The Princess Doctor (The Last Christmas Post)

When we did make it to Houston we decided to go ahead and finish up Christmas once and for all and open presents with my parents. They had just gotten back from my brother's that afternoon so they were yet to open up their gifts from eachother so my dad was raring to get it started.

My mom wrapped all of EK's gifts in Christmas Princess paper so she was pretty hesitant at first to start ripping things open but eventually she got into it and was overjoyed with everything she got.

I am pretty sure you can see what her favorite gifts were from the pictures below...

 

Yes, that is my princess doctor. We are huge fans of Doc McStuffins around these parts and what girl doesn't love a good pair of high heels and a tiara! Best combination ever.

And now we are done with Christmas for this year. Though we all know it will sneak up on us before we know it... hmmm I wonder what Christmas will be like for us next year?

From Covington To Houston

Once we had finished up all of the festivities in Covington we headed towards Houston to spend a little time with my parents on Thursday. We decided to split up the 6 hour drive a bit and make a few pit stops on our way to see a few friends.

Our first stop was Baton Rouge to visit my friend Jordan and of course Mike the Tiger! This was the first time Ella Kate had made it to Mike's habitat and though he was not easily found, she loved the statue in front of his home.
 

She even agreed to take a picture with her daddy. I think I might need to frame this one for my office! My two favorite people and one of my favorite places!

Stop two was to meet up with a few of my highschool friends for lunch in Lafayette. I was so glad that I was able to catch a few of them before they headed back home but we were super sad that not everyone could join us. I have talked about my highschool friends here.

It was so good to see Ashley, Jessica, and Katie and of course their kiddos. We had been lucky enough to see Harper and Jude while we were in Vegas but I had not seen Tanner since he was about 4 months old and EK was still in my belly. We were of course sad that we had missed Megan by only a few hours and she had flown out that morning back to Virginia, Talia couldn't make it cause she had to be back at work delivering babies (stupid residency), Aimee was back in Boston, and our international crew of Abbi and Laine didn't make it back to the states for Christmas this year. I sure can't wait for us all to be together again!

Our pit stops before heading to Houston were definitely good for my heart as it is always so good to see old friends.

Christmas Day

I am not sure if Christmas morning this year was more fun for Keith and I or Ella Kate.  We were so excited for her to wake up and see her presents and she did not lack in facial expressions or excitement as the morning continued on.
 

 

When she first got up she really was not sure what to think of the things that Santa had got her and was a little overwhelmed by 6 people just staring at her waiting for a reaction, but eventually she got into it.  Plus my child is one that must eat as soon as she wakes up or the Hungry Monster comes out so it didn't take long for that to come about and breakdown city occcurred.  But once food was in that belly she was super pumped about everything and it shows. 

 

 

Aunt Lauren helped Ella get into full princess mode so she could finish opening up gifts.

One thing that Ella decided to do this year was to help each and every one of us open up our gifts.  Kid never lacked in reaction even when the gifts were not for her.  This was her classic face during the whole present opening.

 

 

 

 

Parrain even got into the action with a little light saber fight. 

Again the classic face

This year's gifts were all about the Princesses and Minnie Mouse.  It pretty much looked as if Disney had thrown up in the living room.

Once all of the present opening was behind us and before the rain started (yes, while we were in LA it stormed horribly while Tyler got 2 inches of snow... we missed a White Christmas at home :() we decided to let EK take the Volkswagon for a test drive and after a little convincing that the gas pedal wasn't going to hurt her away she went. 

Daddy is currently very glad that it will be another 14 years until she can officially drive cause let's just say she is not very good. 

 

The car did end up making a great place to sit and watch a little TV though.

After all of the presents were opened and we all got cleaned up all of the family came over to enjoy a late Christmas dinner.

Here is the whole Underwood clan including our newest member Dr. Aunt Lauren! 

We were even able to convince Ella to smile long enough to take a picture of 4 generations of Underwood/Dicke's.

It was a great Christmas in Louisiana and one we are sure to never forget. 

Christmas Eve

It is tradition in Keith's family that anyone who is in town for Christmas Eve had to his grandparents house for dinner before going to church and then back to their house to open presents from all of the Aunts and Uncles so that is where we headed.

We of course had to get a picture of the three of us before church and really I am impressed that any came out. Ella Kate is not a fan of posing for pictures unless it is on her own accord but we got lucky and caught one good one of the 5 we took.

I have to say that trying to keep a two year old quiet during a 6:00 Christmas Eve service is virtually impossible and Ella Kate as usual proved that she was all two year old and wanted nothing to do with sitting still and paying attention. At one point when the entire church was quiet she loudly pronounced after coughing that she had thrown up. Luckily she was just trying to be funny and there was no true vomit.

After church (and more delicious food) we let the little ones (though really I guess the cousins are no longer little as Ella was the youngest by 10 years) open their gifts.

Ella Kate got a set of great books from her Aunt Lisa and of course being a principle Aunt Lisa took time to read them too her which Ella loved.

The best present of the night for Ella Kate was a Minnie Mouse suitcase. I have never seen a child so excited about a piece of luggage as this one was. She literally shook while she waited for us to get it out of the bag. Kid has a thing for Minnie Mouse - good thing too cause there was more of that in store for her later on.

After we finished up with all of the gift giving we headed back to Keith's parents to prepare for Santa's arrival.

An hour and a half and 100 stickers later EK's gifts were prepared and awaiting her in the morning.

First Solo Horse Ride

This year for Christmas we packed up the car and headed down to South Louisiana to visit Keith's family and enjoy some good Louisiana food. We arrived in Covington on the Saturday before Christmas and spent a relaxing evening at home with just Keith's parents, a few of their friends, and Keith's grandparents.

On Sunday we loaded back up the car and headed over to Keith's Uncle Mitch's house in Gonzales to enjoy some of Aunt Lily's delicious gumbo and let Ella Kate have some fun out on the farm. We had prepared her for the fact that she would get to see a horse while she was there but we didn't mention the riding of a horse in case Blaze (who is almost 23 years old) was not in the mood to have someone climb up on him. Well Blaze was willing and EK got to have her first solo horse ride and absolutely LOVED it!

She was so patient as the saddled up Blaze and adjusted the stirrups so they would fit Ella. Then away they went!

 

 

 

 

Ella Kate also got to feed Blaze some carrots and peppermints (his favorite) to thank him for the ride.

One other surprise Uncle Mitch had in store for Ella Kate was to take her on a ride on the four wheeler, another treat that she just loved! Now I guess we are going to have to go and visit Uncle Shawn for him to take her out.

 

It was a great day with family and Ella was beyond exhausted the second we hit the road to head back to Covington.