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
Oh my heart I cannot believe how big those kids are getting!!! And I'm all about Avery refusing to sit down. That's right girl. You stand up and be different. That's what I'm talkin' about.
ReplyDeleteJen, the shirt she is wearing in that first picture is part of the cute outfit you sent her. She was wearing the whole outfit with the pants and jacket until we ate dinner and she got pizza all over it. Into the wash the beloved penguin shirt went, but the undershirt survived for the rest of the night. Thanks for keeping her dressed in style :)
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