Christmas #3

Back to the Christmas Wrap Up coverage... only one more after this one... except for maybe a baking recap...

Celebration #3 was with John's parents and his sister's family. It was just a few minutes after we opened the first few of our gifts to the boys -- we broke things up because the girls were excited and the boys had lost interest. We broke for breakfast and then got back to the festivities. Quickly followed by the rush to get the meal finished... and a huge feeding frenzy.

We finally got to meet our youngest niece, Aspyn... she was born on December 5th, but we didn't get to meet her until the 24th! That was probably one of the harder moments that living far away caused us this year... along with missing my Mom's knee surgery... and in 2013 -- I can already think of two things that will cause the same homesickness. 

The proudest big sister I've seen. She's also just plain gorgeous... this is the first of our two nieces named, Taylor -- she is two months older than my sister's daughter named Taylor. I guess that was a REALLY popular name in 2002?! 

Taylor helping Ty open a gift. Once you get it started for him -- he gets after it! I was chasing James back into the room -- so there aren't too many photos from the actual gift opening... 

John's parents got the boys both tricycles -- so they had to try them out. I am WAY anti bikes in the house, but it was freezing, and we had to get dinner made... so I made an exception. Now that we are home -- they are in the garage.

James getting on his trike too - we taught them how to pedal -- so they are all set. We're a little in between sizes for Tyler - we got two different trikes, but Ty's is a little big... while James' is a little small. I think we're still trying to decide if we should just get another one in the smaller size for now and just keep the other one in storage. 

My sweet little buddy... this kid slays me. No matter what is going on - if you make eye contact with him, he will light up with the cutest smile & dimple combo. 

Christmas dinner, Aspyn style! She slept through the whole thing, I miss those newborn days -- the nights are hard, but the sweet sleeping baby to cuddle is priceless. 

Taylor read us the Christmas story from the Bible (okay, it was via a Bible app) before we prayed over our dinner. She did a great job. She is certainly turning into a special young lady, and it's been an amazing thing to watch -- even from afar. 

Lets eat!! Tyler barely ate anything -- until John came over and kinda forced the issue... James tried everything. He is a much better eater these days -- at least in terms of trying new things. Tyler will eat a ton of things that he knows and is used to... but getting him to try something new is a booger. He gets lock jaw. Crazy kid! 

James and PawPaw playing with our iPad. I wonder who is really running the show there... my bets are on James. 

Everyone together -- a growing family... but we are blessed! I am amazed every year looking at how much the girls have grown up in such a short amount of time -- and now seeing it in my own children - it's just stunning.

This picture is a recreation of a photo that I took in 2004ish. I lost all of our photos for several years because of a hard drive crash... but basically, the original was in this same exact spot with Frosty... it was Taylor and my inlaws only. Photo was a fluke, but was very cute... this the same photo with 4 more grandchildren added. 

James and Tyler fell in love with the movie theater popcorn popper in the game room at John's parents house... so we decided to fire it up the day after Christmas. They loved watching the popcorn pop out of the kettle... and I think they loved hearing the pops too.

James' first taste of popcorn... I've been really hesitant to give it to them because neither of them are good chewers... but as with everything else, James took to it faster than Tyler did. 

Tyler did come around though -- I was terrified that he was going to choke himself since he is the barfinator... but he did really well. 

Just before we left to go to our final stop of the trip... John's Dad was headed to the doctor that morning and will be having a knee replacement on January 14th... we won't be able to be there with him, so I know that will be a hard day full of prayers.