merry christmas!

we hope everyone had an awesome christmas with family and friends! we had a relaxing few days and were happy that steve had work off.

christmas eve day was a little crazy as i spent my morning/afternoon delivering plates of cookies to families that steve home teaches and to a few others around our area. i did all of this during brynn's nap time (and i HATE not being home for nap time as she only naps in her crib. not ANYWHERE else) so she was pretty cranky with me. i even stopped by a german mcdonalds and grabbed her some fries and a milkshake but punk didnt touch any of it! anyways...it was nice to see people smile and get rid of all the baked goods (as i have no self control) that were taking up all my counter space.

that evening, we went to the nielsen's for dinner. we had a good time laughing and stuffing our faces with them. brynn loved stalking baby emma the whole night so we had to watch her as she doesnt understand that babies dont like to jump and eat candy. we also opened our christmas jammies there and hung out in them. i love how comfortable i feel with my friends! i can be in sweats and look homely and not have to worry that they are judging me. plus, the waistband wasnt so tight on my pj bottoms so that always makes life easier when youre trying to eat as much as possible.

brynn is an amazing sleeper so steve and i decided to wake her up at 8:45 christmas morning as we were getting a little impatient! only one of steves presents made it in time for christmas (im still waiting on the rest...so much for shopping online back in november! i thought they would all get here in plenty of time) but he is awesome and didnt mind only opening one gift. brynn tore thru all her presents and even helped us with ours. next year i will be better about spacing out time inbetween each gift as its no fun when its all over in 7 minutes!

we had a little christmas brunch at our place during the early afternoon and invited the schuster's and nielsen's over. it was nice to again, eat more food and watch our kids kill each other and play a little. brynn and ethan have a love/hate relationship so we always have to watch them carefully. it doesnt help that brynn is always jamming her fingers in his face trying to "tickle" him. it hurts! she does that to me a lot and i have to remind her that poking my eyes out isnt funny.

we spent the rest of our christmas day watching "a christmas story" (and i had never seen it! crazy huh?) and hanging out on the couch. ahh i love being lazy!

this evening we were invited to our landlords house for a typical german christmas dinner with our american neighboors and had a blast. beate made these german dumplings and this deer stew with cranberries that were amazing! im always a little hesitant to try new things over here as you never know what you might bite into. but it was awesome and brynn didnt tear down the house. edgar is a huge hunter and had this bench in the living room which was covered in 40+ fox pelts (+ two rabbits) and brynn was terrified of it! when she was acting up, edgar would bring one over to her and growl! she kept hiding her face in my shoulder while all of us laughed. ahh, good "fun for some" game. poor brynn! always being targeted for others enjoyment! that is why you have children right?! KIDDING!

she looks a little homely here as she was running around and being crazy. but, i finally got a picture of her and edgar. he is so sweet to her and always call her his "prinzesschen". plus, we all dig his insanely low voice. such a nice guy.

its a good thing i got jillian michaels "30 day shred" dvd for christmas as i need to get rid of these 5 pounds ive gained from eating like CRAP this week! its so hard to be good around the holidays when there are so many temptations everywhere.