Extended Family- Michael's Side

We went to Christmas with Michael's extended family on Sunday and Hannah's Grandma bought her and Jacob matching outfits for the affair! I love Hannah's Christmas dress, but she is now too busy to just sit and smile. These were the pictures we took at my parents before we left for Stan and Ruth's house. Check out her thigh rolls! :)Once we got there we took some pics of Jacob and Hannah in the Christmas finest! Do you have any idea how hard it is to get two kids under one to look and smile at the same time? Let me tell you, it is next to impossible! I am ready for them to be old enough to understand the sit and smile concept...So her is the best of what we got!This will just give you an idea of what the rest of them looked like:I have to say the best one is the one where they were being held by Aunt Jacki and unable to get away, even though neither one is looking at the camera!Then we changed them into more comfortable clothes and let them play and eat.Then it was time to open presents. Michael and Uncle Stan chilling on the couch...The "older" kids opening presents...And Jacob and Hannah opening presents... We had a great time seeing everyone. Unfortunately while were home for Christmas Michael's grandmother passed away on Christmas Day. Once again, it was one of those things that we were not happy that it happened while we were home, but at least we were able to be there for Michael's mom as she went through the loss of her mom. We got to see more family than the usual few that we get together with when we are home. I loved getting to see Aunt Mary. I haven't seen since Michael graduated college! Here she is with her Granddaughter Erin!

Extended Family-Dad's Side

So, I mentioned that we went to OKC to spend Christmas with my Dad's side of the family on Saturday. We met at my Aunt Glenda's house and had a great time! The food was amazing and it was great getting to see everyone. I had to get copies from Glenda because I didn't take any pictures. Thanks Glenda! :) She did a really good job of getting pictures of each family group there. Although, I don't have any pictures of her because she was the one behind the camera...Here is our family picture.My dad's brother Don and his wife Thena, acting goofy as usual! The other two of them one of them had their eyes closed!Glenda's husband Brad and his brother.My dad, Michael, Don and my cousin John.Don's daughter Sarah and her daughter Jaylee and friend Kristy.My parents and sister.Kristen and her friend Tessa.John, Ashley and their new baby Paisley! She was so cute and cuddly!Jamie helping cook the meal! Her husband was very impressed!My cousin Jarrod holding Hannah and his son Luke while his other son Ben took a ride on his leg! It was quite the interesting set up for him! He did really good and the kids loved it. Hannah wanted to hang out with him over anyone else. I am not sure if it is the facial hair or the fact that he would take her wherever she pointed!We also got to see some extended-extended family while we were there too! My dad hadn't seen his cousins since his mom died and Glenda found out that they all lived close to the city so she invited them to dinner! It was great seeing them. We used to all get together for family reunions when the grandparents were alive, but as we have added and lost generations, we have also lost touch! It was great catching up with them again!

Lifelong Best Friends

Alternately titled: Making the Best Out of a Bad Situation

This holiday break was not without pitfalls. Once we got to Oklahoma. I started trying to figure out when I was going to get together with Sharla and Starla. I found out their dad, Steve, was put in the hospital and had just gotten confirmation he was in need of heart surgery. They spent the holiday in the hospital in OKC and his surgery was scheduled for Saturday. In God's master plan, that was the same day we went to the city to spend Christmas with my dad's family! So, once we could slip away, we went and spent a few minutes hanging out in the hospital with one of my favorite families! It wasn't the way we wanted to see each other, but you take what you can get and I was very glad that I was able to be there for them on a hard day. It would have been worse being in CA and wishing that I could do something and not be able to. I feel truly blessed to know this family and love them like my own! Everyone should have lifelong best friends- 25 years and counting! Hannah and Starla:Hannah and Sharla:
Hannah of course loved Starla's necklace!And just in case you were wondering, Steve is now home recovering! We got to see him awake before we left and I felt much better knowing that he was going to be ok!

Christmas Night/Day after Christmas...

The rest of Christmas day was spent just hanging out with the family. We all just hung out in our jammies and watched TV and played cards. Here is PaPa (my dad) eating an apple:Michael, KK and our dog, Lizzie sleeping on the couch:Clay and his girlfriend, Katie:Carla and Heath:These pics are from the day after Christmas over at Michael's parents house. Michael's mom's birthday is the 26th so we went and spend a few hours with them. Hannah's shirt says "Who needs santa when I have Grandma.Hannah and her birthday Grandma!Michael and his dad chatting on the porch:Hannah playing on one of the deer in their front yard. She was so funny about the deer at their house. They have three deer heads hanging on the wall and she would reach and point at them until someone would hold her up to touch them.Cousin Jacob taking a nap on the couch:Hannah and her Daddy! :) So I realize there isn't much of a story, but basically I am just trying to get you caught back up!

Christmas Morning

So, it has been a while since I updated and we are finally home and trying to get laundry done and un-spoil our child! It was so great being able to share all of our family Christmas traditions with Hannah! We went to the Christmas Eve service and she was SO good! When we all circled the sanctuary and did candle lighting around the circle while singing Christmas songs, she just smiled and laughed and loved every second of it! There will be multiple updates from our trip, but I decided to start with Christmas morning. We did Christmas morning at my parents house and then we went to Michael's parents. We started with Hannah walking in to everyone's "Santa" presents! She looked at everyone elses first and then finally found the rocking horse for her (and she took a ride with GG's help)!She loved ripping the paper and then handing each piece to her daddy.Hanging out with Uncle Clay, Aunt KK in the background!Reading one of her new books!This was her favorite spot to hang out the whole trip! She would hold onto PaPa's hair and just go anywhere! I wouldn't be surprised if he has a few bald spots!Ready to eat breakfast! We always have toast and hot chocolate on Christmas morning and Hannah had a little bit of each along with her regular breakfast!Next we went to Michael's parents house! Hannah's favorite part there was the packing peanuts we put in Rhonda's present!Uncle Brett watching the kids play.Aunt Jacki and cousin Jacob!Grandma checking out the stuff the kids got! After this, we went to my grandparents house and had a big lunch and opened even more presents! It was a great day and Hannah made a great haul! We all enjoyed her first Christmas and look forward to seeing her as she gets older and understands more about the season!