Grandparent Visit and Christmas Rolled into One

My parents came to visit us the day after my due date (Dec. 5th), so they got to meet Esther when she was a week and a half old.

Wish I could say I made this. A local person created this masterpiece, and it was displayed in the grocery store. I just had to take a picture, because it was so beautiful.

Matthew cheesing in front of the Christmas tree. It's hard to get a normal smile from him, but we've found that we can "trick" him into smiling by saying something silly or asking him to say a word he likes, like "cookie" instead of "cheese."

My parents got the kids a bunch of gifts, and they brought some from the aunts and uncles too.

Matthew loves Thomas right now, and my mom got him a sheet set for his big boy bed. Which by the way, he has transferred very nicely to that. He actually requested to sleep in there before the night we were gonna do it, so we followed along, and he's been sleeping there ever since. He's still going through a I'm-gonna-scream-and-cry-when-you-leave-the-room-but-I'm-actually-fine phase right now, but he was doing that in his crib, so it doesn't have to do with the new room. We actually thought he might be scared of the dark all of a sudden, so we started leaving on the bathroom light that shines underneath his door. I don't think it's had a huge affect, but he did go to bed pretty good tonight. Anyways, off that rabbit trail...

My mom loved holding Esther and did so every chance she got. I don't think I held my daughter very much while they were here, but that's ok. It left me free to get some things done around the house or just rest.

Esther liked Grampa too.

Matthew wasn't very cooperative for pictures, but we did manage a big cheesy smile. Hey, I'll take what I can get.

My dad was Matthew's buddy all week. He warmed up to both of them pretty quickly, but Dad was his playmate. They colored together, exercised together, Dad fed him breakfast, and Matthew watched him prepare food in the kitchen. Even now he asks for Grampa from time to time.

And now begins Christmas pics. Well, one from Christmas Eve first.

Matthew opened some presents from his aunt and uncle the night before Christmas. Here he is playing with his new truck. Pretty much anything with wheels he loves.

Opening gifts Christmas morning at our house. I found a bunch of Disney story books for a dollar at a half price book store. Josh and I are tired of reading the same books over and over to him. My parents got him some new books too--our libary keeps growing and growing.

We got him a wooden train set, and so far it's a hit. By the way, you don't see us opening gifts to each other because we decided to get a bigger purchase for the house as our gift. The day after Christmas we bought a couch, and it comes on Saturday. Yay for more seating!

We spent the day at Josh's parent's house. Here's Josh helping Matthew with one of his gifts. It's a stuffed moose from Aunt Beka. She calls him Moose cause he was (and still is) a big boy.

During gift-opening time, Matthew did well passing out gifts. He only tried to open a couple that weren't his, and that was because he tried to get someone's attention to find out who to give it to, but when no one answered him, he tried to find out for himself :). He did get pretty cranky at one point, and I looked at my watch and realized he needed a food break. So Josh set him up at the table with some mini hot dogs from the night before, and then he was good to go for the rest of present time.

One of Esther's Christmas outfits. This one was from my mom. She pretty much slept a lot of the day I think.

Aunt Laura holding Matthew and Aunt Beka with Esther.

Aunt Hannah smooching on Matthew.

Papa holding Esther. Or trying to pass her off to someone else perhaps :)

We had lots of fun, food, and family to enjoy for the holidays. Among the gifts Josh and I received: Bob Evans gift card (yum!), books (Ronald Reagan for him, Karen Kingsbury for me), stable animals to go with our Willow Tree nativity, clothes (shirt and tie for Josh, shirt and bracelets for me), and a coffee maker. I know there was more, but it's too late at night to remember them all. Everyone was so generous, but the gifts don't matter to us anyway. The best part was having a good time with family and getting to celebrate Christ's birth with them.