Christmas V: The Big Day

We went to church on Christmas Eve to hear Daddy cantor. We girls had lots of time to explore the decorations during choir rehearsal. By the way, Gabi loves dressing up like Bella as much as she likes dressing up like her baby doll Asha.








After Mass on Christmas Eve, we each opened one present.


Gabi and Asha dressed alike


Bella likes Asha, too -- yummy!
On Christmas morning, we opened the rest of our presents. Bella was still sick with RSV bronchiolitis, and Mommy was feeling sick on Christmas Eve and Christmas morning, too. Daddy played with Gabi and her new toys between presenting-opening sessions so Mommy and Bella could rest.


Daddy's iPod dock


Gabi's tricycle


Daddy and Gabi on wheels


Daddy pulling Gabi in her new wagon


Gabi likes her new wheels!


Gabi wants to help Daddy open his present


Gabi dressing Asha in new doll clothes


Mommy and Bella resting


Gabi cuddling her Darwin's Fox


Mommy hugging Gabi girl


Gabi coloring her fuzzy artboards
She is so good at staying inside these lines!


Daddy got a Kung Fu shirt from Mommy


Gabi got lots of Japanese toys this Christmas, too. We love languages...
Unfortunately, we don't know how to pronounce any of these words.


Gabi testing out her new stethoscope


Gabi wrapping her dolls in their new blankets


Mommy opening a present, too


Gabi says, "It's a CD!"
Daddy says, "It's a DVD."
Mommy says, "Oh, yes!"
I had previously tried to rent this movie, but Disney didn't ever release it in the US.


Gabi trying on her new Tinker-vest.


Gabi and Daddy (and dolls) admiring her new quilt before a bedtime story.
And, finally, here's another Christmas video for you, featuring Gabi's tricycle (from Mommy and Daddy) and her wagon (from Santa). We still don't have any comments on the previous videos, so I hope you are enjoying them. It takes awhile to put them together, and we'd love to hear what you think.


Gabi and Daddy take Gabi's new wheels for a spin

Christmas IV: Cookies / Presents

On Christmas Eve, Gabi made some sugar cookies for Santa and then decorated them with Mommy. While we were waiting for them to bake, Gabi sang some Christmas carols. Here she sings "Santa (Claus) Is Coming to Town."


Gabi makes cookies and sings for Santa.


After we went to vigil mass (where Daddy cantored), we came home and opened one present each. (In Mommy's family tradition, they open all their presents on Christmas Eve, but in Daddy's family, we open them on Christmas morning. This is our family compromise.) Gabi was kind of tired and ornery, but she loves opening presents. The next video shows some present opening from both Chrismas Eve and Christmas Day.


Opening Christmas presents.

Presents in this video, in order of appearance:
American Girl outfit (for baby doll)
Books
Annabelle's jingly bear
Wagon
Cooking utensils and play food
Tricycle
Suitcase
Quilt
Daddy's heart (model)
Doctor kit (with stethoscope)
**At the end, Gabi says, "Thank you!"**

We spent all day opening presents because Gabi wanted to open each one (even the ones that were for Mommy, Daddy, or Bella) and then play with her new toys right after she'd opened the package. If your present isn't mentioned or featured here, it's not because we didn't appreciate it. It's just that we didn't think we'd really want to watch a replay of Gabi slowly opening each present, so we didn't tape all of it on video. Thank you so much to all our friends and family for thinking of us and for all the wonderful presents!

Christmas III: Uncle Brian's visit

Uncle Brian came to visit us the week before Christmas. We had a great time with him!

Uncle Brian and Bella baby


Gabi wins the matching game!
Gabi's class had a Christmas party at school on Wednesday. The teachers gave the kids a ton of presents, and the parents brought food.


Bella and Uncle Brian watch the classroom festivities


Ms. Tomeka handing out the yummy turkey rolls


Gabi hugging her new doll, which she later named Christine


Yum! Gingerbread cookies!


Gabi wearing all her new princess jewelry,
including rings and earrings
Gabi's playgroup had a Christmas gift exchange party, and she got a beautiful and challenging Noah's Ark puzzle. She loves it, and it's just the perfect level for her -- all her old puzzles are too easy now.


Uncle Brian helps Gabi put together her new puzzle
We took Uncle Brian to play at "Michael's Playstation" because Mommy likes bouncy inflatables. (Gabi calls it "Daddy's Playstation.") Brave is not one of the adjectives I would use to describe our Gabi girl. She takes awhile to gain confidence. -- At first, Daddy and Uncle Brian were wondering why I even suggested we take her to this place she was terrified of. I insisted that they just had to wait...


Gabi is scared of the slide, even with both parents holding her hands


Daddy and Brian sit while Gabi freaks out and runs away


Daddy takes Bella on the slide since Gabi refuses to go
Eventually (after about an hour, just when everyone else is almost ready to go home) Gabi's attitude does turn around and she loves it. So, we stay for another couple hours. This is fairly typical of our weekly experiences at playgroup, too. She is very shy when we arrive, but she enjoys herself by the end.


Gabi jumping and (purposefully) falling


Boom! That was fun!


Mom holding Bella


Gabi bouncing


Jumping is fun!


Whee! Uncle Brian helps Gabi slide
Of course we had to take Uncle Brian to the Georgia Aquarium, too!


Daddy and Bella watching the tropical fish


Bella likes to watch the colorful fish swim


Gabi watching the tropical fish


Gabi and Uncle Brian at the Ocean Voyager


Gabi identifies the giant grouper on her "diver card"


Bella is interested in her reflection


Gabi conversing with a penguin


Gabi surprised us and sat perfectly still for face painting!


Daddy and Bella get a close-up view of the hammerhead shark


Bella and Daddy see a whale shark and a zebra shark from the Oceans Ballroom


Gabi peeking through a tree in the river exhibit


Uncle Brian pets a shark before we go home
Gabi called up Santa to ask him to stop by early and fill our stockings while Uncle Brian was still here, so we had presents in our stocking on Saturday morning. Then Mommy had to take little Bella to the doctor because she wasn't feeling well.


Gabi finding candy and toys (and fruit) in her stocking


Mommy found chocolate and Harry Potter in her stocking!
Gabi told Mommy, "I got more [candy] than you did," but Mommy still thinks she got the better deal.
We took a tour of CNN, which we had never done before. It was interesting, but we weren't allowed to take pictures on the actual tour. They told us all about how the weathermen can stand in front of a green screen to film their section of the news, and after the demonstration, they told us that they don't actually do it that way any more. We got to see the newsroom with people gathering stories on wolf attacks and 40+ car accidents in the snow.


Posing with a hummer in the CNN Center
On the last day of Uncle Brian's visit, he and Gabi played with the stuff she got in her stocking before he had to leave.

Gabi putting chap stick on Uncle Brian


Gabi wearing her new stickers
Thanks for coming, Uncle Brian! And thanks for our date night -- he babysat for us so Michael and I could get out. What a brave uncle! He also babysat Gabi while I took Bella to the doctor and Michael had Christmas choir rehearsal. Not only did he play wonderfully with the girls, but he was generally very helpful, even doing dishes after meals, so we appreciated that.