Hi No!

As we were finishing gift opening tonight with my parents, it started to snow. Ally and Dylan were having the best time standing in the glass doorway watching the snow fall (and getting their grubby little hands all of over memaw and papaw's front door) together. Ally would yell, "Hi No!" and Dylan would just grin and clap his hands. So cute!!

Second Christmas Stop....the Truitt House

After we had our bellies sufficiently stuffed with the best Christmas food ever, we hop, skipped and jumped down the street to David's dad's house to spread some Christmas cheer over there. Grandaddy and Uncle Jerry were in town and it is always a pleasure to see them. We exchanged gifts and Ally and Jillian played with their new toys and had lots of fun. The girls were real troopers through all of the holiday madness and napless days this year...they really are great kids! Lori was excited to receive the Wii we all gifted her with this year and we even broke it out a gave it a try while we were there.

Merry Christmas...again!

An Italian Christmas

Stop #1 on Christmas day is to Grandma Lang's house. David's Grandma makes a HUGE and wonderfully yummy Italian meal every Christmas day...and it is all handmade. She makes her own sauce, meatballs AND pasta! We look forward to it for months, it is just that good. In addition to the food, though, we always look forward to seeing the family and the last couple years have brought several additions to our family, so it is fun to see the little ones all running around. Ally had so much fun playing with her cousins. We filled our bellies and are already looking forward to next year. Merry Christmas!

Christmas Morning

We had a wonderful Christmas morning. We didn't get back from Cincinnati last night until about 1:00am, but Santa was prepared this year and didn't need much help from us, so David and I were able to get to bed by around 1:30 or so. Ally actually slept until around 9:00, so we all woke fresh and ready to go. Look what Santa left for us!

Ally was very excited and ran right over to the tree, but stopped short when she saw her new table and chairs. She wanted to sit right down on her new "seat".

And then Daddy sat down in one of her seats and she thought that was pretty funny...
We finally convinced her to open some of her other gifts and she had a ball! She got so much stuff from Santa (a little too much stuff, but whatever)...
Then Daddy opened a few gifts...he got some books, a new hat, some clothes, some fancy playing cards, etc..
Then I opened a couple gifts...a very nice shelving system for the garage that I have been wanting, but have been told I don't need (I wonder if Santa was just trying to trick me into thinking I wasn't going to get it :-)) and the most amazing gift I have ever received under any tree...
This photo doesn't do it justice, but in this picture are my two Ally's...my daughter, Allyson and my grandmother who passed away four years ago. My Ally is named after my grandma and she was one of the most important people in my life. Our time with her was far too short, but at least now I have this amazing reminder of her. David has been planning for months for this gift and I was in total shock! A lady he works with is an artist and sketched this beautiful photo for me, so that I would have a picture of Ally and my grandma together. I think I sat and stared at this picture for ever, after I was done crying tears of joy that is. Thank you, David for the most amazing gift! I can not put into words how much it means to me. Here is a picture of Ally and me, after I had cried my eyes out for 15 minutes. :-)

After we finished all of our presents (including some that came all the way from Florida to us...thanks GG & GG-pa Clark!!), we let Ally have a sucker from her stocking. Then she preceeded to lose her mind, because she wasn't allowed to have another one. :-) After we calmed the meltdown, I fixed eggs and biscuits for breakfast and we relaxed and played with new toys before heading to our first of several Christmas stops for the day. What a fantastic morning! Merry Christmas, everyone!

Cutest 1 Year Old in Town!

In addition to Christmas, we have something else to celebrate around these parts...today is our nephew and Godson, Dylan's, 1st birthday!! I cannot believe a year has gone by already. Seems like just yesterday that my mom called to say Laura's water broke early Christmas morning and she was in labor (Dylan wasn't due to arrive for another month). Dylan is an absolute joy to be around and one of the cutest kids I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. I am so proud to be his aunt and Godmomma. Happy Birthday D! We love you and look forward to celebrating with you tomorrow!

Christmas Eve

We made our annual trip to Cincy on Christmas Eve to see my mom's side of the family. This is one of my most favorite days of the year. I love getting to see most of my family and chatting late into the evening, eating yummy food and hearing the poker stories when one of the guys finally comes up from the "man cave". I love seeing my cousins adore Ally and Dylan...they are oh so sweet to the little ones. It is just a great, relaxing time for my family.

The kids had a great time! After we exchanged gifts and played a couple games, they colored and built a gingerbread train and just played like crazy!

The babies were great in church, making their Memaw swell with pride over having her entire bunch lined up in one pew together. And several giggles were had by all over Dylan and his sippy cup, David singing above everyone else and of course the choir member who continues to think that she can hit the super high notes year after year. I didn't get any church pictures, but you aren't really supposed to take pictures during mass anyway. ;-)

I am happy to report that David won the annual poker game, earning more basement finishing money (good work, Bud!) and ticking off my uncle yet again (Sorry Scott! At least you have one or maybe two kids who will be taking everyone's money in a few years after all the practice they are getting playing with the "big kids").

(Here is Alex getting silly-stringed by his Adam, during the poker game. This didn't go over well with the "big kids". :-))

We also started some new traditions this year, including a gift exchange game with silly prizes and a Mike & Ike taste testing contest (see Grandpa concentrating real hard below, trying to figure out if it is lemon or lime!). Funny!

After much effort, Laura got Dylan to fall asleep...

But, Ally would not even think about sleep, until we were in the car headed home, so she was up late. We arrived back to Columbus around 1:00 in the morning, but it was well worth the late night to spend such quality time with everyone. A great day had by all. Thanks "young" Halseys for hosting again this year!