Whew, my life is too busy these days to keep up with this blog! But I want to capture these memories. So here goes the last Christmas post (that is long, I'm sorry, but I just want to finish!)...
The morning after Christmas day, we loaded up the van and headed to my parents' house to stay the week with my brother and his family.
We started the afternoon with a "snowball fight" with cotton balls:
And Will and Henley serenaded us with Christmas carols on the piano:
We ended up opening present that evening because we couldn't wait 'til the next morning! I dressed for the occasion as an elf. (Actually, I had these crazy socks from my aerobics class and had to put them to use one more time!)
This was Will's first Christmas! These guys were so tired because they flew out of New York at 6 am!
Megan changed Gavin's life forever with their gift. I requested action figures for the Gavster from them. Well Meg knew of this group called Rescue Heroes and OH.MY.WORD. is this boy obsessed. OBSESSED.
"Billy Blazes" the fireman. Gavin put his fireman pj's on and said, "Mom, take my picture!" Love my themed boy--just like his momma. :)
I had a huge surprise for my Mom. Mom has written children's books for her grandchildren, so I secretly had a picture taken from our family pictures with the kids reading her books. So #1 she was shocked with the picture, and #2 was shocked at a blown up canvas print of it!
She says she looks at it like this over her fireplace every day. Ha!
Henley was content to play in my Dad's big box from his cooler:
My Aunt Joanna is the "PJ Aunt" and always gets her great niece and nephews fun pj's that they love love love!
My other Aunt Lynn got the kiddos these horses. I love this picture! They were having a blast.
Gavin had a Bruder Christmas from both sets of grandparents--without them even planning it! These are the most realistic construction vehicles I have ever seen. He got a dump truck, excavator, and this crane! All the parts move like a real one. He, of course, is in heaven. (And notice the crane is lifting his rain boot! It's the real deal!)
The Hughes Crew was worn out from all the present opening!
I found these footed pj's at a yardsale for $1 that I've been saving to wear on Christmas. I look like I'm 12! :)
Chad sporting his Christmas Vacation shirt:
Speaking of Christmas Vacation, it's my family's favorite Christmas movie. This year at the young age of 3, Gavin got to watch a little bit of it. Don't worry--we definitely censored it for him (and us!).
Henley and Will playing together. Don't let this fool you--Henley was a bit jealous of Will!
Particularly when this happened!
And as usual, I had to snap some pictures of my precious nephew:
Nani's latest book for Will (that Chad and Meg surprised all of us with): Will Power!
Marching down the hall to "Thumpity thump thump, thumpity thump thump, look at Frosty go!"
And a Frosty art project:
Pop sadly had to work all week so I don't have a ton of pictures with you, Pop!
But this one I know you'll be proud of. :) My brother-in-law Cole kindly gave my brother Chad garbage bags full of clothes he was getting rid of. So the men had a fun time trying them on. Ha!
Friday evening we went to my Aunt Christie's house and celebrated with my Dad's side of the family. Here's our annual family Christmas pictures:
My grandmother Jane with her grandchildren and great grandchildren:
(And that's my famous cousin Renee who starred in Courageous! And now she has a new CD she recorded! We're pretty proud of her!)
The cousins are not super close in age, but they love playing together:
Henley sat down on Reid's lap and started playing and he was not so excited about it! This cracked us up:
Caroline and Henley:
Love my two boys:
Henley the helper rocking her cousin Will:
To say we are unbelievably blessed is an understatement. We have such a fun family to celebrate the holidays with for such an extended time. And the amount of presents we received is amazing as well! I can't wait for next Christmas! (And Gavin can't either! :) )
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