All about Ashlyn: Santa knows when you've been naughty or nice......

So I'm feeling fully recovered from surgery, thank goodness! Although one of the nurses at work told me that it wasn't liquid Vicodin I was taking after my surgery. It was liquid Oxycodone, which is apparently a class 4 narcotic! No wonder I felt so weird and totally high! So glad that is over, I hate taking pain meds!

We had a very busy, hectic and wonderful Christmas! We spent Christmas Eve in Woodburn visiting with Aunt Lavonne, Charles and Grandma K. Then the evening at Papa and Grandma G's. Grammy and Grandpa came up and Aunt Kari, Uncle John and cousins Grace and Gwen were there too. Little miss bossy pants Ashlyn loves to try to boss Grace around about the correct way to have a tea party. Good thing Grace has a mind of her own because she just ignores her and does what she wants! :) Its awesome to see the two girls get so excited to see each other and to laugh and giggle with each other when they're playing. Ashlyn knows exactly who her cousins are!

Christmas Eve was a late night! After church and driving back to Beaverton (we like Ashlyn to wake up at home on Christmas morning) it was after midnight. Ashlyn was such a good girl in church this year. I was very proud of her. When Pastor Scott called all the kids to the front to listen to the Christmas story she went up there with Daddy and she even spoke to Pastor Scott. Of course towards the end she was getting pretty tired, it was a few hours past her bedtime after all. At one point she layed down on the floor and when Jered picked her up she shouted "but I'm trying to go to sleep!" There were a few chuckles from the people sitting near us. She made it though!

Christmas morning was pretty great! This was the first year she's really understood the whole Santa concept. For weeks, she kept asking if Santa was coming that day/night. Finally he actually did come! He brought her a kitchen (that Mommy and Daddy stayed up till 2am putting together!)! She was pretty excited and she's playing with it constantly. We spent the rest of the day at my Aunt Jean's house in Monroe and then Christmas evening with Grandpa Terry and Grandma Tracey. We had a very busy day and then had to drive home because I had to work the next day. She of course is very blessed and received quite a few gifts! She got a couple of baby dolls, a stroller for her baby dolls, a scooter, some clothes, a new book, a toy box that Papa G made her (but really its like a gift for me b/c it means hopefully her room will be a lot more organized!), two pairs of dress up shoes with heels (she feels very fancy!) and a couple of matching/memory games. She's really into memory games, she keeps herself busy for a long time playing them. She's been riding her new scooter all over the house, pushing her baby's in the stroller "to the shoe store to buy more shoes Mama!" She's been making us "donuts" in her new kitchen and of course we still drink a lot of tea! Of course the day after Christmas she wanted to know if Santa would be coming again!