We arrived at Nat and Keri's house on Friday night, and Addie, Doak, and Nat greeted us with great big smiles and hugs! Then, the kids were off and playing. Kiran and Ellery loved getting so much time with their cousins. On Saturday, Cookie and Papa arrived. We all waited outside for them to pull into the driveway, and Kiran and Addie ran straight for big hugs! It was so great to see Jeff's family!
Then, we headed to Dallas to meet my parents and get ready for RACE DAY! Yea, it was wonderful to see Mom and Dad (Granna and Grandad)! We picked up my race packet, and then went to a park not too far from the hotel and enjoyed playing outside before dinner. Kiran chased Granna all around the park trying to toss leaves on her. Dad hung out with Ellery, following her all over the place. Our good family friend, Eddie, came with my parents, and he was so helpful! He was familiar with downtown Dallas and knew right where to find the park and other locations. Time for our big race dinner - Sarah found a great pizza place, and we met her and Kurt and Amanda there. Yea! Now, everybody's here! Let's do this race!
(See the upcoming Race Day post for more on the big event!)So, the race was awesome, and now time for some rest, relaxation and more time with family. We took some photos and spent time playing outside with my family before heading back to Nat and Keri's for Christmas with Jeff's Family.
These photos were taken by Chera. She had taken shots of Nat and Keri before, and we were always amazed with their pictures. So we arranged for some family photos while we were all there together. It was fun, and she did a great job!We had the best time at Natalie and Keri's house. They were so sweet to host Christmas this year! Some of my favorite memories were reading of "The Gruffalo" book, the grownups taking countless turns playing Gruffalo while the kids hid, the kids dancing to Jingle Bells and Rudolph, the kids dressing up in princess dresses (princess dresses are apparently just as cool as construction worker clothes :), taking Kiran and Addie to see a movie with Nat and Keri (thanks for babysitting Cookie and Papa!), Yahtzee with all of the grownups, seeing how much Doak had grown, visiting with Nat and Keri after the kids are asleep (always a favorite), and just seeing our kids having fun with family since we don't get to do this very often!
We then drove with Cookie and Papa to their house for a couple of days of fun there. Papa had the day off, and it was his birthday! Kiran, Ellery, and Papa had fun building with Kiran's new peg building set and some of Daddy's old Legos. Papa, Jeff and Kiran worked on Papa's wood pile and made a very nice fire for us! We went to Cookie's school, and Kiran got to stay with Cookie for the rest of the afternoon. He loved it! After leaving Kiran with Cookie, we decided to take Ellery to the doctor. She had a double ear infection! She healed quickly with the medicine and felt better in no time! Thanks, Papa, for helping us find a doctor and for going to the doctor with Ellery and me! Ellery fell asleep on me in the doctor's office (unheard of! she was really feeling bad!), and I really enjoyed talking with my father-in-law while we waited. Jeff and I both feel so blessed to have such wonderful in-laws! Thanks, Cookie and Papa for such a special time!
The next morning, we drove to my parents house to spend a little time with my Dad and to pick up my Mom and take her back to TN with us for a 2-week visit! Woo-hoo! Even though it was a short visit, we got in lots of quality time with Grandad! The kids played all over the place and rode the Gator again. Kiran helped Grandad pick up pecans, and when Eddie, Skint and Geral came out for a quick visit, Eddie taught Kiran how to play golf! It was Granna's birthday, and the kids welcomed her home from work with lots of hugs! We had birthday cake, opened presents, and played on a new wooden motorcycle my Dad bought for the kids. It was hard to say goodbye to Grandad the next morning. He was so wonderful to encourage Mom to take a long vacation with us through the Christmas holidays. Thank you, Daddy!
Now, for the even longer road trip home! Yea- Granna is along for the ride! We all had a great time playing games with Granna in the car. The kids loved for her to read books and most of all, to play tickle! We had 2 hotel stops and made great time the 1st and 3rd days of the trip. The 2nd day seemed like lots of bathroom stops and an interesting detour in Little Rock! When we got about 30 minutes from home, Kiran started feeling sick, and the next day we made a trip to the doctor to discover he had Tonsillitis! He was a sick little boy for a couple of days, but bounced right back by Tues. afternoon. During the first part of the week, Mom was so awesome to help me clean the house (you know, the stuff like under the oven, the grout on the countertops - the stuff that makes you feel really clean - and the stuff that rarely gets done otherwise:)! And, it was really fun for us to be able to do this together! Then, it was time for us to get ready for Christmas. Again, Mom was so sweet to keep the kids and get them ready for bed while Mommy and Daddy did some last minute shopping! And, Granna was a trooper this week getting up ready to go with our early risers!
Jeff picked up our new wood stove after work on Christmas Eve! That evening, we decorated the Christmas tree, played Christmas music and danced! On Christmas Day, we all slept a little later (7:00, I think)! We Skyped with my dad which was awesome! The kids had so much fun playing with new toys and opening presents. Kiran's Big Wheel ("motorcycle") was a huge hit! We had a blast taking it to the tennis court and watching him drive all over the place! Ellery loved pushing her stroller all over the house, and now she is learning to ride her Okiedog Fropper, too! The rest of the day, Jeff worked very hard to get our wood stove going! He did an amazing job, and we were all sitting by a cozy fire by that evening!
We love having a fire! Thanks for your hard work, Daddy!
Hanging out by the new wood stove!On Friday, Granna made Christmas cookies with the kids! They had a blast, and I was amazed by how it kept their attention! They really enjoyed using cookie cutters, and they sneaking a few bites of cookie dough! One of the kids' favorite things to play this week was Hide-n-Seek! Ellery was especially crazy about it and anytime we said someone was coming, she got so excited, said "Hide!," and ran to put a blanket on top of her. The funny thing is this girl can stay under a blanket for about 5 minutes without making a peep. It's hilarious! On Saturday, Jeff took a turn keeping the kids while Mom and I went shopping. That was really a fun and special time for us! We decided that we probably haven't shopped together since I was in college - WOW!
On Saturday, Kurt and Amanda arrived! They got to stay for a week, and we loved having them here! We had our family Christmas on Sunday, and my Dad got to Skype with us again! The kids had a blast playing with Kurt and Amanda (and Sammy Jo)! We had plans to go to a couple of fun play places that our kids love, but our schedule didn't work with holiday business hours. Instead, we went to a new place that had indoor games and outdoor rides. Kiran was so brave and had so much fun riding rides with Aunt Amanda and checking out all of the games. My favorite memories are playing "What time is it, Mr. Fox?" in the backyard with the kids, baking with Amanda and Mom, watching some football, seeing Kurt put in a pantry door and fixing an island kind of thing in our kitchen (Yippee - thank you so much Kurt! - be sure and check out the pictures. He did incredible work in just 2 days!), watching tv and playing Apples to Apples after the kids went to bed, going to Calhoun's, and taking pictures at the Gristmill. Mom got sick for a couple of days while she was here. It was no fun for her! Amanda took great care of her though, and we finished the week with everyone healthy and lots of fun activities! What a fun and special week! Thanks Mom, Kurt, and Amanda for coming so far to spend this time with us!
A Birthday Celebration for Daddy! (those are breakfast burritos in case you are wondering)!
The reason we needed a pantry door! Busted!
And here it is! Woo-hoo!
Just as we took the pantry picture above, our doorbell rang and it was the FedEx truck. We had been waiting all week for this Christmas present from Granna and Grandad. It made it just before Mom, Kurt and Amanda left. Jeff and the kids put most of their new kitchen together that night while I was at Girl's Night. I was amazed when I got home! We all finished the rest in the morning. They have had a blast playing with it!
Thanks to all our readers for your patience. You see, this blog is as much our family journal as it is an opportunity to share experiences with our family and friends. So, this is a long blog because we didn't want to leave anything out (though I definitely did), and because it is long, it takes me a while to write it and post pictures. Also, I am one of these folks that does one thing at a time, so while we were having fun with family, I didn't want to spend one minute of energy writing! There were too many photos to upload to the blog, so you will see much more of our adventure if you click here
2 comments:
What great pictures! We love you all and had fun reliving our time with you through the pictures! Jeff, the wood stove looks awesome.
I was so glad to see your post and thanks for the link to all the other photos. Love it all and you all!
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