Monday already?!

All the Christmas decorations have been packed up and organzied out in the shed (we have a detached "garage", but it's way too small to fit anything but perhaps a Geo inside). I'm pretty much getting into the frame of mind for getting ready for Esme to arrive. (Only 6 more weeks to go!)

We've had a relaxing weekend together and enjoyed every minute of it. Thank you everyone for all the cards and gifts along with Christmas wishes. We feel very blessed for all of you and are very thankful for all that we've received.

Below are some more fun photos taken throughout the holiday weekend on Jonah's new camera. Enjoy!

Good morning Daddy! Jonah got to sleep in a few extra minutes over the weekend.

"Here you go!", Ella says. "Mmm, cookies."

She loves to bake and serve drinks for Mommy and Daddy.

Check out the Wonder Woman shirt.

Ella's favorite Disney character at them moment is Ariel, so we got her a bath time doll which seems to be a hit even outside of the tub.

Meet Ella's doggie collection. She loves animals, but dogs are her favorite.

She's so cute!

Thank you Great Grandma and Grandpa Schlukebir for my Christmas present! We've started a DC Barbie collection for Ella.

She insisted on wearing her princess dress while playing with her dollhouse.

Jonah organizing our recycling from the aftermath of Christmas day.

Ella loves to read books and this seems to be a popular sitting area for her, right on top of all her stuff animals.

Saturday morning and still tapped out from the previous day.

While Mommy was taking a nap on Christmas she decided to wear my slippers.

Meet Ariel.

This one is from Daddy; it's a Batman house with extra characters and a motorcycle. She actually has gotten it out everyday so far and given it 30 mins attention.

Breakfast on Christmas day.

She loved the flaky biscuits with apple cinnamon jelly; she's still not into eggs, but we try!

This is Ella's pick me up please expression.

She's always interested in what's going on in the kitchen.

Feliz Navidad!!

Well, we are totally tapped out. We stayed up past midnight last night (I know shocking right?). Ella got up around her usual time (6:30AM) and was revved up for Christmas. She kept saying, "Santa's coming!" I don't think that she understands past tense yet, so we had to explain to her that Santa had already come and that her presents were waiting for her by the tree. She then zoomed past the pink retro kitchen and sat right down on her Dora couch to open her stocking. Gift giving was a lot of fun this morning, but much too stimulating for our little girl. We had to take a little break, had a big breakfast (mexican egg casserole with flaky biscuits & fruit), played with the toys for Santa, watched a little Blues Clues while Mom and Dad opened the gifts to each other, and then we allowed Ella to tear through all her presents from us. The whole taking turns went great the first hour, but once we realized how overwhelming we had made it for her, it was much easier to just let her rip apart everything. We've learned a lot from this Christmas with the gift giving... toddlers can be quit overstimulated so less is better. However, we've had a lot of fun today and are very thankful for everything. I feel a little overwhelmed myself... I think it's going to be a late dinner that might even role into a tomorrow celebration meal. Right now Jonah is busy playing his PS3 Wolverine game and I'm going to go take a little nap like our little one at the moment. I'll post another blog entry with more photos from Jonah's new coolpix camera. Merry Christmas & wishing we were with our family and friends this holiday but also thankful to have the 3 of us together finally!! :)

Santa brought Jonah Hulk hands.

Ella resting after an overstimulating morning.

She was quite focused on her gifts the first hour.

Patiently waiting while it was Daddy's turn.

Most popular Ella phrase this morning was, "Oh, what is this?"

Cheese!

I love that my husband actually bought me the New Moon CD and now I have a new vampire series to start!

Check out the pink retro kitchen in the background from Santa.

Ella realizing that she has a new kitchen behind her.

She actually wore the shades around for awhile.

Much too focused to give Mommy a smile for the camera.

Stocking came first!

Sausage ball attempts, 800 piece kitchen set, and enough appetizers for 4 other couples...

Merry Christmas Eve!! So, it's almost 11 PM here and Santa is busy working on putting together a pink retro kitchen set for Ella. He's accomplished the stove/sink area and is now almost finished with the matching refrigerator. Then a little stuffing of the stockings and his work will be done. I'm sitting here enjoying my feet being propped up with a little pre-midnight appetizer while composing this blog entry about our California Dornbos Christmas Eve.

Today has been a lot of fun. Ella started off the day with a momentary cuddle with Mom and Dad in bed around 6:15AM. Then approximately 6:30AM we let her go out and explore what presents her Tennessee grandparents had surprised her with. (Check out photos below.) Then we had a nice breakfast (ham egg casserole with biscuits). I took a mini nap on the couch while Ella played with her dollhouse and Jonah put together a video to send to our families that we opened presents from today. Miss Ella took her little afternoon nap and then around 2:30PM we had Christmas over the internet with our Dornbos family up in Traverse City over Skype. (We pretty much got to talk and share presents over the internet on our camera for those of you who are not avid skypers.) It was fun to be able to see our family, however, we're quite lonesome for everyone. Then we traveled off to our local Lutheran church where we celebrated the true meaning of this blessed holiday; I was honored to perform with my church choir and also being able to perform "O Holy Night" as solo for the congregation. I'm not really sure how I found enough air support, but it all worked out and I hope that I was able to touch someone tonight with the beautiful message that this song brings. Anyways, so now we're back to playing Santa. Ella set out the milk and cookies with Mommy's help and we're about to finally call it a night with some last finishing touches. Enjoy the photos and expect more tomorrow! Merry Christmas Eve everyone!!

Jonah putting together Ella's pink retro kitchen.

Our holiday Christmas Eve Dornbos ritual... yummy appetizers.

Ella placed the cookies on the plate for Santa and helped Mommy carry the milk to go with.

On our way to the Christmas Eve service at church.

Our presents from the Dornbos family; love and miss you guys. Thanks to Skype, we were able to actually open them in front of each other today.

Thank you Allen family for all the presents! Ella loves her toys; especially her new little doggie named Ginger.

Ella is wearing a cherry dress picked out by Grandma Marcy. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa Bruner! She loves it!

Peek-a-boo with Mommy through the kitchen.

Ella playing with Ginger.

She gave Ginger a big kiss!

Merry Christmas Eve!

Super excited about her Christmas presents from Great Grandma Pat, Grandpa Sam, and Grandma Marcy!

Look who's peeking through the doll house!

She played nonstop for about 3 hours and then periodically throughout the entire day.

She didn't even notice the other presents until about an hour later.

Ella woke to find a gigantic dollhouse courtesy of Great Grandma Pat and Grandpa & Grandma Bruner. Thank you so much!!