On Christmas morning the kids were happy to find many presents under the tree.
Emma was happy to get a pair of tall boots she had been wanting. Ashlyn got a kid-sized snuggie blanket. And Josiah had fun tearing into any presents--even if they weren't his. But to help prevent rioting, I made sure he left the girls' gifts alone.
Emma was excited to give her gift to Ashlyn. She and I worked on making this tie-blanket for Ashlyn, who was very excited to receive it.
Both girls loved their new blindfolds. :)
At the end, Josiah checked to see if anyone had missed any presents, or if anyone had left anything interesting within reach.
Later that afternoon we made our traditional Christmas day trip to the nursing home. The girls handed out Christmas cards and sang some carols. Emma played a song on the piano when Dakota was finished playing his songs.
A couple days after Christmas we packed up our three-ringed circus and took the show on the road to see family in Chicago. The drive out there took forever long! I forgot how much longer EVERYTHING takes when you have a baby! (...and a 3 year old with a small bladder!)
We did make a couple extra stops along the way to visit my aunt and cousin, and also to see my grandma. It was nice to be able to stop and visit with them, even if they were just quick stops. But the time it added to the drive made the girls start to question if we were going to get where we were going before bedtime, or if we were going to stay the night in a hotel. We did arrive before bed time, but not much before. It was a LONG day!
The next morning, the kids were all up early and excited for their first day at Grandma's house. One of the things the girls had been looking forward to was going to the indoor play area, which also had a big carousel. Their cousin, Nathan, came along too. I also enjoyed getting to meet up with a childhood friend of mine and her two boys. (She and I were best friends when we were Emma's age.)
Later in the evening, we had our family gift exchange. It's kind of a running joke in our family how the girls (my sisters, mom and I) always end up dressing alike, even though we don't intend to. So just for fun, we dressed the boys alike--on purpose. This is Josiah (8 months) and Nathan (2 years). They're pretty much the same size.
It's going to be fun watching these two play as they get older. Nathan was so helpful, opening most of Josiah's gifts for him and bringing them to him or showing him what to do with them.
One of the girls' gifts was matching fairy wings, which they insisted on wearing for most of the rest of our visit. Though, we did make them take the wings off for baths, sleeping, and trips outside the house.
My sisters and me. (See how Erin is also wearing a black sweater? This is what I'm talking about. For the record, I had mine on first that day. :) At least she didn't put her teal shirt on under it. She does have one the same shade as mine.)
Josiah got to try out a jumper while we were there. He did some jumping and dancing in it, but was most fascinated by the toys hanging off the front and sides.
Our time there went very quickly, and almost as soon as we arrived it felt like we were packing up to leave. We had a couple little girls who thought it would be great if we just left them at Grandma and Grandpa's house. We also had a nephew who wanted to climb into our van and come back to Iowa with us.
Hopefully we'll get to see them again soon. Too bad teleportation travel hasn't been invented yet! Did I mention there's a nice big house for sale up the street from us? Just sayin'... ;)
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