Wrapping up Christmas

Our Christmas festivities didn't end when we left Tennessee. We headed up to Kentucky on the Saturday after Christmas for more Christmas fun! Mom and Dad held the Bridge Family Christmas that evening. My family had been kind enough to postpone a lot of the gift giving until we got there, so it really was like Christmas Day all over again and it was so much fun to have a nice dinner and visit and see what everyone received. All of us kids were there, so it was truly a family affair.
Maura with her favorite toys of the night. I really am going to stop buying toys for this child! She prefers little plastic animals to any other toy she has. This duck and frog light up and make noises and they're small enough to fit into her hand, criteria for favorite toys for sure. Thanks Aunt Lorie and Uncle Micah for the fun toys! Aunt Lorie with Tristan. It's hard to believe that this time next year she'll have a baby that's older than Tristan was in this photo.
Maura with her Grammy and Pappap. She could hardly tear herself away from the froggy and duck to open presents. In fact, we distracted her and hid them to get her interested in the presents and when she realized they were gone, she cried! We gave them back and gave up on present opening for a little while! Tristan loved trying to open his gifts.
His favorite gift was this snazzy new hammer and ball set. We'll probably find out in six months that the paint on the hammer contained lead, after it has a bunch of tooth marks in it!
My dad, truly a good sport. Maura got this tiara and wand and was only interested in dressing up others!
Aunt Lorie and Uncle Micah got Maura a huge pad of paper and smelly markers. We had the same smelly markers as a child, but I don't remember how truly indelible they were! I was in fear for her beautiful dress, so off it came. I'll make sure to give Lorie's child some indelible markers someday soon! Dad, Emily Micah and Lorie waiting to open gifts.
Mom, Scott and Katie. I promise that Scott does indeed have eyes, despite the fact that they're closed in nearly every photo I take of him! Katie and Scott will be married by this time next year. Jeff, Brent and I. It was great visiting with my brother Jeff because I rarely see him now that he's in the Navy. All week, though, he gave me nuggets of parental advice, such as, "You shouldn't give Maura her drink when she says, "Dink," you should make her say "Drink." It's amazing how wise we are about children before we have any!
Brent and I enjoying our second Christmas of 2008. On Sunday evening, Lorie and Micah invited us all over to have dinner and see their Christmas tree. We took some of Maura's new toys to play with while we were there.
Uncle Jeff and Tristan enjoyed some bonding time. Jeff made him "walk."
On New Years Eve, we made cookies...again. Is it any wonder that I gained substantial weight over Christmas. I think I have three separate blog posts devoted to cookie making. In spite of it all, the cookies were gone by New Years Eve, so we had to make more for the New Year's Eve party. Maura was happy to help. She was covered from head to toe in flour by the time they finished.
Maura, Brent and Emily--Cookie Making Pros! Mom getting in on the decorating action.
Tristan preparing to ring in the New Years. You know it's gonna be a good year when you have this sweet face to wake up to.
Katie and Maura playing one of Maura's favorite games. You run around the center part of the house as fast as you can, but you can't beat Molly, the dog, who runs to the other side to look for you. She pokes her head out and sometimes barks, which makes Maura break into gales of laughter.
Brent, Tristan and Lorie getting ready to ring in 2009. Actually Tristan didn't make it to midnight. He and Maura went down at 8:00 so Mommy could actually enjoy the New Year's party! Tristan with Aunt Katie and Aunt Lorie.
Aunt Katie and Maura. Maura loved the appetizers and helped herself before bedtime.
Emily and Jeff enjoying the yummy food.
Maura, Uncle Micah and Aunt Lorie. The Bridge Kids: Jeff, Julie, Katie, Lorie and Emily. This is a cute one of all of us!
The boy's New Year's Eve tradition...Risk! It's a high stakes, high stress game, and the winner gets bragging rights for years! Happy New Year!! Welcome 2009! Giving my honey the first kiss and hug of the new year.
On New Year's Day, we went up to Carlisle to visit our old neighbors the Brunners. Sadly, they moved away just a few months after we did, so we won't be returning to the same neighbors. Maura and Emily were good playmates, so we're going to miss them so much. Emily and Maura exchanging hugs. Tristan took advantage of their new berber carpet to try out some new skills. This is the very first time that we ever saw him get up on his knees. He doesn't do it often, but when he does we know that crawling is just around the corner.
Shauna and I. We'll miss our good neighbors, but we'll always be friends.
On Friday before we left, we snuck in one last visit with friends. Maura and I met Dawn and Lily at McDonald's to exchange gifts. The girls had fun coloring together and Dawn and I enjoyed talking, as always.
Maura and I enjoying McDonalds breakfast. Aunt Emily got her hugs in just before we left with the kids. We won't be back to Kentucky for at least another two months.
Maura, Grammy, Pappap and Tristan. Can you tell that I'm hoping my kids sleep in the car?
Tristan in his big boy seat. I can't believe how big and how old he looks in the big boy seat! I can't wait until he's one so I can turn it around and regain the six inches of leg room I lost when we installed the rear facing carseat! We had a wonderful visit home, as always, but it was a relief to be heading back to Georgia to just rest a few days before Brent started back to work. Despite that fact that Georgia isn't really home to us, we've really made a place for ourselves here and we're enjoying it as much as we can. We were eager to get back to our lives and our church here and enjoy "normal" life again!