4th Christmas - Christmas Morning

Picture of the tree and presents on Christmas Morning before they got opened.

Alden with his new Addidas Outfit.

Samantha with her biggest present.

Samantha with her new Doll House.

Samantha with her stack of "Tinkerbell" wrapped presents.

Alden smiling with part of his stack of "Elmo" wrapped presents.

This shirt should be fun for next summer when Doug and Sam and Alden go biking together. Samantha will be sitting in the back of the Doodlebug "Coaching" her dad to go FASTER!

Alden's cycling shirt reads "Baby Biker" with a tricyle on it!

On Christmas morning, Samantha and Alden opened their presents from Santa at our house. Samantha got a Doll House, Cycling Shirts to wear while riding bikes with daddy and a water bottle to use while biking, a Tinkerbell CD Player, books, and Abby doll and Abby Shirt(newest muppet on Seasame Street). Alden got a stuffed puppy dog, Itsy Bitsy Spider playset, Penguin Bowling, Cycling Shirt, books, and an Addidas outfit.

Samantha was so tired from opening presents the night before, she didn't really have any intrest in opening the presents from Santa, so Doug basically opened all of her gifts.

Merritt Christmas (Christmas #3)

Samantha--seeing if any of those presents are for her?

Samantha opening her biggest gift.

Alden with Uncle Chris's gift-a bear with an "uddgie" on it.

Alden with his gift from Grandpa-an "Elmer Fudd" hat as Grandpa calls it. (Grandpa wears one similar to this--but without the ears on top--to blade the driveway when it snows!)

Taking Family Pictures before Church.

Happy Family!

Samantha did very well holding Alden for a picture! She wouldn't look at the camera because she kept kissing him.

Uncle Chris with Sam and Alden.

We had to take this picture of us quick because Samantha wanted to run away!

Smiley Alden

We had the Merritt Christmas on Christmas Eve at our house in Plattsmouth. Chris came early and played with Samantha and Alden while I wrapped all the presents he bought for people. My mom, dad, and Chris's girlfriend-Courtney, came up around 4:30. We had Famous Dave's BBQ and then went to Church. After Church, we opened presents--which is always fun!

Alden got an Exersaucer (basically-a stationary walker) and a Little Superstar Sing Along Stage and lots of clothes from Grandma and Grandma. He got a Michael Jordan outfit and a soft blue bear with an "uddgie" on it (ask Chris if you want to know what that means) from Chris and a Michael Jordan outfit from Courtney.

Samantha got a Flip/Doodle Desk, Elmo doll, lots of books, and a bunch of clothes from Grandma and Grandpa. She got a Dora Sticker book, Dora CD book and a McDonalds Cash Register from uncle Chris and she got a Dora Memory game and Dora Book and Dora Talking Backback from Courtney.

McKnight - Weekly Christmas

Samantha posing by our tree at home before going to Grandma & Grandpa McKnight's house. She loved her hat and suprisingly left it on the whole way there!

"Smiley Alden" posing by the presents under the tree in the morning!

All the cousins with Grandma & Grandpa McKnight

The Great-Grandkids

Auntie Debra with Alden

Jamie with Alden & Samantha

Putting the Giraffe Tent Together! Samantha loved watching uncle Greg and cousin Jamie put up the tent that Jodi & family got her. She also loved playing it! Goldie, Great-Aunt Debbie, Jamie, and Auntie Debra all took turns playing with her and reading books inside the tent!

Sarah Weekly holding Sam and Alden at the same time!! That's impressive!

Dustin and Goldie with Alden & Sam

Story time with Uncle Scott!! Samantha loved to hear him read to her.

Alden with Goldie

Auntie Debra, Jamie, and Brandon with Samantha

We had our 2nd of 7 Christmas' on Saturday. The McKnight - Weekly Christmas was held at Doug's parents house near Plattsmouth. It was a packed house as we had 27 people there from Kansas City; Columbia, MO; Dallas, TX; Fremont; and Omaha. It was a fun time. We had a "gift card exchange", where we each bought a gift card for $10 to one of our favorite stores and then drew numbers to see which person would go first at picking which "wrapped" gift card they wanted. It was pretty brutal at one point because you can steal other peoples when it was your turn. My gift card got stollen at least 3 times!! (Good thing the kids weren't involved in this exchange-we'd hate to show then how violent we can get! haha). I ended up with Starbucks (because I love their Hot Chocolate) and Doug ended up with AMC Theatres. Samantha got a Strawberry Shortcake book from the Weekly's and a Giraffe Tent from Aunt Jodi.

One Down Six More To Go!!!!!!

I love my sister!! (haha)

Smiling by the Tree

Samantha's Cheese-Face
Posing with Great-Grandma and Great-Grandpa

Alden enjoyed being held by Great-Grandpa McKnight.

He seemed to be very comfortable!

We had our 1st Christmas of the season on Wednesday night with Great-Grandma and Great-Grandpa McKnight's house. Samantha was so excited to open presents. We had dinner with them at their house and then opened our presents. Alden enjoyed watching Samantha open his presents! Now we only have 6 more Christmas's to go to in the next week!! Yikes!

1st Skate

Wow! Look at me!

Out on the ice!

Smiley

Samantha and Auntie Debra resting

Samantha enjoyed her 1st Skating experience on Sunday. Auntie Debra, Doug and I took her to Mahoney State Park to skate. We planned on just letting her skate in her snow boots, but they wouldn't let her onto the ice without real skates on. And Samantha really wanted to skate. So, we put on the smallest skates they had (size 9 and she wears size 7). It didn't seem to stop Samantha. Doug & I pulled her around the ice one time and she smiled the entire way around. She was soooo happy!! We basically had to pull her arms off in order to keep her upright, but she didn't seem to care. We stopped after 1 time around she got mad, so we went around 1 more time and she was still really happy and smiley.

SNOWED IN

Jamie, Sam, & Debra cuddling on the couch and reading books.

We were all supposed to go to a bridal shower in Kansas City on Saturday. But it decided to snow about 4 or 5 inches in Plattsmouth and that made it nearly impossible to get there. So, Debra, Jamie, Jodi, and Sandy came to our house to hang out with Samantha, Alden & me. We had a good time. They brought us doughnuts and Debra and Jamie played with Samantha and Samantha enjoyed it a lot!

Santa's Lap

Merry Christmas from the McKnight Family
(This is last year's picture)

Samantha on Santa's Lap

We went to see Santa at the mall and Samantha (at first) wouldn't sit on his lap alone, so we had to take a family picture with Santa Clause in order to get a picture. As we were leaving, Santa asked Samantha what she wanted for Christmas and he asked for a hug and of course she gave him one (I'm afraid that she might give any stranger that asked for a hug--she's very "huggy".) Then, he pulled her over to his lap and they snapped a picture.

I guesss we are improving, because last year, she just cried and cried and cried!!

Now, Samantha puts at her thigh (her lap) and says "Ho". Because in her mind that means "I sat on Santa's lap."

Two Little Elves

Samantha and Alden dressed up in their "Elf" attire for a few pictures. Samantha has a shirt that says "Elf Sized" and Alden has a sleeper that says "Elf...In Training." Samantha loves to wear her Santa hat. She says "HO" whenever she sees someone or something with a santa hat on. We are trying to get her to say "Ho,Ho,Ho," instead!! We don't want her to affend anyone when she calls them a "HO" because they are wearing a santa hat! Although it is very funny!!

Matching Sleepers

Samantha and Alden have matching Mickey Mouse and Pluto sleepers. Last Friday night Samantha decided to get up at 2:30am and was up until 7am. We took some pictures of the two of them with their matching sleepers on. Samantha, Alden & I fell asleep on the couch at 7am finally!