Christmas 2010

We had a wonderful Christmas!!! Matt and I hosted Christmas Eve and Christmas breakfast and it was nice to have everyone come to us this year :)

Elise on Christmas Eve

The beginnings of our Christmas Eve feast which always includes tamales; a San Antonio/Stratil tradition. Yum!

Elise putting out cookies for Santa

And boy did Santa come!!!!!!

Elise's gifts from Santa.

The shopping cart was a huge hit!

As were pajamas... who knew??

And notice Elise's OCD kicking in; all jammies had to be lined up perfectly!

Our table set for Christmas breakfast.

Tompa, Elise, and Uncle B

Matt, Papa, GiGi, and MiMi.

We hope you and yours had a wonderful Christmas as well!!!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

Love Matt, Lauren, and Elise

2010

The Holiday Fun Continues

With a visit with Santa! Elise was quite excited to visit the man with the white beard. We have been talking about him a lot this month :) She told us how she was going to sit on his lap and talk to him.

It did take a while for her to warm up, but Santa was so kind and patient. The promise of a candy cane didn't hurt either!
Next up was Cito's Holiday Party. This picture doesn't even have half the kids in it and you'll notice not a single one is looking at my camera. Hopefully someone else got a good one and I can snag it and replace this!

We had a fun LNO when Melanie hosted her annual "No Diapers to Change, Just Cookies to Exchange" party. 300++ cookies and about 8 bottles of wine. A good time was had by all!

To round out our fun week, Matt and I went to our neighbor Marissa's welcome home dinner party. She spent the last 6 months in Iraq and we are so happy to have her home!!!

Erin, Marissa, and me at Silo for dinner. There were about 30 people... it was such a fun evening!

Marissa and Me at the Bubble Room after dinner- fun fun!

The ladies.

Can you tell tights are back in style? haha.

Hope your holidays are just as fun!

The Holidays Are Here!

The holidays are here and we've already had a few fun parties this month. First up was Cookies and Milk with Santa for Sydnie's second birthday. The kids all wore their pajamas and got to sit on Santa's lap and give him their wish list for Santa to take back to the North Pole. Elise jumped right up.

She didn't crack a smile but he certainly made an impression. She hasn't stopped talking about him since!

Decorating gingerbread houses.

Yum Yum!

Next up was Christmas on Castallani hosted by Erin, Audrey, and Olivia.

Big kids enjoying a yummy lunch.

Elise and Cito. They just look mischievous, don't they?

Gift exchange.

Edible penguins for the party that Elise and I made together.

The holidays are off to a fun start this year! We have a few more parties on our calendar... stay tuned :)

The Fun in St. Louis Continues

The fun is St. Louis continued with the annual Skeet Shoot at the farm on Friday.

Aunt Jen made Elise a giant cupcake to celebrate her second birthday.

Still trying to get that perfect picture of Elise and Drew in their matching jammies.

It was not successful.

Elise perked up back on the farm in a holiday outfit made by MiMi.

Jumping on the bed with cousins Ellie, Drew, and Clara.

Christmas lights at the sod farm.

Elise and Clara had a blast running around in the cold!

My happy family. Well, Matt and I are happy... not sure about Elise in this picture :)

Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving, surrounded by family. We flew to St. Louis to be with my dad's side of the family this year. It was a blast. Matt, Elise, and I stayed with my cousin Jen, Joe, and Drew, who also hosted Thanksgiving for the whole family.

Elise and Uncle B.

Ellie and Elise

It snowed!! Big fat snowflakes!!! And Elise's first time to actually see snow!

Drew, Elise, and Tompa checking out the white stuff.

Familia :)

Elise and Drew in coordinating jammies.

We ended the evening downstairs with the cousins playing games and the older generation drinking the bar.

So much to be thankful for this year. We are truly blessed :)