Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday Malia!

After 2 years of not getting to celebrate her birthday and especially Christmas, little Miss Malia made sure this year made up for it. She has been obsessed with her birthday for months now and Santa has been in the spotlight since Thanksgiving. So where to start. First we celebrated on Christmas Eve with the immediate family and then later with the extended family. The day went pretty smoothly considering there was no time for naps (except in the car on the way to church). Then, Christmas morning started with just me and Malia opening presents from Santa but she was quickly caught up with playing and couldn't even focus on opening the last presents (OK, they were only clothes anyway). Later Christmas Day we went to my parents and had a small cake for Malia's birthday. Finally, I chose to wait until Friday to celebrate Malia's 3rd birthday so she could nap and relax some on Christmas Day (great choice by the way). So Friday we had the close family celebrate with a Mickey and Minnie Mouse cake. Again, she loved playing with her gifts and grandpa had some to assemble right away. It was a crazy week but the best week of my adult life. Seeing everything through Malia's eyes and getting to spend some quality time with the whole family was worth every minute of the noisy activity. Here are some pictures of the events. Next up is to work on some more digital scrapbook pages.

With Auntie Susie and Cousin Jude


Opening on Christmas Eve


Playing with the Nerf gun (a trade with cousin Garrett for pots and pans...)


More opening on Christmas Eve


With all of the kids


After Santa arrived


Playing with the Dora vanity


1st birthday cake (in honor of her love of The Grinch movie)


With Rosie


Setting up for her party


Loving the singing


Cake is great!


And the frosting is the best...


With Great Grandma Bev


Family Picture