Christmas Review

I wish I could say everything about our holiday weekend ran smoothly and glitch free.  Unfortunately that is far from the truth.  

For starters, I had to work through Thursday, and our first family celebration was Friday in Kansas City.  Hanna had to work the nights of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, so we didn't have a whole lot of options.  Anyway, we all got together at Abby's Friday evening and Saturday morning.

 The kids were spoiled with giant brick blocks from Nana Bobbi. 

Notice how excited John looks.  I am pretty sure he was sneaking a peak at the K-State score on my new IPad which he conveniently hid under the couch.  

 Avery wasn't totally into opening presents.

 Lilly made sure she played with her new toys, as well as Avery's

 Cheesing it up after breakfast Saturday morning.

 After a full morning in KC, we headed back to Holton for the Christmas Eve church service and onto the Stous house for more celebrating.  This is where things got ugly.  As soon as we got there, I wasn't feeling so hot.  At first I thought I was just really hungry, but that was definitely not the case.  I really don't remember much of the night, except trying not to get sick.  I only lasted till about 8:30 before I lost that battle.  Everyone else appeared to enjoy themselves!

 I was up most the night and slept all day Christmas Day.  This was the only picture I got of Lilly opening presents.  I really hope she enjoyed going to church with Grandma Karen and then back to the Stous' with her daddy for Christmas lunch.  It makes me sad that I missed the entire Christmas Day with her, but there was no getting out of bed for me.

 Lilly and I were supposed to go on to Great Bend Christmas evening to see my mom's family and my dad's sister, who were only in town for the day.  Luckily we were able to go on Monday, but unfortunately no one was still in town.  Lilly got to open the present Aunt Karen left for her, and has played with it nonstop ever since. 

I talked to John several times on Monday, and sure enough, he got sick while Lilly and I were gone.  The only good thing about the stomach bug we had was that it was short lived.  We were both only sick for a little over 24 hours, but long enough to make us pretty miserable.  I know the meaning of Christmas is not how many parties you go to and how many people you see, but it sure makes it a whole lot more enjoyable when you can get out and do those things.  I sure hope we don't have another holiday like this one anytime soon.

Joyful Noise

 Lilly's children's choir, Joyful Noise, performed at church on December 18, and yes I am very slow blogging about it.  They did two songs, but Lilly mostly just stood there watching the other kids.  She does a great job singing Jingle Bells at home and in the car, but wasn't about to sing at church.

 Not real sure what she was doing, either checking Kolden out or giving him the stink eye.

Overall, it was adorable!

Christmas at Glenmore

 We had our first Christmas celebration last night.  Every year, the residents of Glenmore Meadows, the assisted living facility John's grandmother lives at, gather to exchange gifts and see Santa.  Lilly was excited to see her Great Gram.

 She got her first present of the season.  I was shocked she actually went up to Santa to get it!

She even posed for a picture with him!

Cookie Time

One of my favorite things about the holidays, is making Christmas cookies.  Lilly and I got started this week.  We tried a new recipe which involved wrapping chocolate cookie dough around a Rolo. 

Lilly opened all of the Rolos for me and handed them to me one by one. 

She was every bit as helpful as she was last year!

Oops

Tonight could have been a major disaster.  I was heading out the front door to get the mail, and for some reason Lilly pushed the door shut behind me, and for some reason, it locked!  Crap!  I knew she would be fine because  I had just turned Mickey Mouse on for her.  Then I realized I had just started my bath water!  Double crap!  

I checked every door.  No luck.  I tried to break a window.  Still no luck.  I broke down and called 911.  I yelled for Lilly and told her to turn the bath water off, which she successfully did, and waited for the police to come. 

After about 20 minutes, they got me in without even breaking anything! Lilly looked a little surprised to see a policeman come through the window.  She was a big girl, showed him the back door, and in I came.  I honestly don't think she was scared, or even knew anything was wrong!  I am so thankful I had shoes on and had my phone on me.  I think I would have been a lot more stressed had I had to leave the house and go to the neighbors to call!

Christmas Present?

I am thinking I may have to get Lilly a changing table for her babies.  This is what she does now!

One Cold Parade

 Saturday night Lilly and I went to a Christmas parade in Holton.  John wasn't back from the KSU game since there was an hour and a half rain delay.  It rained most of the day and was just plain cold.  We took the Jeep and watched out of the back.  Lilly got to wear her new winter coat.  She immediately did a little dance and declared herself a ladybug. 

 We had her old car seat in the back of the Jeep.  She had the best seat in the house.

 Here are a couple pics from the parade.

A Time of Thanks

 We loaded up and went to Great Bend for Thanksgiving this year.  All of my family was there so it was quite the houseful.  Three sisters (two pregnant), three husbands, a dog, Sophie Kitty who spent her time hiding from the dog, two kids under three, and of course the generous homeowners who actually gave up their room so prego #1 didn't have to sleep in a full-sized bed. My Aunt Karen even came to see everyone.  

The weekend was relatively uneventful, but Lilly took advantage of every person who would push her on the tree swing.  It almost always ended up being Papa Layne or Uncle Grant.  Suckers!

 This kid had no fear.  The higher, the better!

 Somehow over four days, I only managed to take two pictures.  Overall we had a great time, and were thoroughly worn out by the time we got home!  We are so blessed and have so much to be thankful for!