Happy Holidays!

Merry Christmas!We celebrated our Christmas in Lake View with Grandma and Grandpa Blessington. Mila had so much fun. Between getting spoiled by Grandma and having presents and dogs to entertain her, she was in heaven. We let her open a few gifts after dinner on Christmas Eve. She LOVED the wrapping paper... and later, she liked her gifts too!




This picture was from earlier in the day. She was pretty wiped out from a morning of playing with dogs and cleaning out and rearranging grandma's cupboards. Grandma probably didn't know she'd have such a little helper on her hands! Oh, and Mila and Santa Claus (below) were quite the little buddies. He stood as tall as she did, but she was able to haul him around the house. It was really funny when she hit the button that made him chuckle. She put him on the ground and tickled him and he continued laugh and laugh. It was a pretty entertaining site.

Mila got a new sled and was anxious to try it out after her nap. While we waited for dad to get back, she got inside, buckled up, and was hoping Rocky or Rudolph would pull her around the house.

Luckily, dad and grandpa returned and it was time to go for a ride in the snow. She was pretty straight-faced through it all, but we think she was having fun.

After the ride through the snow, we went in through the garage and parked the sled. However, Mila was concerned about leaving her sled, so she took matters into her own hands and pulled it closer to the door.

Now on to Christmas Day. It was time to unwrap Mickey! We've been visiting him in the plexi-glass case at Target for months -- and now here he is... singing, dancing Mickey Mouse! She wasn't sure what to think at first, because there were so many distractions. Like the wrapping paper and twisties that secured him to the package, how fun is that stuff?! And there were also several cousins who were excitedly screaming over their gifts... so her excitement for Mickey has grown since we've been home. I'll have to get some video out here soon.



When we got back to Ankeny, we went over to celebrate with Aunt Jess and Uncle Todd.  We had a great dinner and had fun playing with Mila's new foam building blocks.

Another Christmas brings another pair of Chuck Taylor style shoes for Mila. This year, she's got some sparkly, hot pink shoes to grow into!

Hope you had a very merry Christmas! We're looking forward to another amazing year and wish you a great 2011!