That's a wrap.......

During the holidays my family and I take off for a two week winter vacation to Missouri to spend time with friends and family that we typically do not get a chance to see all year. This year we have been able to take a trip home once a month since we live a lot closer now. We have been taking advantage of this because we know we will soon be taking off again to live much further away and these trips home will be very limited again.

The Christmas festivities began early on Christmas Eve at Papa Denni's house for breakfast. We had a lot of fun cooking and visiting with him. Next we took off to Noni and Andrea's house to celebrate Christmas with J.R.'s mom and family. Grant finally got to tear into some presents and Ryan gave us a taste of what he thought about it all. Not a present opener at all, but he did have fun playing with his neat toys and eating all that great food. We left around 8pm so we could hurry home and get the boys to sleep for Santa was coming in the morning.

We have a very early morning for Santa every year at 5-6am because we head off to Meme's for a traditional Christmas morning breakfast so the boys were half awake. Santa was very good to the boys this year!Grant was very excited to get his PS3, PS3 games, John Deer boots, jewels, and Lego's and Ryan.....well Ryan was confused, sleepy, and just wanted to eat his candy in his stocking but it was very cute.

Next it was off to Meme's for breakfast, visiting with our loved ones, and lots and lots of presents to open. The boys loved all the great toys they got from everyone and JR and I could tell already that it might just take a u-haul to get it all home!

Our next stop was at Papa Johnny's house where we had a great visit and exchanged our gifts. Tina made the boys some cute things like pj pants, blankets, body pillows, and letters for Grant's room....but it's not over.....

Our last stop was Mama Cindy's house. We finish Christmas here every year with a dinner and then the kids tear into their gifts. Often by this time we are all stuffed by our many stops and the kiddos are exhausted and fussy. It went very well this year because most of the kids are so much older and can handle it better and grandma changed it up with fried chicken....yummo. Ryan finally got the spirit of Christmas and dove into ripping up the paper and screaming in excitement.

Here are the only pics I have because I couldn't find where I put my camera. Sadly it was left at my mom's and no pictures were taken until that night when I cleaned out the room to find it.

Introducing Christmas evening 2010.....

The trio....Grant, Maddie, and Ava getting their first present of the night open......

Ryan playing with his V-Tech Alphabet train...He loves this toy so much......

Grant, our little chemist, got a chemistry set and the kiddos were quick to start mixing the vinegar and baking soda the next morning......

Choo chooo......He thought this was pretty neat. Thanks Grandma Cindy and Papa Tim!

Michelle and Brody opening Brody's gifts.....He's going to look so cute in his argyle....

Aunt Nicole and Brody.....best Aunt ever, after me of course!

We spent the next couple of days packing things up and preparing for the trip home while daddy took a short trip to Florida for his PhD program. New Years was brought in with some sparkling grape juice and a lot of rented movies. A perfect end to a great year! We headed out in the afternoon on the 1st for our long trip home. It was great seeing everyone but two exhausted parents chasing a baby around houses that were not child proof for two weeks almost beat us! We made it home safe and sound and ready to begin 2011! Happy New Year!