These things made me smile this past weekend...

This was a very nice weekend all around.
These were the things that made me smile & feel all warm & fuzzy...

• Seeing my daughter dance (stomping her feet & flailing her arms) to the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Hot dog Song! It was the funniest thing ever! 

• Making a pot of "Slow-simmered Meat Sauce" in the crock pot for delicious Sunday night dinner with my family. 

• Playing Christmas music and feeling in the spirit of Christmas! 

• Going out to dinner to a great Mexican place on Saturday with 4 very good friends of ours, and enjoying tasty Sangria! We had a fabulous 'adult' night out! (Julianna was home with our babysitter)

• Sharing a meatball sub from Franks pizza with my daughter for Friday night dinner ... she loved it! She couldn't shovel it in fast enough. 

• Going to the 'Gingerbread House' display and seeing a couple hundred Gingerbread houses made by school kids, parents, girl scouts, boy scouts, and many others! That was pretty cool to see! Julianna was into it for about 2/3 of the way through then she had enough and Brian had to bring her outside haha!

• Enjoying our Christmas decorations! 

• Planning my Christmas shopping & wrapping. 

• Seeing my mother play with Julianna and seeing my mother laugh with Julianna. 

• Black & White cookies. Yumm. 

• Seeing my daughter in her adorable fleece Christmas PJs. 

• Spending the best quality time with my fantastic husband and my beautiful daughter!

• Watching my husband dance around to a new Christmas song he just downloaded ... I just love him so much! 

Big change from Christmas 2010 to 2011!

Sometimes you forget how much your child can really change in one year's time. I recall taking Julianna's Christmas pictures right around this time last year and when I look at the pictures, I can not believe it has been a whole year!! I can't believe how big she has gotten, and how much her features have changed. She still has that magical little smile - but what a big girl she has become! Come to think of it, I can't believe how much she has changed our lives, and continues to do so on a daily basis. I know it's cliche', but I don't remember life before her. It is such a reward to be a Mommy to this beautiful & happy little girl!

Last year, at Christmas time, she was able to open some presents but she really did not know what was going on. We had to kind of prop her up against the presents so she wouldn't fall backwards! I think this year will be much more fun. She is very excited over the Christmas tree and the lights. My husband and I are really looking forward to  Christmas this year with Julianna. We have been doing everything we can to make it fun already. We recorded a few classic shows like Rudolph, Frosty, and the Grinch. I hope she will sit and watch Rudolph with us this weekend!

I can't wait to put her gifts under the tree from "Santa". We also plan on teaching her how we leave cookies for Santa and his reindeer on Christmas eve.... (Mommy & Daddy will be eating those when she goes to bed- Yummmm!) ... and I can't wait to make cookies even though she can't help with that. Maybe we can let her ice one of them and get it all over the place! haha!

Here is my little girl's picture from last year and then from a few days ago... How she has grown!