The next day was Sunday so we all went to church. Christi has a SMALL ward! but it was nice. People noticed we were visiting, which doesn't happen often in the Rock Creek Ward that we attend -- there's so much turn-over because of the apartment complexes in our boundaries, it's hard to keep track of who's coming and going. That afternoon, after lunch, we went to see The Carolers perform at the Sun Valley ward building. They are an acapella group that sings Christmas Carols in "The Village" throughout the holiday season. They are really good, and their costumes were awesome (you can kind of see them below. I had the point-and-shoot so the flash was not very good....)
That evening we had a gift exchange with the cousins, since most of them got presents for the others. It started out being very chaotic, then Ron had a great idea of designating a "present chair" -- you could only unwrap a present if you were sitting in the chair. It worked perfectly! Even the two-year-olds understood, so, success! I think Caitlynn (one) understood too, or at least she just played along. Connor was asleep through most of it, so when he woke up, Karen tried to "catch him up". I think it would have been more fun to let him take his time and open slowly -- he loved it in AZ, but he liked his gifts anyway. It was fun to watch all the kids -- I video-taped the whole thing, I think. And tried to get pictures. Hopefully the video tape is better than the pictures... I tried to get at least one of each cousin.
Porter is opening the pajamas that Ronna got for everyone -- so cute! They are Gymboree Rock Star pj's and we got a huge cousin picture with everyone together in them. (See at the end of the picture segment). See way far down towards the end for that pic... (there's alot to cover!)
Carter is opening a lego truck that Connor gave him.
Caitlynn is opening one of Luke's presents... He's so patient with her! What a great kid he is!
Brooke is opening a Strawberry Shortcake car from Connor.
Hunter is opening his pj's from Ronna.
Ryan is opening a box that is bigger than he is!! :) It is a Thomas the Train engine to store other toys in. From G&G Edwards, I think.
Connor is opening one of his TWO presents from Diane. She is such a sweetie! She had our name this year, and was very generous! Diane had to go back to Malta Sunday night to help Paul with a job on Monday morning, so we decided to wait and open the second gift when she got back. (All the way at the bottom!) By the way -- Diane was right -- he does like this dog. It makes so many fun noises!
There were many more, but like I said, I was manning the video camera most of the time. :)
The next morning we got all the kids in their new PJ's to take another "cousin's picture" (like the one we took at Connor's blessing). Yes, it was equally hard getting them all to sit still, look forward, and smile all at the same time. But it turned out cute! Megan entertained the kids by putting together Carter's dinosaur game while we got the setup ready.
Here they are -- so cute!! :) L-R: Ryan, Brooke, Carter, Luke, Hunter, Connor, Porter, Caitlynn.
Connor was still getting his nebulizer treatments -- one was a steroid and one was a bronchial dilater... poor kid! It was definitely easier to do when he was asleep. Otherwise, one of us had to hold him and the other one had to entertain him by singing and dancing in front of him, or he would get fidgity and take the piece out of his mouth.
after pictures, all the kids went sledding -- in their new pj's! Of course, they had on snow suits, including Connor! It was a blast. I took lots of video, but most are too big to upload here. And, there are so many cool pictures, I'll do a whole separate post of just sledding. I will include one particularly funny video of Brad... :D
Here are just a couple, as a preview: Ron is pulling Connor in the carseat on a sled over to the Yurt so we could change him into a snowsuit.
Yes, even I went down the hill a couple of times. As did Connor. He was asleep for most of it, but was awake the first couple of times. I think he liked it.
Back in the yurt, after taking off the snowsuit. Tons of fun, I'll post pictures next!
That evening we went bowling. Christy had our days jam-packed full of fun things to do. By the 29th, we cried "Uncle" and just stayed home to hang around a bit. But Monday night (28th) we went bowling. Here are some shots of everyone. (I'll let you self-narrate).
One of the favorite past-times over the week was to find a kid to hold. Here are just a few shots I got of various people playing this game.
(whoever accused Connor of being "gentle"? :)
Another favorite past-time: Play in the exersaucer that Christi brought out! It was perfect for Connor -- he loved it so much that we bought him one just like it when we got home. And, everyone else liked playing with it, too...
(even grandpa enjoyed watching. he had his "spot" on the couch. :)
Some random shots of family:
Connor started consistent solids while we were there. -- mostly just rice cereal that my mom had bought for him while we were in AZ. I had intended to start him there, but we didn't have much time. The very first time, he opened wide, and swallowed it down. No spitting it back out! I guess he was ready...
And, finally, here is Connor opening the second present from Diane. It was a ball bopper for him to play with when he gets a little older. I'm sure he'll love it. Meanwhile, he thoroughly enjoyed opening the present!
As you can see in this video, he is already very adept at opening presents! :) yes, it might take a while, but he had fun.
And afterwards, he liked the paper! :)
Up next: sledding! And then the family photo.... :) stay tuned.
1 comment:
Cute cute! It was a blast to have you all up...now all I have to do is catch up on blogging and post Christmas fun too ;)!
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