Christmas Vacation 2012

Christmas Vacation started early for us.  4 am early.  Thursday morning (Dec 20) David and I awoke to the Austin Police Department driving down our street and saying over the intercom, 'This is the Austin Police Department.  You need to prepare to evacuate now.  There is a fire in the area.' 

 

That night was particularly windy and the fire in the area was particularly big.  After the third reminder to evacuate we'd got dressed, packed a bag for G and woke up dude to load into the car.  David decided to go outside and chat with the police to check on the status of everything... and they decided that we no longer needed to evacuate but to remain prepared to.  So, we put little man back to bed and both us us laid half awake all night.  We'd planned to drive to Oklahoma to see family on Thursday afternoon so when D got off work we headed north. 

The drive was pretty miserable.  We were all exhausted and little man, for the first time ever, cried for the first 3 hours of the trip.  He was sooo tired and couldn't calm down enough to sleep.  With just an ounce of sanity remaining we decided to eat at Cracker Barrel for dinner.   Knowing it's a comfortable environment with long waits for food was a plus in our situation!  We probably waited an hour for dinner but enjoyed hot chocolate while we waited and we each had time to relax and start off the next leg of our journey more rested and energized with lots of caffeine!

 

Christmas in Tulsa

 We arrived at my parents' home in time for lunch and G showed off his new ability to stand to his cousins.  The sweet littles cheered him on.  Josh calls Gavin "Huge Baby" and calls Jackson (3 months) "Tiny Baby".  Pretty cute!

 

The majority of G's time was spent getting in and out of the cozy coupe's that Josh and Jenni have.

Gavin was also pretty fascinated by Tiny Baby Jackson.

He was more gentle with Tiny and played with his toes.

Of course G also showed Jackson that he could stand now.

Jackson must have been pretty impressed :)

The two littles seemed to bond.  I wonder what mischief G is sharing with J here???

The cousins enjoyed a joint baking project for some oatmeal raisin cookies.

And the cousins went on a caravan drive through the neighborhood!

My sister's family got the boys matching monster pajamas and slippers!!!  Considering all the cuteness that comes with girly baby clothes I was stoked to finally see something cool for the little dudes. 

Mom and Dad gave G some awesome muscial toys.  He loves the bells particularly!

Every little bit he would stop playing with toys to shake his arm up and down to hear them ring!  

Little guy enjoyed the festivities but was worn out by nap time!

 Meanwhile, Josh kept up the fun!

We stopped by the bakery to pick out some festive sugar cookies.

Jenni and I loved the angel cookies.

Joshua had the best one-liner of the night...

We were thinking out loud about which cookies to add to our purchase; Merritt's had dozens of decorated sugar cookie designs.  We had narrowed our last choice down to either gingerbread or elves... Anyhow, mom said "gingerbread . . . girls". And we hear a loud "MEN! MEN!" behind us. Followed by a disappointed little guy running away. Little did we know that a quiet Josh had been listening in and had an opinion!  We had disappointed him when we picked the gingerbread girls instead of the gingerbread boys. So, we quickly changed our minds and got a gingerbread boy for our favorite almost 3-year old (who also does not know who spiderman is but loves the spiderman mask!)

Mom made an assortment of dips to nibble on before dinner.  I'd given G a plate of cheese and crackers but in one swift move he lunged for the spinach dip, grabbed a handful, and then stuffed it in his mouth.  I was sitting next to dude the whole time and was a little surprised!   In the last month he has definitely taken on a new level of independence.

 Christmas Picture with Cousins and Grandma & Grandpa

Another example of my boy being a squirt!  He took all the seriousness out of the photo session...

Christmas with the Smiths

We didn't get many pictures in Purcell since I didn't carry my camera around.  If it wasn't for my sis I wouldn't have any of Tulsa either... I must get better at this! 

We had a wonderful time at David's parents' home. His siblings were all with us and we shared lots of fun together.  David's sister, Anna, gave me a knitting lesson.  It is harder than it looks!  We also enjoyed lots of yummy food together!  D's mom and sisters made a smorgasbord of cookies and candies that are DELICIOUS!  We even lucked out and got to bring some home!

David's parents have a small dog named Mitzy. She is a little bit smaller than Gavin and he likes to chase her around the house. He learned to pet her softly this visit. He also did a (little bit) better job at not sneaking her food under the table... ; )  It's not a good idea for him to do it but it was pretty darn cute the first time we saw him do it (and without any prompting or seeing someone else do it.)  His love for little Mitzy has us talking about getting a puppy sometime for him :)

Gavin took his first interest in playing on a real piano at the Smiths.

It snowed on Christmas Day in Purcell so we ventured out to enjoy the first snow fall. 

I couldn't help but venture out again later to sit on the patio... I love snow!

Later we bundled up dude and went outside to try sledding.  We made it 5 minutes before little guy had enough of the frosty day!

By dinner time Gavin was hungry and ready to feast! A crown roast! It was so elegant and delicious!  During each of our meals we would catch him looking around for cousin Emma.  She is a few months older than him and usually seated on the opposite end of the table.  It is fun watching their growing interest in one another and playing side-by-side!

We enjoyed our time in Purcell and headed back to Austin Wednesday afternoon. Gavin loved cuddling his daddy's childhood teddy bear on our way back.

We had a great Christmas trip to visit family.  It's always fun to be in Oklahoma!