Saturday, Dec. 20th & Sunday, Dec. 21st

We left for the cold Midwest on Saturday, Dec. 20th. We arrived at my Dad & Ona's house about 4 pm. It was a good uneventful trip.

The Elf even showed up in the van to go with us and watch us on the ride!

Ona's kids & grand kids were there celebrating their Christmas together, so I got to join in on a fun card game with them!

Then my brother, Ryan, Kelly, their kids and my sister, Regan's kids all arrived. Here is a picture of them all together reading a bed time story.

However Sean ended up on Uncle Ryan's lap with his blankie, etc. before bed time.

My sister, Regan and Mark drove down the next morning and the kids got to open presents.





Here are Sean & Hadley with their stockings - a tradition at Nanny & Papa Rusty's.

Sean got a car out and all he wanted to do was open it!

Here is Carly, Regan's oldest. She will be 12 on Jan. 15th.

Seems like she was almost two not long ago!












Here is Regan's youngest, Beth who turned 7 in October. She is checking out her stocking by dumping it all out at once! Why waste time digging in for one thing at a time?


This is Blake, Ryan's oldest who turned 9 in August. He is very glad for Sean, so there is another boy cousin! We have been passed down a lot of Blake's KU stuff!!!




Ryan's youngest, Julia who is also 7 as of Nov. 1st. Showing off her gum from her stocking. We always start with the stockings and then move on to the presents. Each stocking is loaded with an orange to fill the toe (remember last years post they were playing with the oranges!).



The whole gang. Seems all our pictures are of kids anymore - never seem to remember to capture the adults!







Look at these BIG presents - what could they be?
Hadley was a champion opener from day one - present one and loved helping everyone else too.







It did not take Sean long at all to catch on and catch up! By this time he knew exactly what to do.
















Here they are with their presents opened, assembled (thanks to Daddy & Uncle Ryan) and even getting a little push help from their cousins!

Their legs will be long enough every soon. Until then they love the noises they make, getting pushed on them and following each other around our house using their feet on the floor!

We will try them outside soon! Thanks Nanny & Papa Rusty for the awesome Big Wheels!

Here is Hadley with Nanny and Jack. She warmed up to him and wanted to pet him, but Sean would rather Jack just stay away just as Jack wished we would just leave!

But we didn't - we stayed until Tuesday before we headed to KC to my Mom's house in the freezing rain.

And the Elf found his way back into the van to go with us again!