Christmas 2010

What a Christmas we had!

I think all of us agree that the best present we got was that Tyler was able to have a whole week off. It was so nice to have him home.

We had time to get ready and go to town and play.

 Lots and lots of wrestle time with Dad. By the end of the break Corinne would actually go to him and snuggle him (as opposed to needing to be in my arms 24/7).

We played in the snow (which unfortunately all melted before Christmas day). Ashtyn's favorite? "Eating it, of course!"

We made a pretty awesome gingerbread house.

 We had plenty of time for chillaxin'.

 Then of course, we had Christmas day! It's so fun to be a parent at Christmas!

Tyler and I had a blast. This year we decided to get Ashtyn a train set and table. Tyler used his handy-dandy tools his awesome wife gave him last year for Christmas to make a table, and then we found a killer deal for a train set online (clear back in September--that's the time to buy them we found out). Then we've been bidding on Thomas trains all fall on eBay and ended up getting her a pretty amazing set for pretty reasonably priced. We've been dying to give it to her.

Ashtyn's initial Christmas morning reaction:

 Even with a giant train table sitting right in front of her, this is what she went for first. :)

 Corinne got this ball popper, and it's hilarious to see her try and catch all the balls.

Ashtyn spent most of the rest of the day sitting up on top of her train table...

...or hugging this dog.

Tyler and I got her a vetrinarian kit, which she uses multiple times a day to check her dog's health. It usually has some sort of problem with its heart, which a few direct shots to the heart usually cures right away, at least for a half hour or so when his symptoms seem to come back.  

Both Corinne and Ashtyn love these little "jiggly balls" as we call them. Best $5 present ever....

Here's Corinne, being a typical baby--tons of new presents to play with and what does she want to do? Rip apart her diaper box as usual. Only this time I let her.

She looked pretty cute in her little mukluk slippers.

Ashtyn on her train table again.

We also got this awesome toy--you can make all sorts of structures with it. We made igloos and castles and tunnels and rockets....

You can toss a sheet over it to create a fort, which Corinne just went wild over. Corinne + fort + big cuddly dog = wild wrestle mania. She actually tore down the fort in all her rolling about.

And there's Ashtyn on top of the train table again. At least in the case of Ashtyn, it was well worth it to get Thomas trains (we found super deals on eBay)--they're like rolling dolls since they have faces and names. She puts them to bed for naps and goes on all sorts of adventures with them (someone is invariable stuck in the muck). She cracks us up to listen to her talk to them--she has several Thomas the Train DVDs so she says things from the shows about how so-and-so is a "very useful engine" or how so-and-so being stuck in the muck has caused "confusion and delay" (that one is our personal favorite). Of course, to hear her say "Harold" with a British accent is pretty funny too.

What a great Christmas! We hope everyone else had a nice Christmas too.