Christmas Extravaganza

This Christmas was the Ohio Christmas year. We left Tuesday afternoon and headed to Ohio. We were on our way to Cincinnati to visit my dad's side of the family, but due to icey roads and horrible weather, we decided to make that loop at the end of the trip instead of the beginning.

So all we did on Tuesday was drive. Tyler did great though. He's a good little traveler, bless his heart! :)

Wednesday was filled basically with laying around and resting. Grandma (David's mom) took care of Tyler most of the day so we basically didn't do a whole lot! Wednesday night we headed down to grandma's house to visit and have dinner. David, Tyler, and I ate and then headed to some friends house to see them since they were leaving right after Christmas to go to Florida. It was so fun to see everyone and show Tyler off. He is such a trooper and put on a good show most of the time. :)

So we headed back to the house around 10 and then left again to go to the midnight service at Mike's church. This has become a tradition when we are in Ohio. The first time was 2 years ago and we were in FL last year, so it was neat to go back and do it again. They actually wanted the family (kids, I guess) to sing. So David and Sarah got up and sang a song (the one they did for the Christmas party a month ago). They hadn't even practiced and it honestly sounded great and then at the end we had a little laugh cause some how they got on the wrong key and improvised the last verse. To us that knew what was going on, died laughing. I'm not sure if it was that funny or if we were just delierious since it was midnight, but it was pretty funny!

After that we went home and all went to bed. Christmas morning we got up and helped get lunch ready. Mike's family came over for lunch. We had an awesome meal which we were all hurting by the end of it! And then we just sat around and visited till about 8, when Brad and Bekah got back to the house then we did Christmas with them. We got lots of great things and the biggest was the camera we got from mom and Mike. It was a great gift that everyone will get pleasure from! :) Of course, Tyler got spoiled with precious clothes, and lots of fun toys! Won't be much longer and they'll be throughout the house! After we cleaned up I feel asleep on the couch around 10:30 and everyone else just pittled around and did their thing.

Friday morning we got up and got ready to head to Grandma's. It was decided this year that the festivies would start at 10a.m. and no one could leave till 10p.m. I'm pretty sure it was David's idea and everyone was a bit spectical at first, but it turned out to be a great day and we all had so much fun together. The young adults made breakfast/brunch at 10:30, we had a old family pictures slideshow (from Grandpa) at 1:00, Lisa had fun games throughout the day for all the kids to play (10 counting Tyler). Then we had snacks around 2:00. The women started dinner and the guys played bingo. Then around 4:00 we all got all the stockings out and filled with everyones presents, then we all piled in the family room and sang old church songs. It was such a great memory. Then we took family pictures, and it was a bit of an ordeal, but they got done and we will definitely be thankful for them! Then around 5:30/6:00 we went to the basement for present time. We got lots of great gifts it's amazing what you can get/make for $5 or less! Then we cleaned up all the paper and set the tables for dinner. We had Prime Rib and ham and all the fixins'. Let me tell you the prime rib was amazing! Mike and Blythe are awesome meat cookers!! After that it was about 9:00 and we all sat around and looked through old pictures of all the kids that Sarah had organized for everyone. It was so neat to see all of the 5 sisters growing up. Finally around 10:15 we loaded the van and headed home. I don't think Tyler every hit the floor the whole day. He did so good, but boy was he tired! He went to bed right when we got home and didn't wake up till around 7 and then went right back to sleep.

Then around 8 we got all our stuff together and headed to Cincinnati. We got there around lunch. Had lunch and then visited the rest of the afternoon. I think Papa, Tyler, and I snuck in a nap somewhere in there. Jack got there around dinner. We had Skyline for dinner. It was so good. Cincinnati classic and then visited for a while. Then we had a Rook game while aunt Gail played with Tyler. It was lots of fun! I'm so glad we got to visit. I hate we live so far from them. Then Sunday morning we got up to a great breakfast Pape made and then headed home. We didn't get home till around 7 because of all the traffic. But the weather was nice, so that was good. I went to bed because I was exhausted and my precious hubby (the one who drove the whole way home) stayed up till about 1:00 cleaning and unpacking. What a wonderful husband I have! So needless to say when the alarm went off this morning I was a bit groggy, but life must go on. We had a wonderful Christmas and are so very blessed!! We love you all and are so thankful for our family and friends!!

And my little sister and Brad got engaged!!! I guess it was Christmas Eve Eve. I was totally surprised. I love them both so much and we're excited to have another boy in the mix! I think they are thinking Summer 2010, but who knows.