These are letters to Jack, my son, and my daughter, Audrey. You have given me the gift of motherhood. This is just a little gift back. I want to share my experiences with you of your childhood from my perspective of watching you grow - of being your Mom.

Sunday, December 24, 2006

A Happy Dough-ie Christmas!

Jack,

Our Christmas celebration with Grandma and Grandpa Dougherty and Uncle Matt, Aunt Lisa, Aunt Erin, Uncle Brett, Calum and Uncle Ba-Ba and Aunt Yia! was one of the best! Better than I ever could have imagined.

Grandma and Grandpa got a deluxe train set that anyone would be delighted with

and a slide for us to bring home.


To say that you love trains just might be the understatement of the century.

You love trains so much that I have no doubt that you could spend an entire day playing with just a train set and NEVER get tired of it.


You were so excited, but we don't have any pictures capturing your first look in the Christmas room except for this one. I don't know if you can tell your excitement from the speed of your running legs, but that should tell you something!

You had SO much fun with the train table, but you have trouble figuring out the magnets attaching the trains. When they separate, you become so frustrated that you don't know what to do.

You raise them over your head and howl your anger at the trains for not cooperating.

We had to distract you for a little while.

I have to give 5 stars to Budding-DaDa Uncle Matt who showed you how to combine the train cars and the slide for tons of fun.

It was the perfect solution.

After a mini-break you were ready to put your engineer's cap back on.



You carefully demonstrated for Calum-zilla the "right" way to work the trains.

Not pictured here - the moments immediately following where Calum grabbed the track and promptly dumped it on the floor - which wasn't as upsetting to you as I would have thought.

You simply moved over to the remaining track and played with that.

Your fascination with this trainset made it so I could relax and enjoy everyone's Christmas.

Here I am getting a step stool from Erin and Brett so you can reach the sink on your own. By the way - this went over SO well that you brushed your teeth for a straight 15 minutes last night you were SO enthralled with your ability to access the sink on your own.


Grandma and Poppa opened a gift from us and Kelly and Bobby of a Dough-zarks sign that we were beyond excited to give to them.

But as excited as you were about Christmas, I think Kelly wins the award for being the most excited about her digital camera.

Check her out!


Meanwhile - back that the train table, Uncle Bra tries to maintain some order...

It was a fantastic family Christmas!


After all the presents were opened, it was playtime!

I had a blast playing with you in the mesh tube gift that Grandma and Poppa got for their house.

You loved it and so did I!

What a great Christmas - and it's not even OVER! Are we the luckiest family ever or what?!?

The next morning, we recieved an unexpected gift from you of being able to sleep in until 6:30!! 6:30!!! THANK YOU!!!

You were SO excited about the new car that you got from Aunt Lisa and Uncle Matt, that you sat in it WHILE we put it together...

This presented some challenges, but we worked it out.


Once put together you enjoyed your own "drive-in" watching television from the comfortable position of your new favorite toy.


And speaking of favorite toys - more pictures of you on the slide which was basically the rest of the morning!

Merry Christmas, Sweetheart!

Love,

Mommy

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