Project 52: Week 52

I cannot believe this is the last Project 52 post of 2011.  Some posts basically wrote themselves, while others forced me to sit and think, write and rewrite.  Either way, I enjoyed writing each and every one, and I hope to compile them all into a digital album or something of the sort so I can share them with my girls in the future.  By the way, anyone know how to do that?  I plan to continue my weekly mommy posts into 2012, and I'd love to get feedback from my readers...comments, ideas, tips, etc.  We're all in this together, ladies!

With Christmas just coming and going, this week's post was kind of a no brainer.  I think this may have been the best Christmas ever...well, the best one in my adult life and recent memory, at least!  We had brunch on Christmas Eve with my parents and my older brother and his family:

Kids' table

Brunch was followed by naps and Christmas Eve dinner with a plethora of Psimases (and many, many honorary Psimases).  I tried to get a nice picture of my girls in front of our Christmas tree wearing their pretty dresses, but Brynn was mad I wouldn't give her gum and assumed her "you're-the-worst-mom-in-the-world" position.  Camryn does whatever Brynn does, so she followed suit:

Christmas, gangsta style

The girls spent about and hour and a half opening their presents on Christmas morning, and it wasn't until after I cleaned up all the wrapping paper and made myself some coffee that I realized Ryan and I still had our own presents to open.  That's how you know you already have everything you need, wouldn't you say?  Here's some of the clearer shots I was able to capture...those kids move fast!

As if we needed more lawn ornaments 

Digging in

The $8 backpack might be Camryn's favorite gift 

The ridiculously cute dollhouse Santa brought for the girls to share.  So far, so good...as long as Camryn doesn't try to play with the blue baby.

We rounded out Christmas Day with an open house at Ryan's brother's house, where we opened presents with Ryan's family.  After we got home, we had some chili with our neighbors (and Brynn's BFF), who will be moving out of state in a few weeks.  Such an awesome Christmas.

Now I thought I'd spend Brynn's Christmas vacation being out and about, going from one playdate to the next, but I decided to go in a different direction:

Yup.  Taking on the task of potty training Camryn.  And you thought you had a holiday hangover!  Let's just say that at the end of Day 2, I'm glad I don't have to be anywhere for the next eight days!  Perhaps a bit of foreshadowing of Project 52:  Week 1?

If you'd like to participate in your own Project 52 in 2012, click on the link below:

There are some guidelines to follow if you want to submit your posts to be shared on www.simplymodernmom.com, but it's totally worth doing just for yourself.  Make it your own and enjoy putting your memories in writing and looking back at them weeks or months later.  How could you possibly regret it?