Christmas Catch-Up 2011

For Christmas 2011, Heather, Elli and I traveled to the tropical climate of Hartford, CT to spend the holidays with Sarena, Adam, and family. This was particularly fitting since our first Christmas out east we also spent it with the CT Sharps, and now we spent this our last Christmas in the east with the Sharps too, before we leave for Taiwan this summer.

We had a wonderful time. Although Christmas fell on a Sunday this year, we decided that it would be more enjoyable (i.e., the kids would be able to play with their toys longer and the parents relax more) if we celebrated it on Saturday instead. We were very glad we made the change. That idea came from veteran parents Adam and Sarena. Thanks for the expert tips, guys!

Here's us Christmas morning getting into our traditional "Jingle Bell" lines in preparation for jogging around the house. I love this tradition, and it was so much fun doing it with more people this year.

First, we start by opening all of our stocking presents.

Heather got me a new ornament this year. It was perfect: Captain America coming out of a real mini comic book. Thanks, Sweetheart! (She got me other gifts, too, in case you're wondering.)

I got Heather two hats (among other gifts). Elli loved putting one of them on. What a beautiful mother and daughter pair.

Grandma Carr got Elli a cool foldable tunnel. She loves this thing and is always asking to play with it.

Trevor and Jared got Air Soft guns that you use to shoot beebees at each other. We had a lot of fun with them; more on this later.

Elli absolutely loved being around her cousins. And they were all so great about playing with her. Heather got Elli this great scooter thing that she could move around the house in. Karinn and Elli had a blast riding on it taking turns pushing each other.

We took the scooter outside, too, and found out that it can go pretty fast. Apparently, I went a little too fast, giving Heather and Sarena a little bit of a panic attack. But Elli really wanted to go fast! She loved it.

On actual Christmas Day, we held our traditional Christmas pageant. It may not have been the most reverent production, but it was fun. Heather as the angel was especially dramatic. Makenzie was moving in her depiction of the donkey. Elli was a very attentive sheep who kept stealing baby Jesus. Jared and Karinn took a new twist on playing Mary and Joseph. Sarena added a feminine flair to the shepherds. And Adam, Trevor, and I were perfect as wise men; we merely needed to play ourselves.

So back to Air Soft guns: these are toys that imitate the real thing fairly well. It shoots these beebees at pretty decent speeds, so if you get hit with them, you certainly feel it. Sarena, Adam, Trevor, Jared, and I played team battle for most of Saturday late afternoon and early evening. It was really fun.

One thing we didn't get pictures of, we went skiing on the Monday after Christmas. Trevor lent me his snowboard boots and Adam lent me his snowboard, and I gave snowboarding a try for the day. I knew it was going to be difficult, but I was surprised how how challenging it was. I consider myself a pretty coordinated person, but this was a whole new thing and it took me 5 hours before I could stumble my way down a full run. Adam and the kids all gave me great tips throughout, and I even got a free mini lesson from one of the resort instructors. Makenzie was great in staying with me and helping me after a few particularly painful face plants. Although I enjoyed the physical challenge and the feeling of snowboarding was fun when I could briefly get into a rhythm, I think I'm going to stick with skiing. My very sore tail end and wrists liked it better. : )

This Christmas trip was wonderful and was a reminder of how much we're going to miss being so close to family when we move away. We're glad we've been able to take advantage of being so close and see each other so often while we all lived nearby.

Our little helper

Elli loves to imitate what mom and dad are doing. One day, for example, we had let some dishes accumulate in the sink throughout the day. At the end of the day, Todd rinsed and loaded most of the dishes but let a large pot soak. Elli saw the pot and wanted to clean, too, so we grabbed her a chair and she went to work. It was pretty adorable.

Sometimes she does the same thing when we sweep. That case is a bit trickier, though, because instead of making piles, she ploughs right into the piles of dirt that we make, spreading them everywhere. So the key is to first distract her by having her sweep in one area while we quickly sweep in another and get the piles all sweep up before she tries to "help" us.

Update- Thanksgiving in Texas

So last November, while Todd was still gone for work, Elliana and I got to go visit Texas again to be with my family for an extended Thanksgiving holiday. Elli had a fabulous time once again and her and Kyle actually got on much better-- both being a little older made all the difference. Elli loves Kyle and could say his name better than anybody else's.

Here Elli and Kyle are playing the piano together. They were singing and just as happy as could be plunking away at the notes.

Elli missed her dad a lot and she seemed to gravitate towards the other very wonderful men figures that were around- especially Chris my brother-in-law. She had a great time one afternoon just hanging out with him watching football.

Before the rest of my family came in town for the holiday, Elli, mom, and I took went and spent a couple days visiting Midland. My cousin Missy with her daughter Clara was there visiting her parent's home and we all had a great time hanging out and catching up.

Missy and I are both pregnant so it made our little get together even more timely!

Sadly, we didn't get a lot of good pics of the girls playing, but trust me, they had a great time.

After a little over a week, the rest of the family came in town and then the real partying began! Actually, it was quite awesome that all the sisters were able to come down with their families. Todd was actually the only one missing-- sad.

Here is some of my favorite outside pics of all the kids pitching in to help Granddaddy rake the leaves. Even Elli loved to help.

Here the kids are all lined up and ready to jump together in the leaves.

Elli was a little confused at first, but she caught on really fast. All the kids got so dirty but they had a great time.

Throwing leaves is priceless fun! Grace is such a cutie (*below)!

Kyle and Zac-- the boy cousins-- are quite the pair! Such great smiles!

I just love these pics. Pure happiness!


Ashley and Zac were such great caretakers of Elli. She loved having them cater to her and they loved helping her!

Elli got to be great friends with her Granddaddy. She would give him big hugs when he left for work and would just hang out next to him a lot when he was home.

Here is Grace in the cutest shirt! Cheri actually did the turkey with the ribbons on the shirt-

So crafty my sister is!!

TURKEY DINNER!! YUM!!!

We spent one afternoon visiting the science spectrum and everybody had a great time-- even little Ryann-- the newest addition to the family via Steph and Dave!!

Grocery shopping, TV news casting, and playing veterinarian-- what could be more fun!





Here are just some fun pics from the week!

We got out this jumper for Ryann, but Elli utilized it quite frequently- swinging and jumping from side to side!

Roasting marshmellows-- yummy!


I taught all the kids how to open and eat a pomegranite- they all just loved it and everyone had red tongues and fingers after.

Fun pics at the mall all dressed up to see Santa!

After the mall, we had a race for the younger kids because the older kids and parents all did a 5K Turkey trot on Thanksgiving morning.

It was such a cute race. We started out with stretching inside to get ready, then outside for a run around the block. I ran with Elli (and we might have taken a short cut)! Gracie was the winner- and you can tell from her face just how determined she was to do her best. All the kids had such fun and so we made a big tadoo about it afterwards with real gold medals and a ceremony where each was flattered with compliments. Elli fell right in line the whole time, watching the other kids and doing exactly as they did. It was so cute to see.

Here is the last pic of this post-- of all the sisters together. I love my sisters so much and I am just so happy that I got to be with them for so long.