What a wonderful Christmas!

Oh goodness we had such a great week! My parents drove from Oklahoma up to our house, leaving Saturday morning and arriving here Sunday evening. Ava was just about beside herself, she was so excited to see them. She ran laps around the house, smiling and singing. Their drive was a bummer, not only bc of distance, but awful amounts of blowing snow. According to the news, there was a 15 car pile up just North of us on the same highway they drove to get here. So glad they made it safe and sound! Here's the snow piled at our house!On Monday morning we (and by "we" I mean mostly Ava and Grandma) built a gingerbread house. They got it all decorated before Ava realized that the decorations were also edible and yummy. She enjoyed some icing before it was all whisked out of reach.On Tuesday Steve had to work but the rest of us packed up for Bayshore mall to see Santa and have lunch. There was no line, thankfully, and we got some fun pictures of them with Santa and then of all of us in front of the Christmas tree. Owen took it like a champ. I placed him in Santa's arms, and Owen just looked at us, wondering what all the fuss was about. He was content and happy as a lark. Ava was not so sure. She was very excited to see him, but kind of froze up with all the pressure of smiling for the camera and telling him what she wanted for Christmas. Much like Ralphie on A Christmas Story. All that aside, she pulled through, told Santa that she wanted a train set, and got her first candy cane. Wow, did she like that candy cane! You can see her chomping on it during the photos afterwards.We then headed off to lunch, which was super yummy, and the fam took some pics of the huge snow piles on the tables outside.That evening, Steve and I had a date night while the grandparents and aunt Laura watched the kiddos! We went to the Pasta Shop in Port Washington for dinner and then took in a movie! It was wonderful! We came back home feeling very refreshed and just in time for me to feed Owen again.
Christmas Eve was another wonderful day! We went to church in the afternoon and managed to get some family photos when we got home. Then we had a yummy dinner (thanks, mom!) and Ava opened one present--wait--I think it turned into 2 presents. She opened some new PJ's from us and some super cute fluffy pink slippers from grandma and grandpa. On Christmas morning, I picked up Ava and we looked over the banister down to the tree and presents. My dad had built the train set and left it out by the tree. Ava peered down at all those presents, asked if Santa were still here, and said, "I want to play with that choo-choo!" And so the morning began, and went on, and on, and on. We are used to rushing through presents on Christmas morning so we can shower, pack up, and head over to our grandma's house for Christmas dinner (which is at 1:00). This year we had nowhere to go, and so we let Ava hang out with each gift as she opened it. It was a slow process. We took a break for breakfast. Then we took a break for lunch. Then we took a break for Ava's afternoon nap. She was wiped out. I believe that the last gift was opened around 7 pm. Wow. It was a really fun day. We had cinnamon rolls for breakfast. (They were out of a can--didn't hold a candle to Robyn's homemade cinnamon rolls!) Ava did a lot of dancing with the toys that played music. We got some on video--I'll try to load some up. It was just an all-around relaxing and fun day. Owen also seemed to enjoy his first Christmas. He took turns being held by each of us and admiring his new ornament from Aunt Robyn and Uncle Cory.
On Friday I was a bit sad, bc it was the fam's last full day here! It was a warmer day (high 20's to low 30's), so we played in the snow and got to use the beautiful new sled Papa Cooper sent Ava. Coming inside to a warm house after sledding is such a good feeling. : )
On Saturday morning mom, dad, and Laura packed up the car and started to forever-long drive back to Oklahoma. They spend the night in MO, then stopped off in Tulsa on Sunday to visit family. We were sad to see them go!