We had a such a great trip home to be with family and friends for Christmas! It was only a week, but we packed a lot of catching up and fun into a short amount of time.
I loved getting to spend time with my sweet friend Ashley and her three boys. It's always fun to get our kiddos together, and it's amazing how much bigger they seem to be each time we see each other. While Luke was content to cuddle with his mama, Evan climbed around on Avery just like he was one of his brothers. Claire got quite a bit of attention as the only girl in the group.
My handsome godson, Logan!
Avery played several rounds of checkers with Grandpa during our visit. Grandpa beat him but barely...he's getting better and better!
Claire helped Grandpa to build a fire, and then they sat back to enjoy it.
Avery talks shop with Uncle Jared...probably Pokemon. ;)
We were really excited to see Dan and Shelley (and Zoey), and we enjoyed going out to brunch and then to see Rogue 1 for Shelley's 30th (!!) birthday. After the movie, Phil and I grabbed Starbucks and drove around Louisville. Yay for kid free peace and quiet. :)
Singing happy birthday to Shelley and celebrating with Dad's homemade carrot cake...
Later that night, it was more fun with the Stephens sibling dinner at Big Four Burgers. I loved that we had the party room and could get up and talk to each other. Our little nephew Jack came out to celebrate too and was quite the trooper.
We then met up with this guy (yay for Bradley-boo!) who was passing through town and waiting to pick up his fiance at the airport. What an awesome surprise! It was great to see him! Thank you to Nana and Papaw for keeping the kids for us for the day (and night!)!
Christmas Eve meant a lot of fun at Aunt Mary Jo's and Uncle Terry's. We missed seeing the Bamseys and our Lexington family, but loved getting to catch up with the rest of the gang. We were especially excited that Aunt Shirley was in town from AL! The kids had a great time playing hot potato and picking out prizes, and Avery only had one meltdown. He pulled it together, and we were able to stay for quite a while...success.
One day, Phil and I will sit down with our glasses of wine and watch these two chase after their kiddos...hehe. ;)
Christmas morning came pretty early, especially after midnight church service!
Claire loved her pony castle from Uncle Dan and Aunt Shelley!
...then they had to help her put it all together. :)
Avery was especially excited about his Star Wars X Wing they had gotten him, and he insisted that Phil help him get started right away. (Phil's thinking this is going to take a lot of coffee...)
Legos and cuddle time with Uncle Dan!
Barbies with Mimi!
Then it was time for more fun at Nana and Papaw's! With a family this big, there's never a dull moment!
We were all so excited to meet baby Jack while home for Christmas!! He is such a cutie! The kids are very excited for a cousin, and Phil and I love being an aunt and uncle for the first time.
Claire may have been the most excited, however! She's totally in love with him and would have held him all day if we'd let her.
I got a quick turn to hold him, too! He was good as long as mom and dad were close by!
Avery and Claire opened presents and waited (not so) patiently for the rest of us to open ours, too.
Then it was time to sing happy birthday to Jesus. Since Avery's decided he doesn't like cake, they had made special brownies with Nana to celebrate. I love all the phones taking pictures in the background!
This was as good as it got as far as a picture of the two of them together goes...
Uncle Jared makes a great jungle gym!
No comments:
Post a Comment