Christmas Continued...

On Christmas Day we drove up to Papa and Grandma Michaelson's so we could meet up with Jeff and Amy. We were so excited to see them. My siblings and I live all over the country. So, when we get to see someone, it's a treat. We hadn't seen Jeff and Amy since August 2012. To sweeten the deal, Paul and Cristy came in from Dallas the next day. So, we had quite the crowd at my parents' house. There were 8 adults and 7 kids. Never a dull moment, that's for sure...

Here's a random picture of Ian sucking his big toe as we were driving up:

 

It was chilly while we were there, but it wasn't that bad. If we put on coats, there was lots of fun to be had outdoors. Ian especially loves being outside. He enjoyed sitting in Papa's boat at the dock with Daddy:

 Ian also enjoyed cleaning up the leaves with Jacob:

 And then helping Papa take the leaves to the burn pile:

 The best part was watching the fire:

The big kids played outside as well, but they must have always been too busy for me to take pictures. They also enjoyed playing inside. There were lots of electronics to go around. We also brought up our Wii and it was fun watching Amy and Jeff dancing off to Just Dance Disney. We also had fun playing games in the evenings after the kiddos were all asleep. Definitely a fun Michaelson tradition.

Here are the big kids one night getting their last bit of electronic usage in before they headed to bed:

 

When we got together in August 2012, Aunt Cristy was nice enough to braid the girls' hair. Well, they remember this and pretty much every time they see her, they want her to do it for them. Here are the 3 cuties the next day with their hair all cute:

  

Ian also enjoyed playing inside:

 

One morning we all went for an adventure walk. I was a little behind on hearing the plans and was grateful I had to rush to catch up to them, because I caught this scene:

We ventured through the woods and on to one of the neighbor's properties. He's not their very often and had another neighbor feeding the catfish that live in his lake for him. So, we got to watch all the catfish come up for their food. The kids thought it was great! Andy eventually caught up with us as well. Ian sure was happy!

Everyone enjoyed snuggling with baby Joshua (only 4 weeks old). Rachel especially loved having the opportunity to hold him:

 

A visit to Papa and Grandma Michaelson's isn't complete without a trip to Chuck E. Cheese. The kids all enjoyed their pizza and playing the games. Ian wasn't interested in having me cut his pizza up. Yay!!! Definitely easier for me!

Our time with Jeff and Amy went by too quickly! The cousins all had fun spending time with one another. The adults enjoyed being able to see one another as well. We stayed busy, but also had plenty of time to just relax. It's always relaxing up in Northeast Texas. On our drive back home Ian made sure he had all the important stuff, his tools he got for Christmas and his blanket:

We got lucky this year getting to see and spend so much time with so many different family members around Christmas. It was very nice! We also really enjoyed having Andy around more often. He took off about 2 weeks. Everyone's happier when Daddy is around... It's a bittersweet time as we try to soak in as much time with Daddy since we know we won't see much of him the next 5 months. We hope everyone got to enjoy Christmas with those they loved!