Christmas in MD

What a fun trip! We are actually still here but planning to leave tomorrow. We were worried about getting snowed in here but it turns out that we could be snowed OUT of NC! We thought we were going to get 4-7 inches here but we only got a dusting here (so far anyway) and NC got 4-7 instead! I think we should still be able to get home okay though.

So, first of all, I'm posting from my new Macbook Air. I'm so excited... Waylon totally surprised me and got it for me for Christmas. We were in major need of a new laptop so here it is! :-) I LOVE it. It's so thin! - although I'm sure when I read this years from now I'll laugh at how small I thought it was at the time. :-)

Back to Wednesday, the 23rd. I had a nice relaxing day on Wednesday. Relaxed in the morning and then just took my time packing and doing a few things around the house. It was really nice. I went and got the kids around 4:30, picked up Waylon, grabbed dinner and then we were on the road! Kylie was asleep by about 6:15 in the car and slept most of the way up. Noah watched a movie (Cars of course) and then slept after that. It was a nice quick, quiet trip most of the way but we did have some trouble getting Kylie back to bed after we got here. Waylon ended up having to sleep in the bed with her for part of the night which we have actually never done with her so that was frustrating. Since we've been here, we've had some trouble getting her to sleep or with her waking up which is not normal for her so we're not sure if it's just the different place or teeth or something else.

It was nice to be up here and have the whole day on Thursday to just hang out.

Noah and Papa

Leah arrived early in the day and gave Noah an early Christmas present - a kids' yoga DVD. He LOVED it!!

We actually all got in on the action... :-)

Then it was naptime for all of us!! The kids slept really well since we had gotten in so late the night before.

After nap, we got ready for a pizza party. It's kind of become a little of a tradition to have my girlfriends from high school over for my dad's homemade pizza. It's always nice to get everyone together! I love these girls.

Kylie and Ethan - Tina and Tesh's son

Tina, Ali, Jessica, me

(missing a few of our girls!) :-(

With the hubbies and families

Leah brought a Gingerbread kit and on Christmas Eve morning, she decided to put it together with the kids. I bet you can guess who worked on it the most!! Both kids wanted to keep eating but Kylie in particular ate 3 gingerbread men and lots of other candies. :-)

Kylie helping 'knead' the icing

Notice Noah slipping some candy! :-)

At some point that morning, Papa came home with dinner for the next two nights. We always do Lobster and crabcakes for Christmas Eve and a turkey dinner (a la Thanksgiving) on Christmas Day. The kids had fun checking out the lobsters and we were glad that we had already made the decision to eat dinner after the kids went to sleep. Noah got down on the floor and started talking to the lobster and said, 'Mommy, look at his eyes.... he looks sad!' It was so sweet.

With the turkey, too. Haha!

Daddy set up a message from Santa for Noah from the 'Portable North Pole'. Noah was really excited about it and loved it!

Before nap, Grammy and Papa gave Kylie and Noah their big gift from them - an easel! Noah was really excited about it and had lots of fun painting after Kylie went down for a nap.

Papa and Kylie after opening the gift.

Noah trying it out

Noah was too excited to nap so we let him watch Polar Express instead of sleeping. We decided to open all presents from each other on Christmas Eve and leave only Santa presents for Christmas Day so Noah knew we were going to open a bunch of presents in the afternoon! :-) He enjoyed watching the movie and Kylie took a good nap.

Then it was time to open presents!!! Kylie was excited...

Leah got Noah a cool book!

We gave Grammy a personalized bag also (similar to Nana's). She was really excited, too!

We gave Leah a cool ring. She loved it!

Grammy's new scarf and glove from Leah

Noah - very excited about Toy Story 3!

I got a big bag and Noah climbed in...

... then Kylie of course wanted to get in also!

This picture cracks me up because it shows the sibling love. :-)

Noah got a Cars garage and he was SOOO excited. It was really funny. He screamed 'YES! YES! YES!!...... AWESOME!!!!!!!' really loud. :-)

And me with my new Macbook!!

After a quick easy dinner for the kids, time for Christmas Eve pictures in front of the Christmas Tree....

... putting out cookies and 'reindeer food' for Santa....

...a little late night snack....

... and The Night Before Christmas.

Then off to bed for the kiddos... and time for the adults to enjoy a nice relaxing dinner... yum!

Then SANTA came!!!!

Noah's pile

Kylie's pile

Christmas morning, Noah did really well and slept until 7:00. Kylie was up at 6:15 but snoozed with us until he got up so that was nice. He came running into our room saying 'Santa's been here! Santa's been here!!' :-) Then he woke everyone else up the same way.

Coming down the stairs

Kylie checking out her bean bag chair from Santa

Noah had asked Santa for Spiderman and was very excited!

Kylie got a bed for her baby doll but likes to sit in it herself more. :-)

Christmas morning action!

A lot of the morning was spent like this - trying to get the stupid packaging open!

Me and my girl

A shot of the finished gingerbread house.

Kylie playing with one of her new toys.

Later in the morning, we made a cave like at home. The kids always love that.

And time for Mom and Dad to relax a bit!

Naps for both kids and a little time for us to relax - then it was time for yet another party and some good food (my parents were cooking ALL weekend - thanks Mom and Dad!!). Our family friends, the Normans came over - a Christmas Day tradition for us. This year, the kids had a blast together - Max and Kylie are only about 2 weeks apart!

Kylie and Max

All (most) of us!

Cuteness!

And more cuteness!

and more! :-)

Then they all decided to take a ride on the Jill train! :-)

Then Duane's turn. It was so funny - Noah was cracking up.

Everyone was pooped last night and slept well. This morning, it was off to yet another activity. My parents treated us to an Ice Show down at the National Harbor. It was a huge ice sculpture display of The Grinch Who Stole Christmas. It was so cute but VERY cold! 9 degrees! They gave us meat locker jackets to wear but we also got the kids bundled in snow gear.

Getting bundled - a three person job for two kids. :-)

Noah all ready with his grinch stuffed animal and silly face

(we gave him this on Christmas Eve to sleep with) :-)

Kylie all bundled

Love this picture of Waylon and Noah

Grammy and Noah checking out the first Grinch!

Cute bundled kiddos

They even had an ice slide! Noah loved it - so did Leah and I! :-)

This shot is so sweet to me.

Grammy and Noah

Then we walked over to a fancy hotel where they had a lot of fun things - including a little train to ride... both kids loved it.

Here is our official Grinch Ice Show picture that they took there :-)

Afterwards, we had some lunch (had to walk a short way in snow and bitter wind!) and then it was back home for naps. This afternoon, we just relaxed and played with all of the new toys and had some great leftovers for dinner. Then my friend, Jan came over to visit for a bit with his new wife, Katie. It was so fun to catch up with him - I haven't seen him since our wedding in 2005 and he's (obviously) never met the kids. Tonight, we are just finishing up a movie and then tomorrow, we'll pack up and head home around lunchtime.

What a fun holiday season we've had! And we still have a few more celebrations to come! New Years (no plans so far) and a get together with my mom's side of the family that we always do in January! It just keeps going and going.....

Happy Holidays Everyone!! I know we had a blast and I hope you all did, too!