Christmas: Part 2

After a week in Texas, we hit the road to drive to Alabama. It was going to be an interesting road trip, but the kids did well considering. Actually, the older two did great. Anna was not amused to be confined to her car seat for more than an hour, but she hung in there. We got to G and D's house around 2am. The kids went back to sleep and thankfully G and D got up with them so we could sleep off the drive. We had a great week in Birmingham. 

 Opening up Christmas presents and stockings

 Loving her new Minnie Mouse

 David loved that this gift was taller than him.

 The panda she has wanted all Christmas!!

 This goofball...

 Anna ate up a storm while we were there and loved sitting with Adee at this table.

 These two little shoppers enjoyed browsing the toy aisles at Target. 

 The big kids got to go see a movie one afternoon. We enjoyed all the time we got to play with our cousins and Cameron and I loved getting to spend time with G, D, Rere, Lee, Craig and Charelette. 

 All wrapped up in her Elsa blanket

 Getting a real silver dollar from Big D.

 Mr. Christmas was so sad that the tree was being taken down. He gave it a hug and waved bye to it until it went out the door.  He's already talking about Christmas next year.

 Our best friends, the Denney's, came up to see us while we were an hour apart. It's been 3+ years since we've seen them and we hadn't even met their newest baby, Liam. It was really good to catch up with them and have all our kids play together. We have so many great memories with them and hope to be stationed near each other again soon.

 Dinner at the real Pablo's.

 Playing iPad in the chair.

 Charelette took David out to the fire station one day. He got all dressed up in his fireman shirt and actually sat on the truck this time. Presley was having a big morning with me and G getting some new ballet shoes and visiting D at work.

 Presley also had a big afternoon with Rere. She enjoyed her first pedicure. She loved every bit of it. This is her new tradition she said when she comes to Birmingham.

 The babies enjoying popsicles on New Year's Eve while we had some adult time out.

 The kids loved our New Year's gear we brought home for them before Craig and Cameron did our fireworks.

We were in town for the Auburn bowl game.

 Little cheerleader

 G and all five of her grandbabies

 Sweetest cousins

 The ride home was less than ideal, but after 12 long hours we made it.

 Pretending to close their eyes when I told them it was naptime.

 When we got home, they were so excited to get their bikes from Santa. 

They have a bike ride every day!

Christmas: Part 1

We had a great Christmas break. It was a lot of traveling, but so worth it to get to spend so much time with our families. We started with a 3 hour drive to the airport, then a 3 hour flight to Texas. The kids loved riding on the plane and were all really good on the plane.

Quick bite to eat before boarding.

Landed and went to Mallie and Dallie's house for play time with the fam! 

The next morning we went to Great Wolf Lodge for a fun night. I don't have as many pictures as Emily has, but I'll just post what I have from my phone. We enjoyed playing in the indoor water park of the hotel for hours, then a pizza party for dinner followed by the Magic Quest throughout the hotel in our pjs. The kids got to spend the night in the "treehouse" with Mallie and Dallie.  The next morning, we had breakfast in the Gingerbread House. It was all very cool and great memories with their cousins.

We got to enjoy the storytime in the lobby where it snowed! 

Pointing the wand at the Magic Quest and completing a task.

Outside the gingerbread house.

We went home the next day after playing in the indoor water park more that morning. The following day, we all hung out at Mallie and Dallie's house and Santa showed up! Mallie told the kids she was expecting a package so when the sleigh bells started, David ran to the door then turned around and said "It's not a package, it's just Santa" and closed the door. Presley and the other kids jumped up immediately and ran back to the door. It was a very neat meeting with Santa. The kids all listened so intently to everything he said.

Playing with No No.

Cameron and I took our goddaughter, Bryn, out for lunch to her favorite spot one day. It was really nice to get to spend time with her one on one. She's such an amazing little girl and so much fun to spend time with.

The kids got to open some presents and loved everything they got from all the family.

David got a really cool train set for construction cars. The perfect gift for him!

Love them in their matching pjs.

We all spent the night together Christmas Eve and had the kids lined up in age order Christmas morning (just like I did every Christmas growing up).

Checking out Santa's gifts

Anna was more interested in breakfast than opening her gifts.

Santa left David and Presley a note that they were getting bikes that he delivered to their home in California instead of bringing to Mallie's house. Bryn also got a bike from Santa and was so nice to let Presley ride on it.

David played with Liam's fuze ball table all morning!

Also loved playing with Liam's new nerf gun

This little elf loves Christmas and is so in to it this year. Now that our decorations and tree have come down, he misses Christmas a lot. He's still singing Christmas carols and wanting to watch Rudolph. Can't wait to watch him enjoy Christmas next year!

Emily and Nick took him out to Nick's jobsite for a godmother gift and morning with him. To say he loved it is an understatement. He got to sit on the equipment, pretend to ride it and enjoy spending time with them. 

I'll post more pictures once I get them. We were so thankful to have a nice week to play with our family in Texas. We made a lot of great memories.