Kicking off the Holiday Season!

Do you ever feel like Christmas just comes and goes and you look back when it is over and wonder where the time went?  I am already starting to feel like we are on a downward spiral and Christmas will be here before we know it.  We have so many fun things planned- times with family and friends, shopping trips, Andrew's first Christmas program at school... I just want to soak it all in.  I love this time of year.  It is probably my most favorite time of all.  We are in the middle of our three weekend traveling streak, so I'll try to keep up with sharing our special moments leading up to the holidays.

Last weekend we went to Craig's parents to celebrate an early Christmas with his mom's side of the family.  Craig has 10 aunts and uncles on both sides, so there are plenty of family members to visit with and Andrew enjoyed running around with all the kids!

They had a nice playground and it was a beautiful day so the kids got to play outside for a while.

Craig's grandma has 15 great grandchildren!  Can you imagine?  She is such a special lady.  She enjoys giving gifts to her kids, grandkids and even great grandkids- they all got a Santa book this year. 

She really wanted to attempt to take a picture with all the great grandkids- I think it turned out pretty well, considering!

You have to notice my kid in the front center, grinning the cheesiest smile.  I have to admit, he was pretty darn cute.  What you can't see are all the grown ups in the room, half of us with cameras and the other half yelling "cheese!" and acting silly to try to get all the kids' attention...

I couldn't help but zoom in on this precious little boy in the front row...the only one really smiling (the rest all thought we were crazy!)  Can you tell Andrew is used to having his picture taken!? Lol!  He was grinning the entire time and saying "CHEESE!" really loud!  

Playing trains with his cousins.  They have the get together in a large community center, so everyone can fit all in one place!

 

Afterwards it was back to grandma and grandpa's house and some more playing with his cousins.

 

 

Coloring with Evie

I am so grateful that Craig has such a large family and Andrew can grow up with cousins his age.  They all play so nicely together (well, for the most part...except when Andrew got mad because Evie took his train so he picked up a piece of the track and chucked it at her!  Ha!)  All was forgiven, and Andrew said sorry and they hugged.  It was so sweet, before we all left on Sunday, all 5 of them went around hugging each other.  It was just precious.  We are so excited Craig's brother and his wife are expecting a baby girl in February so we'll have one more to add to the mix!  It is so fun getting together with them!

Sharing cheese curls!

On our way home we stopped for dinner with Ga Ga and Papa at my all time favorite restaurant, Hickory Park.  I think Andrew was the best he's ever behaved at a restaurant.  He didn't even need his booster seat to keep him contained!  He loved the colorful ice cream for dessert...although next time I think I'm ordering him vanilla!  Ha!  The laundry got a work out!

 

All snuggled in tight in his bed after a nice weekend...  Can you resist sleeping pictures??  They are the best!  Oooh I just want to crawl in there and cuddle up with him!

This weekend we have more exciting plans...we're heading to Minneapolis for our annual shopping trip and have some neat things planned to do with Andrew... I'll update when we are back home!

Remember to try and slow down and enjoy the holiday season...it'll be over before we know it!