Christmas 2016

We had a great time celebrating Christmas with Linnea this year.  It was so fun!  I had way too much fun buying Christmas pajamas for her.  I mean she is adorable in regular pajamas but when you put her in elf or Santa pjs it is just too much cuteness to keep to myself.  So be prepared for some pictures!

Smaller cheeks . . . bigger personality. (Christmas 2015 vs 2016)

 This elf dress was my favorite.

We went to Bass Pro to meet Santa.  She was pretty convinced she didn't want to sit on his lap but she did and after about 30 seconds she calmed down.  This is her calm face :).

A few of these pictures are from trips to Wichita before Christmas. 

Her dad wore that sweatshirt as a little boy.

 Telling Yoda all about the tree (or actually probably telling me to sit and look at the tree with them).

Before we left for Wichita we opened a few presents at home from Aunt Carmen & Family!  The owl book and a beautiful white owl for Linnea were a hit.  She also got some cute outfits and another book.  I got sheets!  I LOVE staying at the Bright house.  They always have the softest sheets!

We drove to Wichita on Christmas Eve during Linnea's afternoon nap.  We had dinner and music at Grandpa's house.  Linnea enjoyed the music and she tried to play the trumpet.

 Top and bottom pictures are the same just different perspectives :).

 Dancing with Grandma

Dancing

 I love that she is riding on his back.

I love that her pajamas match Christmas Bear so well!

 Presents with Grandma, Grandpa and Uncle Bob!

 Airplane from Bob!

 Uncle Bob!

 She loves rocking chairs and insists that you sit and rock as well.

Linnea loved trying to sit in this little rocking chair.

On Christmas day we woke up at my parents' house.  We celebrated Christmas with just the three of us.  It was AWESOME!  Christmas while trying to get pregnant was hard. Really hard.  A few years ago one of my brothers started celebrating with just his family on Christmas day and I didn't get it. I don't like change and this one was hard for me.  I wanted my kids to experience Christmas the way I did and struggling to get pregnant while changing traditions didn't sit well with me.  We didn't have kids yet and it just made the day seem extra lonely.

Now that we have Linnea I get it.  I loved the 2 hours we had with just the three of us opening presents and hanging out together.  Life is just more fun with her.  Oh how I wish those of you longing for babies could get just a small glimpse of the other side.  The wait SUCKS but it is totally worth it.  So, so very worth it on the other side.  Maybe your other side involves medical help, adoption, fostering or some other plan but please don't give up. I'm here if you need to chat! (Stepping off of soap box now . . .)

 Tree!

Just the 3 of us on Christmas morning!

 I gave Linnea a baby for Christmas.  I LOVED babies as a little girl and I wanted to pick one out for her.  I had very specific requirements (eyes must open and close, mouth must be open for a bottle and it needs to be cute . . . harder than you might think but I found one).

Jake got her a dump truck that you can put together and take apart with a screwdriver.  She figured it out pretty quick!

This video is about 1:30 but you have to watch it to see Jake's reaction to Linnea.  It is so funny!

 

We had dinner on Christmas night at Jake's parents' house.  Linnea had a fever on top of a cold that she had been dealing with for about a week.  All she wanted was her mama, fine by me!

Sometimes you just need to lie down on your mama and look at the tree together.

We were supposed to go to Oklahoma on December 26th to see Jake's cousins but Jake and Linnea were both sick so we stayed home. We were super bummed!  I really like hanging out with that side of the family and we only see them once a year.  

Annie, Stephen and the boys arrived around dinner time on the 26th.  We spent the 27-28th with them and had a great time.

Santa pajamas!

Cousins! (Same picture different cameras . . .that happened a few times on this trip.)

Dancing

She had several presents to open but she kept playing with this plastic bag full of our wrapping paper trash.

Janzen Family 2016

Enjoying the sun!

Sometimes even angels need to shave . . .

What do angels say?  Linnea's Grandma Janet taught her that angels say "Glooooooria".

This red nightgown was made for Janet (Linnea's grandma) by Janet's grandma Lillie Johnson (her mom's mom).  So Linnea's great great grandma made it 65 years ago.

Jake got his slot car track out and we had lots of fun!  Most of the time we could only go around the track 3-4 times before falling off.  Nathan sat down, picked up the control and did 35 laps without falling off.  The next time he tried and did 63 laps.  We were all impressed!

On the 29th we went to Valley Center to hang out with two of my roommates and their kids.

 Sometimes Buzz Lightyear needs to use a cash register.

Buzz Lightyear rides on the rollercoaster.

On Friday, December 30th we celebrated Christmas with my side of the family.

An owl from Aunt Lindsay, Uncle Aaron and cousins Avery, Jocelyn and Connor.

Grandma got the big girls pajamas with matching pjs for their bunnies and horse.  These pjs were a hit!  The girls put them on soon after opening them and wore them all day!

Tea party!

This year was my year to decide what the adults did as far as exchanging gifts.  I decided instead of buying a gift (because we all have too much stuff) we would be paired up and spend time together before Christmas.  I was paired up with my dad.  We went to lunch, played Laser tag, drove indoor go carts and then visited his work.  It was a LOT of fun.  During our family Christmas we shared pictures of our "dates".

Family picture 2016

After we got back from Wichita we went on a walk so that we could show this house to Linnea.  This house might have a little too much Christmas spirit!  This was even after they took some down.  Linnea liked looking at all of them.

Merry Christmas!