Audra's 1st Christmas

Yesterday and today were a whirlwind,

of family, food, and festivities,

but also oh.so.much fun!

 

Audra caught on quickly to the traditions of Christmas...

and she's practically a pro now, I think!

 

 Here they are eager and ready to go at the crack of dawn...literally!

And that was a couple of hours after they first started asking when we could go downstairs!

Except for Audra...she slept until we woke her,

she had no idea today was going to be different from any other day!

We always look through our stockings first...

  

At this point Audra still hadn't quite figured out what was going on...

or she was still half-asleep!

 

 Then we headed to the tree for presents!

 

And the winners for 'favorite present' are...

 

 At this point Audra GOT it!  And she was quickly tearing through the wrapping paper,

and then looking for her next present to open.  She was genuinely excited about each and every present she opened.

After presents Audra enjoyed a Christmas tree donut:

(that was almost a big as her!)

It was quite a feat, but we managed to get all 4 kiddos dressed up "fancy" (as the boys call it) and out the door for Church by 9:15am.  At this point I was wondering how it could be ONLY 9:15am.  It seemed like we had been awake (or had been repeatedly woken up by anxious children) for at least 6 hours!

 This is the best picture I got of all 4 kids together...

it's very challenging to have all four look AT the camera

AND have their eyes OPEN!

I could only put them through so many takes,

so we moved on to small group shots...

Ok, these are a bit better.

 

 This one is pure love...

 

After church we had lots of visitors at our house:

Grandma and Grandpa,

Aunt Kristy, Uncle Tony and Tyler,

and

some of daddy's aunts, uncles and cousins.

 

Audra was very shy and reserved at first.  She has met all of these people before but I think she was just a little overwhelmed with the full house.

Then, in the blink of an eye, she became the life of the party!

...hugging and kissing everyone, and lighting up the room with her amazing smile :) 

 

She is just so sweet...and adorable...

it's impossible not to fall more in love with her every day!

 

Later in the afternoon Uncle Tim, Aunt Dawn, Daniel and Charlotte came over.

And it was present time all over again!

Merry 1st Christmas Audra and Charlotte!

 

Because of you our Christmas is merrier this year.