Merry Christmas!

What a whirlwind of a Christmas! Ben, Emery and I flew from from Steamboat to Atlanta on Christmas Eve, just in time for our tradition of dinner and games at my Uncle Greg's and Aunt Donna's with all the Greer/Reuter/Heinz gang. We got the best of both worlds this year--Christmas in Steamboat with the Slagels and then Christmas in Atlanta with my family.
Emery spreading reindeer food. Atlanta felt quite balmy compared to Colorado.

Cousins! Emery is so lucky to have such fun cousins on both sides of the family.

Emery got lots of great toys from Santa, including her most requested items: a Caillou doll, a bike, a digital camera and a Cinderella doll. Her reaction to the Cinderella doll was priceless. Her amazement that Santa knew exactly what she wanted brought tears to my eyes. Magical.

Alison and Brian gave each of the kids a guitar. They're starting a band.

The aforementioned Cinderella doll.

Hayes received these way cool light sabres. Uncle Ben thought they were pretty fun, too.

Emery and Cinderella on the new green Jeep bike. Nanny purchased the bikes and decided, wisely, to get them matching bikes.

Cupcakes for breakfast as a special Christmas treat (thanks, Granny!)

Early Christmas in Steamboat

Ben, Emery and I spent the week before Christmas in Steamboat Springs, CO, with all of the Slagels (minus Scott--boo!) for an early Christmas and ski vacation. If I posted a picture of every single thing we crammed into the week, this post would be ten pages long. Instead, I'll just post a few highlights from our incredible trip.
Austin is a whiz at Wii. He dominated his Uncle Ben at swordfighting.

Ski bunny Emery. Seriously--how cute is this Spyder ensemble?

Hot tubbing! Nothing better than drinks and a soak in the hot tub after a day on the slopes. Too bad I couldn't participate in any of these activities being preggo.

Ben, Emery, Austin and Jerry

We celebrated Christmas Monday evening. My sister-in-law, Korey, had matching pj's for the kiddos. How adorable are they? I can't wait for Bodie to meet all of his cousins and his sister and participate in our Steamboat trip next year. (Emery, Austin and Alexa)

Silly Emery

Honestly, Emery had more fun playing with the snow than actually skiing on it.

Snow Angel

Whee!

Emery made a new friend!

Austin and Emery dancing on Wii

I gave each of the kids a personalized apron and some spatulas. They got a lot of use out in Steamboat--we made pizzas and cookies

Cookie time!

Linda and Jerry, thank you for our wonderful week at One Steamboat Place. Heaven on earth! Thank you also for being such generous Santas. Emery loves her pram and I am obsessed with my Kindle.

Tea Party

Emery and I hosted a tea party for a dozen of her little friends Tuesday afternoon. Such fun! Emery is really into tea parties lately and apparently so are most two year old little girls. Emery was so excited for days leading up to her party and the big day did not disappoint. An unexpected surprise was that most of our guests brought little hostess gifts for Emery. She was so excited to have presents to open! Now she's confused and thinks she just had another birthday. The party had a snowman theme (Emery's favorite) and the girls all got along really well. And, I used my good Christmas china for the adults and even gave the kids hot chocolate in ceramic Santa Claus mugs and NOTHING got broken! I was fully expecting to be on replacements.com Tuesday evening, but not necessary.

Sweet Zoe brought Emery pink daisies. I think this was the first time Emery has ever been given flowers (shame on you, Daddy!) and she was thrilled.

My Elmo veggie/cheese platter. Thanks, Kriya, for showing me this on Pinterest.

Pink "no-man" cupcakes

The kiddie table

Some of the guests. I couldn't get all twelve of the little ones to sit for a picture at any given moment.

Emery couldn't wait to strip down and open her hostess gifts. So typical.

Santa at Phipps and the Pink Pig

We're three for three! For the third year in a row, Emery and I trekked down to Atlanta for our scheduled appointment with Santa at Phipps. Emery did really well with Santa this year and had so much fun, as always, sharing this experience with Hayes--and now Kelsey! As an added bonus, our good friends, the Boyds, are visiting from FL and were also able to join us. We knew this months in advance and made sure Hayes, Emery, Kelsey and and Phinley were show stopping adorable in their coordinating Rags Land ensembles.

Telling the big guy what she wants for Christmas: a camera, a bike, a Cinderella doll....

Hayes, Phinley and Emery running in circles outside Tiffany & Co. Good choice!

My mom gave each of the kids a plastic, candy pooping reindeer after their visits with Santa. We're classy like that.

After Santa and the pooping reindeer, we headed over to Lenox for some lunch, the Pink Pig, and impromptu ring-around-the-rosies!

Completely unprompted, this is how the trio walked through Lenox.

The fun mat at the Pink Pig ticket window.

On the train!

Such a beautiful day in Atlanta!

Granny and Opa with their grandchildren. Next year they'll have another one to juggle.

Tree Lighting at Thornblade Country Club

Thornblade Country Club held their annual tree lighting ceremony the Sunday after Thanksgiving. What a great, child-friendly party! Egg nog, beer, wine, cider, appetizers and desserts were all included as well as crafts for the kids and plenty of singing. Admission was a toy for Toys for Tots, to which I am always happy to contribute. This was our first year attending and Emery loved it. Any opportunity for her to be the center of attention....

Here she is busting a move on the dance floor. This is what we call her crazy dance, hence the crazy eyes.

Next, Emery volunteered to sing "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" for the entire crowd. This did not go so well as Emery knows all of five words to the song. However, she looked pretty stinkin' cute up there and the audience helped her out.

Whew! Glad to be done with her solo!

So I was thinking of using this on our Christmas card.....until I realized that my black shirt became see-through with the camera flash. What do you think? Do you want to see my sexy seven months pregnant belly on our card? I didn't think so. My stripper moment combined with the fact that Emery would not look at the camera or be still did not make for good card material.

Emery visiting the ornament decorating table with her pigs in a blanket.

What a great kickoff to the holiday season!

Lady Godiva vs. Emery

We've had a real problem lately with Emery refusing to wear clothes. She absolutely loves being nude. I don't what she's going to do when the weather turns colder. Ben caught her this afternoon doing her best Lady Godiva impersonation on my parents' dog, Sandy. Poor Sandy!

Thanksgiving and The Polar Express

Ben and I hosted Thanksgiving at our house this year. A slightly smaller crowd than usual, but still crazy and fun. My parents, Nanny, Brian, Alison, Hayes, Kelsey and my cousin Nathan's family (wife Michelle, children Wyatt and Lauren) all made the trip. Oh, and all the dogs. My first time preparing a turkey went pretty well--not nearly as scary as I envisioned. We had a great time watching football and spending time together. Thanks for making the trip! I was so busy during the day that I did not take any pictures other than this one of Kelsey chilling in the pram during dinner. However, the day after Thanksgiving was spent in Bryson City, NC, riding The Polar Express! I took plenty of pictures of that.

Team Stephens! Alison and I insisted on all members of our families (Nanny got a hall pass) wearing Christmas jammies on the train. Ben and Brian put up a fuss, but in the end they went along with it.

Here comes Emery leading the chefs and children down the aisle of car #8. The train excursion was done really well: hot chocolate that was the perfect temperature for kiddos, Christmas carols, Santa, keepsake silver bells, cookies, and lots of interaction with the "chefs," "conductor," and "hobo." The trip was very similar to the book--we rode to "the North Pole" to pick up Santa while having the story narrated to us. Emery and Hayes loved it!

Some other passengers in their jammies

Emery loved the hot chocolate and her new thermos.

The conductor punching Emery's ticket just like in the movie!

Hayes and Emery watching for Santa as we near the North Pole.

Singing Christmas carols.....did you know Emery can read??? ;-)

Santa gifted each child with a silver bell!

Hayes and Emery dancing in the aisle to "Deck the Halls."

Nanny was a good sport and joined us. Emery, Hayes and Kelsey LOVE Nanny.

Proof I was on the train and also in matching jammies. With Bodie, of course. Speaking of Bodie, I am officially in my third trimester and feeling great! Huge, but great.