I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas

We returned last week from a great visit with Shawn's family in Missouri. The day before Christmas we got 6-7" of snow. Shawn, Laura, our niece Sydney (Laura called her Sys-nee), and I had a great time out playing.

Laura was able to sled on a small hill by the house by herself...she had a huge smile on her face the whole way down. Sydney and I were able to go down some bigger hills and Laura would stand at the top and say "I go too!" Finally Shawn took her down...and on the way back up the hill, Laura said, "I happy, Daddy!" She can just melt your heart!Laura had a fun Christmas morning. She got lots of cool presents, including the magna-doodle lap pillow you see in the background, a miner's light (just for fun!), a Leap Frog toy, lots of books, a few games, a Barbie and tons more. But the big present was still sitting behind the tree after all the other presents were opened and Laura looked at me and said, "I wanna op-en da big pwesent! I wand my doll-houshe!" (She has been asking for a dollhouse since September).She was sooo excited when she finally opened it and she hasn't stopped playing with it since! On the drive back home, she said to me, "Mommy, whewe my doll-houshe is?" When I said it was in the trunk, she smiled and said, "I pway wit it when we det home?"Laura had a really nice time playing with Mema and Aunt Kelly (or Telly as Laura called her). Mema tried to teach her how to play Memory, but Laura just wanted to move the cards all around!

We were also able to drive down to visit my Grandma and Aunt for a day. Laura had a great time playing with Gigi and Auntie...and she got even more presents!
Our attempt at a self-taken family photo. Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!