Christmas in Georgia

We drove down to visit Nana & Papa in Georgia to celebrate Christmas last week.  We arrived VERY early Christmas Eve morning.  Luckily, their church had a 3:00 Christmas Eve service and we were able to sneak in a short nap afterwards!  Ella and Phoebe reunited and picked up right where they'd left off in Princeton earlier this summer.  It was a bit hard having to share Nana/Dodo, but Nana did her very best to love on everyone!  Here they are reading one of Phoebe's current favorites, Corduroy.

Christmas Eve we did our gift exchange with extended family. 

Phoebe got her very own Caboodle full of lip gloss and fingernail polish.  She also got a cute shirt, but who cares about clothes when there's make-up to play with!?

Ella loved her magnetic princess set.  Again, who cares about clothes when there's Cinderella to dress up!?

Phoebe got magnetic dress up dolls from YiaYia and Papou so knew just what to do!

Christmas morning, it was just Nana, Papa and us.

And of course, Annie, Abbie & CoCo.

Phoebe had to show Papa how to open his gifts.

See how that lovely gift box hides all my pregnant glory?  You'll note there are no further pictures of me in this post - OR my burgeoning belly! 

Nana picked up this easel for Phoebe at Ikea and it was a huge hit!

Since we won't be in Georgia to celebrate Nana's birthday at the end of January, we brought her gift with us and let her open it early.  We think she's going to have LOTS of fun being creative with her juicing! 

And here's the new rock star in the family.  He just needs a strap, someone to tune it for him and a book or two and he'll be on his way to becoming the next Jon Bon Jovi!

After we opened presents, we got ready for the rest of the family to arrive.  Phoebe helped Nana make the broccoli rice casserole.

Uncle Mike is always the recipient of VERY serious gifts. 

Aunt Carrie's family got Phoebe her very own camera which I am thrilled about!  We need her hands to get just a tad bit bigger and she'll be a pro in no time!

Ella brought over princess costumes and they promptly put them on and got to "work," baby dolls in tow.

They even managed to have fun in the laundry basket!

And when they got pooped, the Nanas were there to snuggle with!

After a short rest, Ella got out her new game.  Not sure they truly understood how to play but they had a blast and only one marble got lost in the fun!

And miracle of miracles, it snowed on Christmas while we were there - something it hasn't done in Georgia in over a hundred years...

Ryan showed off his snowman-building skills.

And after a little fun in the snow, we celebrated Jesus' birth with a birthday cake and singing.

Then the girls got back to playing.  Who knew how much fun disposable cups could be!?

Monday morning we got to wake up to cousin Sophie at the house.  Phoebe was MUCH more interested in being around her than in our visit back in July.

Not sure Sophie would have said the same could she talk!   I think after our trip to Target with the two girls, I looked at Ryan and asked him if it was too late for us.  He said he thought it just might be...

Soon enough, Phoebe moved on to her snap 'n style dolls and decided it was too bright not to wear shades.

And I just had to post this crazy hair she woke up with Tuesday morning. Must have been a rough night.  Nana had a couple of sleepovers with Phoebe while we were there.  AND Phoebes slept in a big bed every night without any middle-of-the-night crashes. Perhaps we'll move into a big-girl bed before we move into a new house.  Only time will tell.  (Personally, I'd rather get rid of diapers or the wa-wa at night, but beggars can't be choosers!).

Tuesday afternoon, we headed to Bass Pro Shops.

In an attempt at distraction, Nana and Phoebe made bread from scratch (even ground the wheat to make the flour) while Ryan and I went out to catch a movie.  The Phoebes is NOT a fan of pictures when she's short on sleep, but really, most of us are probably the same way!

Wednesday, we didn't do much.  A bit of shopping, a short nap and of course, some time was spent playing videos with cousin Lucas - who does NOT like getting his picture taken!

Of course Thursday morning was another "Stop taking my picture!" kind of morning, but I tried to get a few of them making pancakes together.

And this one just to show she was happy.

We headed out after 11:30 and got home about 11 hours later.  Phoebe was a champion traveler the whole way home.  It did require the Annie soundtrack on repeat and then watching Annie twice through but she even skipped her nap and was quite pleasant till she conked out at about ten till ten.  Ryan and I were on edge as his car began making some very disturbing noises about three hours into the trip home.  There were multiple times we pulled off the interstate thinking we wouldn't be making it home that night.  But by the grace of God and lots of prayers from the grandmas, we made it home in one piece! 

Ryan has been busy sanding, priming and if Home Depot had been open late enough, I'm sure he'd be painting right now.  However, we had the opportunity to put together Phoebe's trampoline which she'll discover tomorrow morning when she wakes up.  Now if I can just make it the next thirty minutes, I'll be ringing in the new year with my handsome husband and then promptly off to sleep.

Here's to a healthy, happy, blessed new year, everyone!