Christmas Round 2

Last week our Weekly Learning Theme was Christmas, but I figured instead of doing a post about it I would document our Christmas celebrations with Ty's family.  Friday afternoon we left to visit Ty's family at Carter's nap time.  We arrived a little bit before dinner and just missed his brother and sister-in-law, Paul and Amanda, who had headed out to one of her family's Christmas celebrations minutes before we arrived.  We enjoyed a delicious turkey dinner with Ty's parents and Aunt Netta.  We took Carter to see some drive through Christmas lights.  He loved them and waved at each of the lights as we drove by.  After Carter went to bed we sat around talking and were just preparing for bed when Paul and Amanda made it home so we stayed up for a while talking with them.

Bedtime stories with Gma.

Saturday morning we had a Christmas breakfast with Ty's paternal grandparents, Carter's Gigi and Papa.  Carter had a blast playing with their new puppy, Muffin.  He would run laps through the living room and kitchen while she chased him.  Carter scored some awesome new toys from his Gigi and Papa as well as Ty's Aunt Tina.  One of his favorites was a pair of kid binoculars from Aunt Tina.  He was so hilarious pointing them at people and laughing as he looked through the magnified lenses at his subject. Gma made an egg casserole with a lot of cheese and Carter tried some with no repercussions later in the day!  After all the playing and running Carter was exhausted!  As Ty pulled him out of the car back at Gma and Gpa's house, Carter said, "Daddy night night?"  Ty responded that he'd get to take a nap once he got inside. Carter excitedly said, "Thank you, daddy!"  While Carter napped the girls did our nails with nail wraps.  We were still working on them when Carter woke up so he went on an adventure in the woods by the house with his Uncle Paul.  When they came inside Carter watched, wanted to help, and put his hand out for Gma to do his nails.  The whole time he was constantly yelling "Auntie Manny!" to Amanda to make sure she saw him.  He loves his Aunt Amanda and it's so adorable how he says her name!

I see you!

Helping Gigi open a present.

Doggy pile with Auntie Amanda, Uncle Paul, and Muffin!

We matched!  I swear the size of my belly makes hers look concave!

Exploring with Uncle Paul.

Carter getting a wrap on his thumb nail.  Everytime he sees my nails he says, "pretty!"

Watching Aunt Netta do Auntie Amanda's nails.

Saturday evening we did our family Christmas.  After dinner we made chocolates.  Carter had a blast stirring his chocolate, throwing bits of smashed candy cane in, and messing up my chocolates by spilling the chocolate out of the wrapper and throwing in random ingredients.  Rocky and Leina surprised us all with matching pajamas after chocolate making.  We all changed into our jammies for a present exchange and interactive read aloud.  Carter again got some fun toys, both cars, and got distracted playing for quite a while.  Then Leina got out her nativity set and had Carter help place the characters where they belonged as she read about them in the story.  Ty even pulled out his phone and turned on the flashlight to use as the star.  Carter loved the story so much that he said, "Baby Deesus" and made kissing sounds as I was carrying him to bed so I picked up the baby Jesus out of the nativity set so he could give the baby a kiss.

Gma got Carter a special elf apron that was absolutely precious!

Lots of chocolate was eaten during the making of our treats.

Carter's chocolate dipped pretzels.

Family jammy photo.

Sunday morning was a lazy morning playing with Uncle Paul, Gma, and Gpa.  Then we enjoyed another Christmas get together with Ty's maternal grandparents along with his Aunt Netta, Aunt Gena, Uncle Karl, and cousin Jessica.  We all got candy and lottery tickets as presents and then enjoyed baked macaroni and cheese and pigs in a blanket for lunch.  Carter was playing with his Gpa and then came into the room to show me he had a basketball in his shirt so he had a belly just like mommy.  It was the cutest!  When Carter went down for a nap we played some cards.  Everyone stayed for quite a while and then Ty's friends, Chris and Candice, stopped by with their children, Adelynn and Liam. Carter loved Adelynn just like always. He wanted to hug her, kiss her, and play with her hair.  At one point Carter was hugging Adelynn and she said, "Carter won't let go!"  I had to ask Carter to let go.  When he wanted to kiss her she wasn't looking at him so he grabbed her face, held it in his hands, and kissed her.  My little wild man!  He also liked Liam, calling him baby and getting down to stare into his face.  Carter sat in my lap and then wanted me to put Liam in his lap.  It was adorable!

Sipping "coffee" with Uncle Paul.  Every time Paul had coffee Carter wanted some too.

Boy band on the ukelele and flute.

He rushed to give Amanda hugs when she got home from church.

Whose belly is bigger?

It's a hard one to judge!

Hugs for Adelynn.

This was when Adelynn said Carter wouldn't let go.

Baby pile!

It was so hard to say good-bye to Paul and Amanda on Monday morning as we didn't know when we'd see them again.  They flew back to Florida in the afternoon.  Carter loved seeing his aunt and uncle so much.  It was such a fun-filled weekend and Carter loved all the attention from family members he doesn't see enough.