with little 8 month old Isaac, and I knew this year would be even more fun.  I can’t even imagine what next year will be like!

We hope you all had a Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year!  Hoping to get to see more of you in the coming year.