This year, Christmas was a bit different since we were really wanting to be home for Eisley’s first birthday. So, we left town the day Nathan and Jon’s break started and got there just in time for a lot of the Christmas festivities!! It worked out PERFECTLY and was just so wonderful. We had the best time and guys, NO ONE GOT SICK.
I swear, it was a Christmas miracle. I fully expect Hallmark to call any day to ask for the film rights to this. 😉 After our last trip to California, Jon and I were definitely weeping and hyperventilating in the corner for a few days leading up to the flight. And I think I packed every possible medication I could think of, along with about forty ziploc bags in case the worst happened on the flight.
Baby girl the night before we left. I love love love when they sleep like this. It’s just my favorite.
Our flight was SUPER delayed, but we made it on there and even made up enough time to make our connection! At one point, Jon had all three kids in the aisle with him and it was super tempting for me to just up and head to the back to fly in peace. 😉 But I was a good mom and Eisley hung out with me for most of the flight. Both flights were packed full, which just always makes for long rides when you have a wiggly lap baby who just wants to be set down.
We made it!! We got in super, super late to Nonnie and Papa O’s house and the kids were up super, super early to play. Their new house is in a beautiful area that has a big community center and they were putting on a little Christmas thing for the kids, so Greg drove all the kids except for Eisley over in the golf cart. It was hilarious.
And who should come but Santa?! Ha! I was so excited about this because we still hadn’t gotten Santa pictures yet and after this, I was glad we never paid for them. This was seriously the best we got. Ah, well. We tried!! (And by the way, in case you haven’t noticed, Nathan is the KING of taking pictures. If I tell him to smile, he can hold that smile through chaos like you wouldn’t believe. He’s my only kid who got this super power. He’s been like this since he was three months old. It’s amazing.)
Nonnie and Papa O and all their grandkids! Eisley was done by this point. 😉
We did very little sleeping on this trip. The kids were up late and up early every single day – we didn’t want to waste any of the time we had! And honestly, I got so few pictures!! We were so busy visiting extended family and playing that I barely remembered to do much else than make sure we still had three kids around the whole time. 😉
The whole family!! We did our traditional Christmas Eve mini pizzas and present exchange. Can’t wait until next year when there’s another little boy to snuggle on – Aunt Heather is going to have my sweet nephew in March!!
Crazy kids. 😉 It’s amazing how loud and obnoxious these five sweet little faces can get. 😉 Ha! The kids had the BEST time with their cousins and grandparents!!
The mood was very melancholy when we did our In-N-Out visit on the way to the airport. No one was ready to leave and there were at least three of us crying when we finally said goodbye at the airport. 🙁 Our visits always go way too fast! We are so thankful for our California family and the time we got to spend with them!
This made us laugh so hard. Nathan and Parker were so concerned about Freddy Frinkle and if he would be okay while we were gone. Uncle Bryant came over to check on the house while we were gone and put Freddy in the window and the kids were laughing about it the whole next day after we got home. Ha!
Such a wonderful trip! We can’t wait to see everyone again – hopefully soon!!!