Christmas Vacation

We had a wonderful (and busy!) Christmas vacation! We flew to Indiana on Saturday the 19th and had dinner with my Grandma Plopper and the rest of the family that evening. The next day we all got together and the children decorated cookies. Here's Will and Drew waiting for the fun to begin!

And here's all the boys (yes, even Tim, with his silly apron!) busy decorating.

And here's Drew concentrating pretty hard on icing his (vegan!) sugar cookie. It took him about 30 minutes to ice about 2 cookies - it was very intense, serious stuff!

Here's a video of his work.

And here he is enjoying his piece of art - my mom made vegan cookies so he could have them! (his shirt sleeves were covered in icing so that's why he's shirtless.)

Here's our attempt at a "cousins" picture. Will, Parker, Tim, Lyndsey and Drew.

Drew's first experience (this year) at opening presents was at my parents' house. He wasn't quite sure how it worked. He'd open one (slowly and with help) and be completely satisfied. He'd start playing with it and not care at all about the stack of presents beside him! Luckily he got the hang of it later on.

Drew's Uncle Ben let him try out his new nerf gun - it scared Drew at first, and then he stepped behind it and started really getting into it!

Lyndsey read the fire engine book to Drew and Parker - they both got one for Christmas!

And here's Grandpa reading the same book to Drew later on. I think he liked his book and kept asking other people to read it to him!

Drew did a good job on the flight home. We flew home on Christmas Eve so that we could have some down time at home and Santa could visit us for Christmas morning. Here's Drew and Daddy on the plane.

We went to Lenoir to visit Chad's family on Christmas evening. We had dinner and then let the kids tear into their presents. Drew was so excited every time he pulled out a new toy. He'd run to Granddad and say "have it" (because he wanted to have it right then!) or "open it." And toys nowadays are strapped in to their packages, you about have to get the tool box out to get to it!

Here's a quick family shot of the Nelsons. back row: Grant, Alan, Drew, Chad and front row: Sherry, Susan, Olivia, and Becca...and Emma. Yes, Emma is our front runner in the name list right now for our baby girl!

And a picture of our family of 3!

Then on the 26th we went to another family gathering with Susan's side of the family. Here's Drew posing (and saying Cheese) with his Grandmom.

Before we ate at this gathering, we had a prayer. And I will never forget hearing Drew (from across the room!) yell, "wake up!" during the prayer because everyone had their eyes shut or were looking down! Too funny!

So, our busy and fun vacation came to an end and we spent Sunday the 27th at home, cleaning and being lazy. Drew and I had bad colds during all our travels, but I think we are both finally getting better! Merry Christmas everyone - it was great to share the holidays with so many people!! Thanks for everything!

Christmas events

On Friday night our neighborhood had a Singing Santa. Santa rode around on a "sleigh" trailer with a speaker system pulled by a truck. They went around the neighborhood waving and shouting out to everyone. Unfortunately, Drew slept through this part b/c he skipped his nap and fell asleep on our way home from the Y. But we woke him up and went to where everyone was gathering in the back of the neighborhood. They had people singing and playing the guitar, hot chocolate and a bonfire, and Santa mingling with the kids. Drew loved the sleigh b/c it had blinking Christmas lights, and he was very interested in Santa.

Here's Chad and Drew looking at the bonfire. Drew said, "hot! careful!"
Santa posed with all the kids so parents could take pictures. When he asked Drew what he wanted for Christmas, he pointed at a bike that another kid had parked on the road.

Here's Drew and I listening to the Christmas music. They had one girl that was a really good singer - we almost though it wasn't her actually singing, but I think it was.

Then on Saturday night we went to the Huntersville Christmas event that our town puts on. They had all kinds of stuff that Drew really liked - a little train pulled by a tractor, a big slide, school choirs singing, fire trucks and ambulances, horses, lots of lights, a huge bonfire, etc. He loved the slide and after going down once, he said "come on!" and wanted to go again! Here's Chad and Drew on the slide.

We rode on a big trailer pulled by these two huge horses. Drew wasn't too sure about petting them though.

He actually "knows" a few of the letters

Drew always wants to color, and he does pretty good on his own as an independent activity. But as soon as one of us joins him, he turns to the front or back (blank page) and wants us to draw letters as he calls them out. After we did this, I went back through them and asked him to name them - and he actually remembered them! And sometimes he'll concentrate real hard and color real slow and try to draw an "L." He can also recognize a square, circle, triangle and sometims octagon. I think this little guy is gonna love preschool when we get him signed up! But in the meantime, at least I know he's not missing out on learning here at home!!

I'll post again later this weekend - we had a fun holiday event in our neighborhood last night and we have another event we hope to go to tonight. Drew loves seeing Santa at all these events! Last night he kept following him, and then just waving when he got close! He's in awe of the big guy! haha

Drew and I did some fun stuff last week. We met a friend at Bounce U, which is a facility with a bunch of bounce houses and blowup slides and climbing things (just like Monkey Joe's). And somehow, it was just my friend, her daughter and Drew and I! We had the place to ourselves and the kids had a blast! I definitely got a workout helping Drew climb up the ladders! The little girl that was with us is named Sofia, and I was impressed how well Drew can say it. Over Thanksgiving he also perfected saying Olivia, his cousin's name. Those aren't easy names!

Another day last week we went to storytime at the library - and Drew absolutely loves the Spanish storytime. They do dances and motions to songs - and he really concentrates on the instructor and does them all. He even waved and said, "hola!" to the instructor when she walked in at the beginning of the storytime (we'd practiced in the car). And when we were in the car on the way home, he kept saying something that I couldn't figure out (it sounded like "gaseous.") I finally figured out he was saying "gracias!"

Drew's new favorite hobby is coloring. He's starting to get a little better - he makes smaller scribbles now. It's really helped him with his color recognition - he can name most of the colors. He definitely knows red and green. When we approach a stoplight, he usually lets me know what color the light is. It's either, "Red. Stop!" or "Green! Goooo!" Here he is coloring away! It's usually a daily activity.

Drew is loving Christmas already! When we drive home from the Y after work, it's dark out and we see all the Christmas lights - and we "oohhh" and "aaahhh." We even drove him around all different neighborhoods on Saturday night and he was really into it. On Sunday we were excited to take him to Lenoir to see Chad's extended family (and cousins Drew's age) for a Christmas gathering, but we were very surprised to wake up a sick baby. Drew is never sick! But he had a 103 fever and was so out of it - he even fell asleep on the couch, which I don't think he's ever done since he was an infant! He was so pitiful, but looked so sweet, I had to take a quick picture. Luckily, he was fine by Monday morning!