Jennifer Woodbury

A Belated Christmas Recap

Our holiday recap is coming to you a little bit late because the day after Christmas Matt and I were lucky enough to head off to spend a night at the Sonoma Mission Inn & Spa while my mom watched Ella. We've stayed there once before (almost three years ago), and I'm so glad we were able to go back again before the move. It was amazing, and I can't remember ever feeling quite so relaxed. I think a mini spa vacation is the perfect way to unwind right after Christmas is over. I wonder if I can somehow convince Matt that we need to plan something like this every year? Actually, I doubt that he would need much convincing.

Let's get on with the Christmas pictures, since that is really what everybody came here to see right?

A couple of days before Christmas I broke out my Kitchen-Aid mixer (it very rarely sees the light of day, I'm sorry to say) and made not one, but two different types of cookies. I honestly had no idea how much work it would be. It took the entire day, but it was well worth it and actually a lot of fun. I got the recipes from Kim and I recommend you run right over to her blog and pick them up for yourself here and here. Especially make sure to grab that sugar cookie recipe. I can't even tell you how many of those I've eaten this past week. Ella was so interested in the whole process (especially the mixing part, since sadly I don't think she has ever seen me do such a thing before) that she refused to let me put her down the entire time. My arms were extremely sore the next day. Actually, it was a good way to work off a few of those sugar cookie calories now that I think about it.

Me in an apron, a rare sight:

Don't these look pretty?

Moving right along, here's our family after church on Christmas Eve and another one of Ella in her Christmas dress:

And here's our tree after Santa came and left presents. I experimented with an extra long shutter speed and my tripod to get the lights on the tree to look twinkly. I know the tree is sad without any ornaments, we'll work on that for next year!

Finally we arrive at Christmas morning. Ella got a play kitchen from Santa, and when she came downstairs and saw it she just headed right over to it and started playing like it had been there her whole life.

Of course, the gift she was most thrilled with was the play cell phone Santa left in her stocking, which couldn't have cost him more than $10. I guess he really didn't need to be bothered getting her anything else! Here she is excitedly pressing the buttons. I have about 20 other pictures with this exact same expression on her face.

And finally, some other pictures from the day:

And a bonus video of Ella seeing what Santa left her on Christmas morning:

Christmas 2006 from Jennifer Woodbury on Vimeo.

It was fun to see Ella sort of "get" the whole opening presents thing, although once she opened one toy and started playing with it, it was hard to convince her to open another. In fact, she eventually got so tired of opening presents that there are still two presents sitting in the living room that she never got around to opening. We should probably open those sometime soon!

The tree is already down and all the decorations are put away. It feels good to get the house back to normal as soon as Christmas is over. The plan for this weekend is just to relax with the family one last time before I have to come to grips with the fact that we are really moving. Two weeks from tomorrow the movers come to pack the house. Now that's a scary thought.

Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas!

Getting in the Christmas Spirit...Finally

I can't believe Christmas is only 4 days away. I have been so caught up in this whole moving thing that I haven't really had any time to get into the holiday spirit. We just got back from a last minute house hunting trip back East (no, we didn't find a house!). Poor Ella was such a trooper. She went on two cross country flights and in between that she spent the majority of her time being dragged in and out of her car seat to look at a million houses, and she barely complained about it at all.

I didn't realize how much Ella loved her own house until we returned home on Tuesday. She ran inside, saw her box of toys and started TWIRLING around the living room. Yeah, I think she was excited to be home. I was worried that she would have trouble falling asleep in her crib when we got back since she refused to sleep in her Pack 'n Play at the hotel (and instead slept between Matt and I...thank goodness for the king size bed). But no, she just missed her bed like all the rest of us do when we are away from home, and when it was time for bed she literally just lay down without one peep and fell asleep immediately.

OK, now I am off to try to cram every last possible ounce of holiday cheer into the next four days! The Christmas cards are mailed out (finally!), my last package has been shipped off, 95% of my shopping is done (where on earth I found time to do any of it, I cannot tell you) so now I'm just going to sit back, relax, maybe bake a few cookies and enjoy the next few days!

And to make this post a little more festive, I'll leave you with a picture of Ella in her Christmas dress.

Someone is trying to impress Santa

Just last night I was lamenting about how difficult it is to get any decent pictures of Ella at this insanely busy age she is at right now. And by decent I mean a picture where Ella's face is turned towards even the remote vicinity of my camera. But just this morning she shocked me with not one, but two adorable poses:

Yep, Ella must have listened to "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" and decided she wanted to be on the "nice" side of the list. She's also been extra generous with the kisses lately. Whenever you ask for one she puckers up, says "Mmmmmmmmm", and tilts her head up in anticipation. Irresistible!

And don't worry Ella, those kisses definitely make up for the little tantrum you threw right after these pictures were taken because Mom wouldn't let you play with her camera and carry it around the house like a purse. I think I can safely say that Santa will be very good to you this year.

It's a Beautiful Sight...

...isn't it?

Yes, after three weeks on the market we accepted an offer on our house last week! We thought it would take a lot longer since the market is pretty slow out here right now, so we are thrilled that it sold so quickly. Of course, this means we are really moving. For some reason it didn't seem like it was actually going to happen before, but now there's no denying it. I will say that it has been so nice not to have to keep the house spotless for showings anymore. I actually left a dish in the sink this morning before I left the house and it was quite liberating!

**Fun at the Bookstore and Other Adventures With a Sick Toddler**

Ella and I came down with a cold (or was it the flu?) last week and we were both pretty miserable. The worst part came on Saturday night when I thought Ella was feeling a little better and I decided to take her for a girls' night out to Barnes & Noble since Matt was out of town. I won't go into all the details, but let's just say we were having fun until Ella fell down and bumped her head, which made her start crying, which led to her gagging on her phlegm and throwing up repeatedly in the middle of the store and all over herself and me. Apparently she wasn't really feeling any better after all. Lesson learned.

I had a hard time getting Ella to eat anything while she was sick, which was understandable since I wasn't very hungry myself, but eventually I did find something that she was interested in: a Jamba Juice smoothie. In fact, she loved it so much that I couldn't pry it out of her hands, so I let her take it into the bathtub where she stood there (Ella doesn't believe in sitting down to take a bath) drinking it until she started shaking from the cold. That was the point when I decided it was time to take it away, a decision about which she made sure to voice her displeasure. Thankfully she was almost back to normal today and eating solid foods once again.

**Scrapbooking Talk**

I actually scrapbooked! With all the craziness in my life right now, it has been almost a month since I have finished a page. But I was just so excited about these cool new products I recently got that I couldn't resist spending some quality time with Photoshop (my non-scrapbooking readers can just skip right down to the pretty layout):

• Hot Cocoa and Warm Mittens kit by Gina Miller and Meredith Fenwick
• Christmas Candy elements by Natalie Braxton
• Bend It photo templates by Debbie Knorr (I am so in love with these!)

**More Children's Clothing Talk**

So, Gymboree just came out with a new line that I think is so adorable. As I was browsing the site I just put everything I liked into my cart, and when I looked at the grand total it was...$299! Now, this is after I already just bought a ton of clothes for Ella (see previous post). Don't worry, I didn't push the "Purchase" button. I actually went straight to Google and typed in "support group for mothers who buy too many clothes for their children", and would you believe I didn't find anything? Anyway, those items are tucked away nicely in my virtual shopping cart and I'll just keep them there and go admire them on my computer screen occasionally, or at least until Gymboree has one of their special sales. Aren't you proud?

What's Wrong With This Picture?

I had a "Friends and Family" coupon for 30% off of everything at Gap this weekend. This is what I bought:

Those two huge bags are from babyGap and are obviously for Ella. That little green bag is from Gap and contains the items I purchased for myself. (Don't worry, poor Matt wasn't left out. I bought him a pair of jeans that are not pictured here.)

Just so you don't think I'm completely nuts, the babyGap bags aren't both totally full. But really, who am I kidding here? They are full enough. Yes, Santa is going to be very generous with the clothes this year. This has been the story of my life since Ella was born. An obscene amount of clothing for her and hardly anything at all for dear old Mom. When I look at this picture, I am left with two questions:

Why is it so hard to find cute clothes for myself?

Are little girl clothes really that irresistible, or do I need professional help?

Discuss amongst yourselves...