Christmas 2013

I promised a detailed post about Zuri's Christmas.  Here you go!

I will start by saying Zuri is spoiled rotten.  She received entirely way too many gifts!!  I know some of you are saying there's no such thing as too many gifts, but when you have to spend the weekend after Christmas putting together 2 Dora the Explorer storage bins and a 3-shelf bookcase just to be able to put away the gifts, that's entirely way too many gifts!  Okay, so maybe Mommy has a little case of OCD and we may have been okay without those things, but Mommy feels SOOOOOO much better now that things are neat and organized (for now).  Zuri's toys are all in her room and her art supplies (easels, desk, etc.) are in Mommy's office. 

This girl does not need anymore stuffed animals!!!!!

Back to Christmas gatherings...

The Saturday before Christmas, Grandma Newbold and Aunt Brandii came by.  Zuri received a ton of gifts, but I think her favorite may be the microphone.  She serenaded us with Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star at least a dozen times.

The Sunday before Christmas, we celebrated with the Gill side of the family.  Zuri had a blast with her cousins.  We stayed at Uncle Jon's and Aunt Amanda's after everyone left and watched Despicable Me 2. 

The Monday before Christmas, we celebrated with Grandma and Grandpa Schulz as well as Jay, Kari, and the kids.  Santa had dropped off the pink doll Zuri asked for to Grandma and Grandpa Schulz so they delivered that and Zuri loved it!  Zuri had so much fun with her cousins, that Lili and Sunny spent the night.  The girls had a lot of fun!  They finally got to bed about 10:30pm.  :o)

Christmas Eve was spent with the Gonzalez family.  Zuri loved all her gifts there and even made friends with Lars, although she refused to say goodbye to him.  Zuri passed out before we made it home so Mommy and Daddy had to leave out the cookies for Santa. 

Christmas morning, we went to see if Santa had stopped by our house.  Sure enough, he did!  He even left Zuri a note.  I think Zuri was most excited about eating the remainder of the cookie Santa didn't eat.  :o)  Santa gave Zuri several items relating to the movie Frozen (an Anna toddler doll, plate set, Olaf stuffed toy, nightgown, book...).  He also left a Thomas the Train track and an Ariel toddler doll.  The Aunt Js came by with their gifts.  Zuri received a ton of clothes, a Coach wristlet, a wiggle baby, and more.  Papaw John came by and hung out too.  Later in the afternoon, we went to Grandma Jan's.  Zuri got a new Sofia easel/vanity from Papaw John and Grandma Andrea and then several other toys from Aunt Brandii!  We went home to what looked like a war zone.  Zuri was in heaven with all the gifts!

This Christmas was the first Christmas Zuri really "got it" and was excited.  It was neat to watch her face when she would open gifts.  She said, "Oh, I love it!" to almost every gift...........even clothes!  I can't wait to see how she is next year.

We hope everyone else had a great Christmas!

Wordless Wednesday

Visit From Santa...Merry Christmas Eve!!

Santa has been to our house. Has he been to yours yet?  :)  A Christmas post with details on all festivities will likely appear later this week. In the meantime, enjoy a few pics to show what Santa brought!

Wordless Wednesday

Christmas: Round 1

Yesterday, we went to Eric's and Karen's to celebrate Christmas. All the women talked about how much more relaxed Daddy was about the older girls watching Zuri. :) Zuri had a blast with Olivia, Ally, and Isabella. I think her favorite part of the night, however, was playing with (and ultimately taking home) Olivia's gift from Uncle Eric.  It's a fart machine!  Zuri would press it and ask EVERY.SINGLE.PERSON if he or she farted. She would then laugh hysterically! We didn't leave until 9 or 9:30 and Zuri didn't go to bed until 10.  :)

Here are some pics. 

She's a pirate...

She's not so sure about Kyle, but loves Amber!

Kisses from Aunt Julie.

Zuri's being a pirate again!

Opening gifts. 

The girls. I think they sat like that for at least 15-20 minutes!

The infamous fart machine. Zuri harassing Olivia with her own gift. LOL

This picture was taken this morning. I just love her pirate face. Argh, matey!!!

Wordless Wednesday

Breakfast with Santa

We had breakfast with Santa thanks to Aunt Junie's work, Wessler Engineering. It was at Jonathan Bryd's and was awesome!  Zuri loved the photo booth. She went 3 times!  She was afraid of Santa at first, but by the time he left, she had warmed up to him and even let him hold her. He brought her a Sofia the First doll today. How'd he know she loves Sofia?!  ;)

Doing crafts before breakfast. 

Being silly...

She wouldn't sit on Santa's lap so he stood up for a picture with Zuri and Daddy. 

Getting her gift from Santa. 

Yay!  She loves Santa!!  

Finally, photo booth fun!

Wordless Wednesday

Great Wolf Lodge and Zuri's First Movie

I'm finally getting around to getting our vacation pictures off of my phone and posting about vacation.  :o)

We went to Great Wolf Lodge in Cincinnati last Monday through Wednesday and had a wonderful time.  Zuri did great on the car ride there and back.  We walked around after checking in, until our room was ready.  We noticed some kids with wands walking around opening treasure chests, etc.  We asked where they got it and so off we went to get Zuri one.  It was the craziest best investment during the trip.  Zuri enjoyed playing a Magi and doing magic.  Once the room was ready, we ate lunch and then went swimming for a couple hours.  After swimming, we (okay, me and Zuri) were tired so we went back to the room for a little nap.  Then off to dinner.  Each night at 8pm, the Lodge has a bedtime story so we went to that.  While waiting, we ran into one of Zuri's classmates and her mom and sister (small world!).  Zuri loved the bedtime story.

Tuesday, we went to breakfast and then got to the waterpark right as it opened, at 10am.  I took my phone that day so we could get some pictures.  Zuri loved going down the small slides, as you saw in this previous post (http://www.princesszurilane.blogspot.com/2013/11/miss-adventurous.html).  Daddy got Zuri to go down the big orange slide and she wasn't so excited about that  HA!!  We also played in the arcade Tuesday and had ice cream and pizza.  Of course, we also listened to the bedtime story.  Zuri pushed her way to the front of the crowd to watch and then when they did the dance, Zuri got right next to Wiley the Wolf and the employee.  It was cute!

Wednesday, we decided to head out after checkout at 11am because Zuri was getting sick (boooo).  We stopped in Oldenburg to eat at Daddy's favorite fried chicken place, Wagner's.  Zuri loved the crackers and the grilled cheese.  :o)

When we got home, we (me and Zuri) took a nap and then we went to dinner with family and went to see the movie Frozen with them as well.  That was Zuri's first movie experience and she did very well!

Here are some pictures.....

Welcome to Great Wolf Lodge!

Zuri was choosing her quest.

Wazawazoo!!!

Zuri with her classmate, Mia (Minnie shirt), and her sister, Mags.

Cheeeeese!

The pre-bedtime story song and dance.

Bedtime story.

Oh, I forgot to mention there was a Starbucks IN THE LODGE!!

Zuri met this girl and told me to leave her alone so she could color with her.

Daddy and Zuri!

Look Daddy, no hands!

I can do it all by myself!

See, told you!

Naptown



Do you like my horsey?

Day 2: Notice Zuri in the front, standing up.....

Uh oh, she has followers now..

She had to be right up front!

We met Wiley the Fox.



This was after breakfast Wednesday and I thought it was the cutest thing ever.

Zuri wanted to put 2 ponytails in Daddy's hair.

Time to head home.

This is Daddy's favorite fried chicken place.

I'll just have crackers.

Daddy can have his fried chicken.

Ready to see the movie!