Holiday Happenings

We’ve had some holiday happenings going on at our house.  Wednesday Grandpa Y arrived to spend a few days with us. 

Gavin skipped his nap and waited anxiously at the door for Grandpa to arrive. 

After Grandpa got to our house and Abby woke from her nap we had a little pre-Christmas celebration.  Gavin could not contain himself. 

What a great picture! 

Once Abby got the hang of opening gifts she didn’t want to slow down either.

Everyone received awesome gifts from Grandpa!  Abby has been particularly attached to her baby doll and stroller.  Gavin has had a blast with his soldiers, police set, and dinosaurs.  We’ve all had fun playing Kinect on the Xbox 360.

Thursday Brandon had to work for 16 hours.  We took Grandpa and met Grammy at the conservatory.  There was a Chuck Jones exhibit with animations from “How the Grinch Stole Christmas.”  Local people made “gingerbread” houses of scenes or characters from his animations. 

This particular piece of art reminds me of my children right now.  They are bouncing off the walls and making me even nuttier than I normally am. 

Abby could not be separated from her baby and bottle.

Gav and Grandpa in the desert.

The hit of the conservatory was the train.  It was the first thing to get Abby to put down her baby and get out of her stroller.  Gavin’s stance always reminds me of Pop.

The train track goes around the bottom of this large music box castle.  The entire thing has little scenes from fairytales around it. 

The large poinsettia tree in the main lobby made a great backdrop for a few photos. 

Friday Gavin had his preschool Christmas party.  Abby spent the hour at the mall with Grammy and Poppy. 

The first order of business was crafts.  Gavin made an angel to go with the shoebox nativity they made a couple weeks ago. 

It was a group effort.

The second craft was a candy cane ornament. 

Gav was so cute working on his projects.

Next the kids put on a play.  Gavin was a shepherd again this year. 

Here he is keeping watch over his flock.

And now he is afraid of the angel who has appeared.

The shepherds made their way to see baby Jesus.

The kids were adorable in their costumes.

After the play the kids sang some Christmas songs.  Gavin was very excited about Jingle Bells and wanted to start before the rest of the class.

The kids handed out their presents to their parents.  He did such a great job on his gift!  We love it!

The teachers gave the kids each a gift as well. 

The class took a final class picture and then our party came to an end.  We were so proud of Gavin and his participation in the play and singing as well as the awesome job he did on our gift and his crafts.

Friday we took the kids to the mall to visit Santa.  Thankfully the line wasn’t long.  Gavin has never had a problem visiting Santa.

Abby on the other hand, does have a problem visiting Santa.  Last year I think she was too young to care but this year she wanted nothing to do with the jolly fellow. 

As you can tell, we’ve had a busy few days!  We’re trucking right on through to our next round of visitors and the holidays.  Hope everyone is enjoying their own holiday celebrations!