Christmas Day 2008

Merry Christmas!!!

Christmas for the Richardt's is a whirl wind! Typically we spend Christmas Eve in Seattle with Todd's dad's side of the family, but this year that got moved until after Christmas, so we had a pretty low key night to start. We had an early dinner of some yummy crab which was delicious! And that evening we met Todd's mom and stepdad and sister for Christmas Eve candle light service at our church, Our Savior Lutheran. Emily did a pretty good job. We sat with one of her cousin's, Kara, who is 9 and they had a blast sitting together and she helped keep Emily pretty quiet. That night after we put the munchin to bed, Todd and I played a little bowling on the play station and watched a movie. It was the most perfect night as we waited for Santa to arrive...

In the morning, I woke first and got things ready for the day and packed our car. Then I woke Emily and we together woke "daddy" and dragged him out to see what Santa had brought us. Emily got some great gifts like a big teddy bear, the little people farm and a little girl nutcracker. Todd surprised me with a bunch of scrapbooking and picture touch-up software AND a portable hard drive. I had a surprise for Todd....but it was saved for his mom's house.
We packed up and left still in our pj's and headed to Todd's mom's. There we had breakfast casserole and mamosas.....wow, did I spell that right? Anyway, those drinks with orange juice and champagne. We opened stockings and gifts and Emily started to get really tired. Fortuately, she took a couple hours to nap. While she was napping, Todd got his big surprise from me, which was a Garmin for his car. He was pretty excited. He also helped my father-in-law, Andy put together Emily's new swing and slide set that she got for Christmas....us girls timed them putting it together...the box said it took 20 minutes, but they did it in 19 minutes!!
Around 3pm, we headed out again (this time dressed) and drove to my grandma's house where we met up with my parents, my siblings, my uncle, my aunt and uncle and cousin from California, and my grandparents. It was a party!! We had a hour of pure chaos as we opened many gifts and then played games. My grandmother fixed an incredible meal of turkey and ham and all the fixings. My belly was full!! Emily sat at the kids table and loved it! She had so much fun with her aunts and uncles (all of which are 16 and under!)
Finally, the festivities ended and we headed home to put our little one to bed after a very exciting day! We are so blessed to have so many wonderful people in our lives and so be able to celebrate with all of them. We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas like we did!!

The First Snow!

So the first snow finally hit - and what timing. The week before Christmas. And it came hard!! I had to be at work, but Todd was able to be home with Emily and take her out to have a snow adventure. Emily wasn't exactly fond of this new white thing...in fact she really didn't care for it. But she put up with some pictures (I told Todd it was a must since I was missing out on the fun) and she even walked around a little bit in it. Here's a couple pics of the exciting day!

Todd tried to take Emily out sledding but

she wasn't too excited about this new

adventure. Her expressions said it all - "what

are you doing with me in this cold white stuff?"

Overall though she was a good sport and

"went along for the ride."

Today we decided to hang out and enjoy the snow. Well, at least looking at the snow...Emily and I are still sick with colds and thought it best to stay inside where it was warm! BUT we did have a blast playing with legos and putting together Sponge Bob Squarepants with daddy Todd. Penny (our loveable potbellied pig) came inside from the cold (which is a very rare thing) and kept us company on the couch. It was such a relaxing afternoon. Here's Daddy and Emily putting some legos together. Emily had a blast moving the pieces from one bowl to another:

Ok, so this is my first attempt at our new family blog. I have never blogged before, but I thought it would be a great idea for me to do to keep our family and friends in the loop about Emily's many changes or the things that have occurred in our lifes lately. Everyday something new and exciting happens.

So just to catch you up on what's been going on this month.....we are enjoying the holiday season to every extent. Todd and I decided to try the whole "black Friday" shopping experience and it turned out that it was great and we plan on making it a tradition. We set the alarm for 3:50am and showered and dressed and woke Emily and took off for Fred Meyer. We managed to get all of our Christmas shopping done (except for eachother) and it only took an hour!! It was great and I'm glad we gave it a shot finally.

Last weekend we went up to Mt Rainier to find a tree........this is an important task for me. I'm always on the hunt for the perfect tree and I wasn't going to settle! We went with our friends Kate and Pat and his son Taylor. We took hot soup, and sandwiches and made a day out of it. Funny though, cause we didn't come home with the typical perfect tree....it definitely has a personality all of it own. But I love it and the memories we made getting it.

We spent the rest of the weekend decorating the tree and our house and wrapping presents and it was so nice and Christmasy! I loved it. I just love when your home feels cozy and warm and smells of fresh pine!