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.

My mom and dad, so cute :)

My brother Dave, eating the hors d'oeuvres before offering any to me :( Just kidding, Dave! You were a wonderful host :)

Sara, Mom, and Steve

Here's Ari showing off one of her Christmas gifts.

Me and my favorite sister making pumpkin pie. Oh, I found out that sugar free Cool Whip is pretty gross.

And I just have to end with another picture of me and Sara, since we're so photogenic and all.

Well, that concludes the bigger part of our trip. We spent a day with Josh's grandparents, but I'll save that for another day.

Thanxgiving Trip Part One

The Journey Begins
We saw this funky sunrise in the morning. It looked like a pink flame at the edge of the earth.

Matthew sleeping so peacefully. I was so grateful that he slept in the car for part of the way. I wish it would have been for longer stretches, but he seemed to always wake up after 45 minutes.

A little groggy, but still handsome. We had a pretty good pattern developed. I would feed him (either by nursing or bottle) and then he'd sleep, and then he'd play for a while by himself, then we'd pull over when he got whiney so I could jump in the back seat to entertain him. When he started to get hungry again and there wasn't an immediate exit, baby food became a lifesaver.

Josh giving me a fake smile.

The Cousins
Matthew checking out his first and only male cousin, Micah.

Both girls wanted to hold the babies, and Ari kept holding his face for the picture. I guess his cheeks are appealing to any age.

And Lyvie got her turn to hold him the next morning. She was so calm and sweet with him--both of them were actually. They did have this habit of getting too much in his face at times, which got rewarded with a poke in the eye or hair tugged.

Just lounging in the chaise and takin' it easy.

The little dudes sticking together and making nice (they're not old enough to fight yet)

And speaking of fights...here's Lyvie and Ari playing nicely...

...and here they are getting separated for playing not so nicely. We all knew it was bound to happen several times over. They are over 2 years old, you know.

My nieces, the two coolest 2-year old chicks!

We tried to get some pics of them altogether. It wasn't perfect, but it was fun. Here's Matthew and Micah squishing the girls.

Ok, now we're a little more comfortable.

Ok, now wer're a little too comfortable...girls, put those legs down--scandalous!

My mom insisted on getting in on some of the photos. What was she thinking?

C'mon, you two! You had four small kids once. What's the problem?

The Grandparents
And speaking of grandparents, here they are spending some one-on-one time with Matthew.

Tackling Grampa.

C'mon Grampa, slip me some food from your plate. Mom never has to know.

My sister took this one, and it is so adorable.

Another one she took, a close second to the one above.

This kid was so wiped out one night that he fell asleep right on Gramma's shoulder.

Crazy Uncle Josh
Josh had lots of fun while he was there. He didn't always cooperate for pictures...

...but he gave in a time or two :)

He checked out the Black Friday ads with Matthew.

He enjoyed helping Matthew open some gifts.

But his favorite thing would probably have been the wrestling matches he started.

For some reason, Ari kept forgetting he was an uncle, and she called him "Auntie Josh" many times. It made for a good laugh for all of us.

Matthew Matthew Everywhere
Just some more pictures of our favorite guy. As you can see he met a girl on this trip (smoochy smoochy)

Would somebody please get these girly shades off of me?

What a goofy guy :)

Look Ma! No elbows!

Mommy and Matthew cuddling while watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade.

And a family picture taken the day we left.

Oh I'm not done yet. I've got some more pictures to share, but I wanted to get this up in the mean time. Happy belated Thanxgiving!!