Oklahoma Christmas

Goood morning people!!! 

  After driving 10 hours all night (we are real parents now), Oklahoma greeted us with a beautiful sunrise, a wide eyed baby & two very tired parents!! Friends, family and the famous Kirkland cornbread dressing awaited us, so we put the pedal to the metal all night to get there!  

All smiles after some yummy food!!

  Kirkland Christmas was Sunday- and boy oh boy did we have fun! The house was full, the noise level was LOUD, and the food was delish (5 pans of Kirkland cornbread dressing). Dirty Santa was a hit as always, mostly because Jon & I made out with the "good stuff."  A beautiful blue glass vase and a $10 Sonic gift card!  The cousins played, the parents enjoyed a good meal and the grandparents were tickled pink to have everyone around!!  Ella loved all of her presents, but mostly she loved eating the paper & bows.  We got to see our chocolate lab Boomer, Ella's new best friend!! Every morning she'd crawl to the back door to bang on the glass door as Boomer sat & did tricks for her! 

  After Kirkland Christmas we had Ella's "first birthday" with Jon's family! What a hoot!! I can't wait for her real first birthday now!  Kaitlyn, Ella's cousin, made her a beautiful smash cake! So we striped her naked (diaper still on of course) & placed her in the center of the room- with all eyes staring at her & a birthday cake coming towards her, we began to sing "Happy Birthday." She looked up at me with a completely perplexed look as if to say "What in the heck lady?"  And after we blew out the candle and placed the cake in front of her- the REAL fun began!  After a few "tastings" she dug into that cake with furry! When all the fun was over she was covered in purple icing and on a sugar high! (And I won't even tell you what her diaper looked like the next day--ughh!!) 

What's all the attention for people? PS- i'm cold!

"What in the world is going on?"

I'd say this tastes pretty good.....

Mommy- get away from my cake! 

Full on smash cake mode!! 

  After all of our fun at Gramms & Papa's house- it was on to Smith Christmas!!  We were greeting in Tulsa with the fresh smell of cookies, bread, and wonderful treats!!! Kristy was able to get a few days off of her ER rotation and the house was in full Christmas mode.  It is hard to believe it's been 4 months since my dad died, it's hard to have Christmas without him.  Although we are all convinced he's playing golf in Heaven with his dad in some warm tropical place! :)  Ella was spoiled yet again by both Nana and Auntie KK! I'm pretty sure she has more toys than there are days in the year & an entire new wardrobe for the new year!! 

Ella's pile of gifts! (And a few we already opened in the background)

Best self photo we could get! 

"Kiss"

Awesome Christmas PJ's Auntie KK bought Ella! 

Nana and Ella having fun in their matching PJ's! 

Come on people- let's open these up!! 

Rrriiippee goes the paper

Nice book, but I'll just eat play with the paper! 

Spoiled much?! And that's only a 1/3 of her stash! 

   After two Christmas's, a practice first birthday, tons of yummy food & goodies, and all the fun Oklahoma could offer we were off to Minnesota & blessed to get the "bubonic plague" of 2012 from Ella!! After being sick for a week in Oklahoma- Ella passed her cold onto us :(  So it's OJ, cold medicines, hot showers, saline in the nose & zinc for me, Jon & Nana! I have high hopes that we will wake up feeling better tomorrow! Although our 3rd and final Christmas will be very low key!

   We also had a very successful house hunting experience while in Tulsa!! We bought a house!! It's just being built so we get to pick everything out & are very excited for this experience! We are building our forever house to grow old in (and put all of those toys in)!! The neighborhood is great!! It has 2 pools, a splash pad, 7 acres of parks and some awesome neighbors! Lots more pictures to come in the next few months! 

What?? You bought me a house-- yay! A place for ALL my new toys!! 

Our new house :) 

Oh Ella- you really much quit your Starbucks addiction! Early flight to MN

 

  So life is over all very good- we are extremely blessed! We had a wonderful time in Oklahoma, but are excited that next Christmas we will be a very short 15 minute & 1 1/2 hour drive away- no more of these 12-10 hour drives! Ella continues to delight us! She can stand on her own, and "walk" with the assistance of hands or toys! Her vocabulary is expanding- she can say "Ella-Ella-Ella" and then some crazy gibberish that only she understands! 

We miss you everyday Dad! Life will never be the same without you.