It's Some Hard Paperwork

Work Bench

Jillian also got a work bench in the mail from my mom.  It is somewhat of a tomboy Christmas this year, not that I am complaining.  

Santa's Delayed Visit

As I mentioned, Santa dropped off Jillian's larger presents here at the house while we were out visiting.  When we cam home she was well practiced at opening up gifts, and I think I was more anxious than her!  She got everything a girl could ask for

A Kite..that we hope flies better than our last one that 2 engineers couldn't get off the ground (much to the delight of the construction crew across the street).  

A pink gun...with a goofy face.

This very cool fairy book that Mommy LOVED.  

And a helmet and bell....and we still didn't mention the M word.  

 

Finally, Daddy opened up his hazard light and Mommy opened a new camera lens.  Since I could not think of a single thing for Ryan, I took JB to the dollar store and let her pick out anything she wanted to give her daddy.  Ryan's face is pretty priceless.  Although, Jillian told him about it the second she saw him.  Ryan and I had discussed not doing presents so I feel a little shamed by my cool new lens and necklace that he got me.  However, I am just going to enjoy them both because I know that's what Ryan wants.  

Then finally, after months of prodding and coaxing and questioning, we took her out back where it was waiting for her.  A PINK MOTORCYCLE! (Do you hear angels in the background?)  

She was in heaven.  A little sketchy at first, but after a while she was an old pro.  She is figuring out steering and everything (after hitting a few trees head on).  We literally spent close to 4 hours on this thing today and we only stopped when the battery ran out.    

The acorns were a necessity at some point.  

Rabbitt Day

Our last day in the Lou, we went over to Grandma Rabbitt's for a nice little visit that lasted 7 hours.  My dad ended up coming over and the rest is history.  I ended the visit having a "vodka martini" with Grandma, which is actually just vodka on ice with a shot of lime.  Yes, my Grandma drinks harder stuff than I do.  

Since my dad was there, I finally got my 4 generation shot with the Rabbitt's.  Finally the collection is complete!  

Somebody slipped Jillian some cookies. 

After Grandma and Grandpa's, we headed over to Uncle John's annual birthday party.  Uncle John has been making pizza's for his birthday forever.  I actually helped a few times.  It is always good to see everybody in a little more intimate setting and be able to talk.  

After pizza, Trivial Pursuit came out.  There were 2 teams from this crew, and we still took almost 2 hours to finish.  

Science Center

Forest Park days with my cousins are probably some of my very best memories.  My high school friend, Erin, and I decided to meet up there to relive our youth through our children.  Jillian is an official button pusher and I wouldn't have it any other way.  

We still look good, right?

LOVE LOVE LOVE this picture with Jillian and Grandma.

Sweet, Sweet little Evan.

Christmas morning came pretty quickly after Jillian FINALLY closed her eyes around midnight.  She did sleep till 8:30 which was a Christmas miracle, but not her normal 10 hours of snoozing.  We stayed at my Aunt Maggie's who has a little girls dream room dec'd out for her grandbabies.  The best gift of all was playing with Aunt Maggie's doll house.  Once again a reason for Jillian not to sleep the night before, notice a theme?  We pretty much had to pull her away to go open presents.  

Grandma Rabbitt also came through with a new doctor set and a baby doll to operate on. Start her young.

Here is her presents that I brought with me  Santa dropped off.  Fortunately, the big guy understood we were flying and dropped the big stuff off at our house.   This is mostly art supplies and clothes.  She didn't mention the "M" word, but I felt pretty guilty.  

Luckily, Aunt Maggie and Papa Joe came through with some better gifts.  

After a nap that took too long to get to and didn't last long enough once she was there, we headed over to the Rabbitt's for more cousin chaos.  

There was a baby explosion this year (SIX babies, yes, Six babies).  However, this little shot was all I got.  Isn't Christian precious?  You can tell his parents personalities are shining through!

Aunt Monica has gotten a LOT of practice this year with the babies since 4 of the 6 are her grandbabies.  She played with the Bean for over an hour.