Buckeye Baby: Thanxgiving Trip Part Two

Visiting Grampa
We took a day to drive up to see my Grampa, Matthew's Great-Grampa. They'd never met before this, and they liked each other instantly. When we put Matthew in his lap, he kept looking up at Grampa and touching his face. It was really cute.

Steve and Lyvie joined us as well.

My Uncle Chuck and Auntie Shirley were able to join us at the restaurant. Don't you love Lyv's pigtails? Too cute :)

I'm glad they got to meet Matthew as well. We ate at a seafood place, and I got a salmon sandwich--yum!

Thanksgiving Day
Here we all are around the table. We managed to all eat together by pushing two tables side by side.

Bring on the turkey! I actually bought some jarred turkey, and he ate a couple bites, but then he seemed to notice the taste and kept sticking his tongue out, like he was trying to get it off. We opted for sweet potatoes and peaches instead.

And this is what we looked like after dinner, a bunch of stuffed turkeys ourselves.

Christmastime
We celebrated two holidays while we were up there, Thanksgiving and Christmas. Josh and I set up the tree with our nieces' help. We had all the branches on the ground, and I would hand Lyv and Ari some to give to their uncle. I'd say the system was pretty successful. Then we all put ornaments on the tree.

I can't take credit for this shot. Josh had the camera and was trying to be creative with this picture. I think he accomplished his aesthetic very nicely. Those are Ari's eyes, by the way.

And here's Matthew checking out the final product. Too young to help put it together, but old enough to appreciate it. Ok, so he doesn't really looked impressed in this picture, but he liked all the lights, I sware!

Matthew opened lots of Christmas gifts. Well, I opened them, or Josh opened them. We put the wrapping paper in his hand here, but he didn't know what to do with it.

He liked tissue paper better. It made a cooler noise.

Random Shots
I don't have a category for the rest of these pictures, so I'll just show them to you as is. Matthew had a great time when Auntie Eden held him.

Of course he liked it when Auntie Jess held him too.

A cute one of me and Lyv.

Matthew and Auntie Sara.

A rare moment where all the kids were in one place being quiet. Since there's a book here, I'd like to mention a Matthew development that I forgot to tell you guys about. A couple weeks before we left for this trip, he started turning pages for us when we read to him. Ok, that's all. Moving on :)

Sharon and her husband stopped by for a couple hours so I could meet her new baby, David. She hadn't met Matthew either, so I'm really glad it worked out. We've been best friends since the first grade, and though we don't talk everyday (life is too busy for that), she's the type of friend that you can just pick up where you left off, like you've never been apart. Very awesome, in my opinion :)

Oh wait! I do have another category. Dave and Jess invited us all over for dessert one night at their house, and these next few pictures are from there. Here's Matthew staring at his Uncle Tony.