Emmie's 2nd Christmas...

I was determined to enjoy the seasons this year (read this post for a reminder).  I worked up until the 20th, and had off until Jan. 2.  I am super proud to say that I had ALL my shopping done by Dec. 20, and all the presents wrapped and put together by the 22nd.  It was such a relief and I was able to actually enjoy the few days before Christmas with Emma.

putting together Emma's kitchen from Santa...

I caught Emma red-handed....rearranging the presents.  She would pick them up, and place them somewhere else in the room...then stand on them:)  Good thing, there were not any super fragile items this year!

Brent got Emma this felt tree set at Michael's before Christmas - I know this idea was all over Pinterest...but honestly, who has time to actually make one?!?

Brent took off Christmas eve and we treated it like our "Christmas day."  We had Santa all laid out for Emma when she woke up, and she was delighted!

All ready for Emma to come down the stairs!  We videoed Emma coming in that morning, but I have not figured out how to upload that yet...for now, just imagine her running over to the kitchen in delight!

We then traveled to Washington, NC to be with Brent's family.  Emma had a second round of Christmas there....with no shortage of toys.

She was super excited about this one...

classic Emma - tongue out!

a new baby doll to love!

getting the hang of this unwrapping thing...

the Talley cousins

Unfortunately, we only spent about 24 hours in Washington because Brent had to work the day after Christmas.  We came home Christmas afternoon, and just enjoyed being outside and playing with all our new toys.  My parents came over and we made homemade mac n cheese.  It was a great end to a long, but fun, 2 days.

one of Brent's customers made Emma this cupcake hat - and it is too cute!

hugs for mom on Christmas

so happy!  (just to clarify - our neighbors next door had a baby on the 20th, so they had lots of family visiting Christmas day and we offered them our driveway for parking...we don't actually own 5 cars!)

Brent had to work the days after Christmas, but we had the weekend together.  We spent the night at my parents Friday night, so that we could do "Christmas morning" there as well.  It was so nice to be back home, and be taken care of (homemade quiche for breakfast with fresh fruit...coffee in bed...).  We even left Emma there for the day so Brent and I could run a few errands alone - heaven!

modeling her new backpack!!!

love, love, love it!

I went back and forth on whether to include this one...  What - you think I look AWESOME!?!!?!?  Your hair doesn't look like this in the morning?!?!?  LIAR!!  I was super excited about my leather wallet/crossbody from Scotland:) and my new Patagonia rain jacket!!!!  Thanks mom and dad!!!