It was definitely strange with just the four of us, but also extremely nice. I feel as if we've done a lot of running around this fall and it was nice to just sort of reconnect and relax together. Besides, who knew the year would go so fast and we'd already have such big girls on our hands.
Isla even had her first taste of popcorn. I know, I know, not something you're really supposed to give to a 1-yr old, but she is reaping the benefits of being Kid #2. It's tough to say no to her, but yes to her sister. Capturing her first taste. She loved it!
Of course, one of the main projects of the day was to leave some food for the reindeer. At school they made little bags of reindeer food, which Sawyer poured on the lawn that afternoon. She did not want to leave anything out for Santa - all cookies were for her I was told.
The day ended up with some relaxation by the fire. I spent some time texting with my family members who were at family parties, and we even skyped for a bit with the crew at Aunt Kathy's. Specifically, Sawyer and Isla opened their presents from Aunt Zoo and Uncle Jeff on Christmas Eve so they were able to watch on Skype. Isla climbed on the presents vs. opening them. Sawyer was digging the warm up to the main event. The disposable cameras were a big hit, and no pictures remain. She has taken to using my camera lately ( and is pretty good with it), and so having her own camera made her happy.
Our dinner ended up being a bit of a bust. The plan was to have a sushi appetizer, and then follow it later on with some Chilean Sea Bass and yummy sides. Turns out none of us were real hungry and so we called it quits after the sushi. Kind of a weird Christmas Eve dinner, but we dug it. AND - it was Sawyer's first sushi experience! She selected a salmon roll - I tried to steer her toward cucumber roll, but she could not be deterred. And, she liked it - especially dipping in soy sauce! This wasn't even a great roll in all honesty, so we're going to definitely expand her options next time.
It wasn't too early of a morning for us...I think we were up at 7:30. Isla woke up first, but we waited in bed until Sawyer got up. Because our tree was in the dining room, she could see it from just outside her bedroom, and as soon as she walked out she looked down and saw the presents and excitedly told us that Santa came and brought her presents! We hurried on down and checked it all out.
I'm happy to say that it feels like we didn't overdue it this year. We got MANY gifts from family and so that is probably what filled out our tree the most. Plus, feels good that all the gifts are really getting used. You'll notice that some gifts are not wrapped. Keeping with my own experience growing up, Santa does not wrap all the gifts. Sawyer didn't totally get that the wrapped ones weren't from Santa either, no matter what we told her, but she will some day. And it's worked really well that those gifts are to share with her sister, and not hers alone. One of those gifts up front though was for my little kitchen helper and was immediately put to use as we got breakfast going.
She helped with muffins, and then moved on to whisking eggs. Girl has skill...
There were a few gifts that really got a lot of use that morning. One in particular was the family ipad. Sawyer has demonstrated a mastery already. She plays games, watches movies on you tube, and records videos of herself singing songs. Believe it or not, she does it all herself too.
Another was the wagon that Grandma & Grandpa Harris sent. We did more than a few loops in our house before we got dressed and did a walk outside that afternoon. Isla in particular gets so excited being pulled around. I think it's a little more freedom than a stroller and she seems to really like that.
Not seen is the guitar Sawyer got. We have a great video of her playing her guitar and singing Old McDonald. Hopefully I'll figure out how to get it on here. She enjoys strumming away quite a bit. Other than that we were pretty lazy that morning. Isla helped her Dad get a fire going. Despite it not being a white Christmas, it is almost always cold enough these days for a fire.
Isla monkey didn't really get Christmas. She opened not a single gift. Even showing her the paper didn't get her into it. Rather she checked out the unwrapped gifts and just walked around with a goofy smile on her face all morning. She liked checking our her new ornament Santa brought quite a bit...however given her propensity to drop things we quickly gave her some non-breakables.
We spent the rest of vacation time relaxing, playing with toys, and doing projects. Mark and I continued to take advantage of daycare and took the girls for some abbreviated days so we could easily get our projects done. We bought some drapes for the living room, hung pictures, finished decorating our bathroom with new towels, candles, and pictures, bought paint for the basement, got in some good runs, lunches, and even another movie...ok, we may have gotten in a few naps too! A few pictures from this past week...
Mark showing Sawyer the face paint stickers we bought her:
And Sawyer not totally digging it as much as her Dad:
We did mounds of laundry, and Isla digs the laundry basket. She would carry the basket back and forth from the family room where I was folding to her playroom. Probably went back and forth for 30 minutes and got the biggest kick out of herself.
Clearly watches her Dad like a hawk because we caught her "watering" the flowers one day.
But most of the time just spent a lot of time playing with new and old toys. The play kitchen is still hugely popular.
We spent some time cooking. Mark and I each selected something that we hadn't made in a long time, but thought might be fun for Sawyer. My choice was soft pretzels, which were really good. Mark even came up with a twist for garlic butter pretzels which I think we'll use next time...yes, they were good enough that there will definitely be a next time. Mark's choice was salt water taffy. We didn't have a candy thermometer so he was a little bit doomed from the start - the taffy never truly set, so we're going to try this one again now that we have all the proper materials to make it. However, we did manage to snap a picture for posterity. Reminds me of the slime in Ghostbusters.
And most importantly we spent a lot of time just cuddling. I get climbed on an awful lot, and Mark captured a few.
Isla is quite territorial these days and so anytime Sawyer comes for some love, I often end up with my two babies.
And now, on to 2012 we go with fingers crossed that friends and family stay safe, are healthy, and happy.
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