Three Christmases!

Wow! This is my 100th post! How perfect that it's also my first posting of 2009. I had a super fantastic fun Christmas--three Christmases, actually! Because of all the crazy weather, my family couldn't come over when they originally planned, so Mommy, Daddy, and I had our own Christmas on Christmas morning, the Johnsons came over Christmas evening, and the de Jongs flew in late Christmas night so we celebrated on the 26th.

A few things I learned this Christmas: what Santa looks like and that he says, "Ho! Ho! Ho!"; there are colorful lights all over people's houses, including mine; the presents under the tree are actually supposed to be opened and not just looked at; and most important, that Christmas is Jesus' birthday.

Before I get into all of the crazy Christmas stuff and the cool presents I got, I wanted to show all of you a special ornament Mommy and Daddy got for Cooper since he couldn't be with us this Christmas.

The angel's wings say "tis a gift to believe."

And I finally learned how to say Cooper's name, although when I say it, it sounds more like Pooper. But I'm sure he'd be doing a lot of that anyway if he were with us right now.

1st Christmas

Christmas morning with Mommy and Daddy.

First things first--stocking loot:

The first present I opened was a set of Thomas choo-choos. So cool! I couldn't stop playing with them.

A sweater for Mommy:

Gloves for Daddy:

Playdoh! (And notice the Mr. Potato Head in the background.)

Mommy got some new slippers:

And boy did she need them! Here are the bottoms of her old slippers and notice the hole in the toe of her slipper sock above.

Beware! Daddy got Settlers of Catan and wants to play it every night! YOU could be invited over soon to be his next victim. (Right now Mommy is playing it with him over and over--she could use a little reprieve, or just extra company.) Gma and Gpa de Jong had to play it while they were visiting--although Gma said she actually liked (definitely better than Acquire)--the fact that she won once might have improved her opinion.

Wall-E!!! (Or "bo-bots" as I call it.) We rented this video in November and I watched it at least half a dozen times in the few days we had it. Now it's all mine and I can watch it every single day! (I also got "Toy Story" in my stocking and Mommy is so excited to watch these movies over and over with me.)

The Aftermath:

Mommy doesn't let anyone clean up the wrapping paper and boxes until everyone is done opening presents so she can get and "after" picture.

And here I am still playing with my trains.

Daddy and I were exhausted from all of the excitement of presents and stockings.

2nd Christmas

Christmas evening with the Johnsons. Grandma and Grandpa, Aunt Andrea, Uncle Ted, my cousins James, Casey, Madison, and Melanie, Uncle Marc, Uncle Steven, Aunt Dani, Uncle Eric, and my other cousin Remy all came over for dinner and presents.

We kids got right down to business:

My cousins gave me a bunch of cars from the movie Cars! I was so excited. Right now my favorite is Ramone.

A bus from Gma and Gpa! Uncle Steven helped me open it.

I also got a bus book that has wheels. A book that moves--how cool is that! Inside are lots of pictures of trucks and cars.

The aftermath:

3rd Christmas

Christmas with the de Jongs (that's Mommy family). Because of all the snow, Grandma, Grandpa, and Uncle Mark weren't able to get here until 11pm Christmas night. I was already in bed, so we opened presents then next morning.

Check out the Cars slippers I got from Gma and Gpa de Jong:

A learning laptop from Aunt Kari:

A magnetic tow truck puzzle from Gma and Gpa:

A Cars book that makes noise from Aunt Denise:

What did Daddy get Mommy for Christmas???? She couldn't possibly guess from Daddy's amazing wrapping skills:

What a surpise! A Dyson vacuum cleaner! Mommy has vacuumed the house nearly every day since opening her present.

Uncle Mark is starting BYU-Idaho in January. That means he's leaving sunny 70 degree weather in Southern California and heading to 15 degree weather in Rexburg. We thought we'd help him out a bit by getting him some warmer winter gear:

(The shorts are leftover from his warm weather wardrobe. He won't be needing those for a while.)

The aftermath:

Mommy was hoping to post more pictures of Gma and Gpa and me riding the trike they got me, but realized that she didn't get any! Everything with Gma and Gpa and the bike is on video. Sorry!

Let it snow!

We have had some crazy weather this past week! It reminds me of the week after I was born two years ago when there was a crazy snowstorm and even though everyone else was staying home and off the streets, my parents insisted on taking me into the doctor for my newborn checkup because they were new parents and wanted to know how I was doing. Actually, I don't really remember that, but I overheard Mommy mention it.

Daddy came home early from work on Thursday because it was snowing so much and took me out to play in it. That sounded like fun, if you're someone who likes getting bundled up to go outside. I'm not one of those people. I hate wearing coats and shoes and hats--and you can forget about putting gloves on my hands. After a huge fit which included crying and shrieking and rolling around on the ground, Mommy and Daddy finally managed to get my snow clothes on and I headed outside with Daddy. It really wasn't that bad once we got out there. And even though I look less than thrilled in the pictures, I really did like the snow.



Daddy was trying to get gloves on my hands so they wouldn't freeze.

Walkin' in a Winter Wonderland.

Look closely and you'll notice that my mittens are on the wrong hands. That's because I refused to stick my thumb in the right spot, so Mommy just quickly shoved them on my hands before my fingers turned to ice.

The snow melted a bit on Friday and Saturday, but on Saturday afternoon it started coming down again and it got really windy so there was snow blowing everywhere. This is what our front porch looked like a few hours ago.

It's even deeper now. They even cancelled church for tomorrow!!! Bummer, no Nursery. Oh wait...I don't like Nursery anyway.

Umnumnuh!

Me and my buddy Amelia (a.k.a. "Umnumnuh" in my language).

Overkill???

As you all know, my favorite movie is CARS and my favorite things to play with are cars! So this is what Mommy and Daddy got me as a late birthday/ early Christmas present:




I'm not sleeping in it yet, but this is my favorite thing to do on it:






Even though I love my crib, I think Mommy and Daddy are going to try moving me into this big boy bed pretty soon. But it's really cool, so I'm sure it will be an easy change.

Now check out the rest of my room. I love cars, but do you think it's overkill?

It's hard to see, but on the dresser on the left hand side is a Lightning McQueen clock! Notice the window valance with cars.

Like my poster and all of the CARS stickers on the wall? And did you notice the border near the ceiling? Yep, you guessed...that's Lightning McQueen and Mater.

More CARS stickers on my closet doors.

I don't think there's room for any more car stuff in this room! Now let's just hope I don't get sick of cars any time soon!