Pretty Girl

As I was looking through photos to document our Christmas celebrations, I came across this photo (taken by Aunt Nikki) and got a little teary. I don't know what it is about this picture... she's just so sweet! We love her.

Kelley Christmas

After our Stow visit we packed up and traveled to Marysville to spend a few days at Grandma and Grandpa's house. We somehow found room in our bellies for more great food, room in our car for more generous gifts, and room in our hearts for more family fun! We arrived the day after Christmas, but thankfully we were able to coordinate getting the whole family together that evening which made it feel like Christmas day all over again to me. Avery adores spending time with her cousins and was in heaven having all of them there together. We all had dinner together and then all of the adults and kids opened gifts at the same time. It was a busy, hectic, loud, wonderful, fun time! (Again, we were too spoiled!) The following day we made visits to great Nana K's house and great Grandma and Grandpa Staley's house. Considering Avery was on day 5 of traveling and had been to numerous houses for family visits, she held up very well and was on her best behavior for all the grandparents. The rest of our time in Marysville was spent relaxing and watching classic Christmas specials (Avery's favorites are Rudolph and Frosty. Momma's favorite is Charlie Brown). We love our life in Perrysburg and we know we are where we are meant to be, but it doesn't mean that being away from our families is easy. We cherish every moment that we are able to spend with the ones we love. I adore the role of being the "mom" at Christmas time. Decorating the house, carefully picking out and wrapping the presents, making sure Jesus is talked about more often than santa, starting new traditions in our little family... I love it all. I thought I would do some mourning as my role changed from child to adult in the Christmas happenings. As it turns out, I think I like this side of things more (if that's even possible). However, there's a little part of my heart that will always be my parent's baby girl and walking into their house at Christmas fills a hole that I often forget needs attention. To all of our parents... Nana, Papa, Grandma, and Grandpa... thanks for opening your homes to us and loving us up every moment that we are there. We are so very blessed and thankful.

Cousins! Oliver was trying to get away and Avery refused to sit down. Regardless, it's probably the best picture I've seen of all of them together.

A great family photo of the Kelleys

A great family photo of the Uptons

A not so great family photo of the Pilands (leave it to us)

All of the grandkids got sing-a-ma-jigs in their stockings (except for Avery who already owned one, but she brought hers along for the fun when she heard a rumor the other kids were getting them). When you press their bellies, they sing in harmony. Fun!

Playing with Karly

A visit to Nana K's

A visit to Grandma and Grandpa Staley

Piland Christmas

Erich, Avery, and I spent Dec 23rd-28th venturing to Stow and Marysville to celebrate Christmas with our families. Our first stop was Nana and Papa's house where we spent a few days having fun with Nana, Papa, Aunt Nikki, Uncle Evan, Aunt Passa, and Cara. It was a full house which was chaotic at times, but such a treat! We wouldn't want it any other way. We spent most of our time dressing the girls in matching outfits, watching them play together, giving them baths together (they loved that), and eating too much food. We were also able to enjoy Christmas Eve and Christmas Day celebrations with extended family. There were many intense games of Rook, many gifts opened (we were quite spoiled!), and a lot of laughs and silly times.

My favorite moment of our Stow visit was Christmas morning. Before we all started tearing into our gifts, Erich's parents carried on the annual tradition of reading the Christmas story and taking time to focus the family on Christ. Papa was reading the story of Jesus' birth out loud from the Bible, doing his best to stay on track while Avery and Cara ran around the room all wound up and excited about gifts. It appeared as though they were oblivious to the meaning of the moment and didn't have a clue what was going on. That is, until Papa read, "You will give birth to a son and you will name him Jesus". Avery's face lit up and she ran out of the room. She quickly returned clutching the baby Jesus figure from the nativity scene and said, "Here Papa! Jesus!". Her little heart is still too young to grasp the enormity of what that little baby came to earth to do for all of us. But she knows his name and she holds him close to her heart. Thank you Lord for my precious girl.

The Texas Pilands in Perrysburg

The week before Christmas we were excited to have Uncle Evan, Aunt Passa, and cousin Cara come up for a visit. They traveled from Texas to Ohio for the holidays and we loved having them Perrysburg for a couple days of their visit. Cara is about 9 months older than Avery and they play together very well. Lots of hugs, giggling, and shrieking with the occasional fight (sharing is hard) thrown in. We wish we could see them more often! Here are a few pictures from their visit. The girls kept busy chasing each other around and laughing hysterically. They also found time to play the piano, decorate Christmas cookies, and play in the bath. Such fun!

Christmas Morning

In our house, Christmas is a day, not a date. Santa won't always come to our house on December 25th. We'll be telling our kids that Santa knows our schedule and he'll come when he's sure we'll be home. With Erich's work schedule and out of town traveling to visit both of our families, we've got to do what works. I was a little sad about this at first, but I've adjusted and now it's exciting. This year we celebrated Christmas at home on Wednesday the 22nd. I had trouble sleeping the night before because I was so full of anticipation. I couldn't wait for the moment when Avery would walk out of her bedroom and look down the stairs to see the tree all lit up and full of presents just for her. Those Christmas morning memories from my childhood are still so vivid for me and I loved that Avery was about to share in that joy for the first time (although last year was her "1st Christmas", this is the first year she has actually been aware enough to get into it. The girl has some major Christmas spirit). I tell you what, she did not disappoint. As soon as we heard her start to stir in her crib that morning, we went upstairs to get her. Still yawning and stretching and rubbing her eyes, she made her way to the top of the stairs...

Such a sweet girl. She was still a bit sleepy and seemed to be in awe of the whole scene. Erich and I want to carry on a tradition from both of our childhoods... reading the Christmas story together as a family before opening gifts. Santa and presents are very exciting, but keeping our focus on the Hope that came from Heaven in the form of that precious baby is a priority for us as a family. We weren't crazy enough to think that an almost 2 year old would sit still for a Bible reading when there were presents begging to be opened right across the room, so we decided to try and do things more on her level this year and read one of her board books that tells the nativity story beautifully. We were soon put in our place when even that proved to be a challenge. Avery was way too wound up by that point. She ended up reading the book to us (pointing to the pictures and saying "baby Jesus!" every time she saw him) and we called that good enough. We'll try again next year.

Avery telling us about Jesus (reading from an upside down book... she's a genius)

Coloring books galore. Jackpot!

The biggest crayon box I've ever seen (I hear santa scored this for free. Even better)

This was Avery's "main" gift. Her first real baby doll, a cabbage patch! I was probably more excited than she was. The doll is called a "surprise newborn". It comes wrapped up in a green "cabbage" suit and you can't tell the gender until you open it up and reveal a pink or blue diaper (it also comes with a cute little outfit to change into). How fun that it was as much a surprise for us as it was for her. The big reveal showed a pink diaper, so Avery is now the proud momma to "baby Haley" (we stuck with the name on the included birth certificate). Avery carries her everywhere, tucks her into bed at night, rocks her, and gives her a bottle. She is such a nurturer!

Tucking baby Haley into bed. This cradle was mine when I was a little girl. It was made by my Grandpa Staley and I loved passing it on to my baby. Many baby dolls have slept in that cradle! Another handmade gift I was excited for Avery to have was the blanket I crocheted to go in the cradle. I've been wanting to learn and I figured a baby doll sized blanket was a great little starter project.

It was a great Christmas morning at the Piland house. I get pretty choked up when I think about it. I am blessed that God designed me to be Erich's wife and Avery's mom and in moments like this I feel my heart exploding from the love. Even though I know it's all going to fly by too quickly, I can't wait for all the Christmases to come as our little family grows and changes. These memories will be cherished.

Santa Baby

She was not impressed.