Okay, so I pulled and pulled pictures to no avail for many days, then finally created a couple of collages in an attempt to make the posting work. It never did. And now that I have the space again, I simply do not have to drive to go through photos again and pick more. So that's my official apology for not including more pictures and not even having pictures of everyone we were able to see over the holidays. You know who you are, and you know we love you.
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We were able to celebrate Christmas with Ed's family (both sides) the weekend before we left for Colorado. This first collage is from the day we spent with the Tallant side. Before we went to Mary and Rick's house, we stopped off at Granny and Granddaddy's to let Avery open her gifts from them. They bought her a smorgasbord of baby doll-related goods, which she adores. Then we were on to the Tallant household, where we enjoyed a lovely evening of good food, family, and gift-giving. The bottom right picture is particularly funny because Avery insisted on her Auntie Melissa following around behind her with the corn popper, and I happened to catch a classic expression on Melissa's face displaying just how much she was enjoying this task after the first hour had passed. :)
The next day, we went to celebrate Christmas with Mimi, Pop, Uncle Andy, and Auntie Sarah (as Avery refers to them). Ed and I particularly enjoyed watching Avery open gifts with her Uncle Andy's help. We all had a lovely evening (and some tasty lasagna, too)!
On the Thursday night before Christmas, Ed, Avery and I flew into Colorado. The very next day was Christmas Eve, and Adam, Aimee, Gavin, Alec and Conner came over for dinner and to open gifts at Nana and Papa Jim's house (their tradition). From that moment on, Avery had such a great time playing with her cousins (and I'm pretty sure they enjoyed her, too). This is a shot of the kids opening their presents.
I thought this was a cute one of Gavin:
Evan (Jim's Cousin), Papa Jim and Avery
Avery was having a blast playing with Alec and throwing a ball to Sammie.
This is a Christmas present from Mimi and Pop that traveled with us to CO. Avery loves her Elmo camera, and I thought it made a cute photo of she and Alec.
Conner and Avery Taking a Photo with a Favorite Christmas Toy of Theirs:
The Four Cousins in Their Christmas PJs - A Classic Shot!
A Sweet Pic of the Youngest Two
Let me just interject here about the strangeness that was our CO visit this year. Avery's digestive tract seemed off all day on Christmas Eve (to put it politely), but we assumed it was because she was trying to cut four teeth. Well, she woke us up on Christmas morning with a tiny bit of vomiting in the bathroom sink (it was the fastest place we could catch it). Still, we weren't sure what was up just yet, and hoped that whatever it was had passed thereafter...
So this is after we pulled ourselves together and came downstairs to the tree to see what Santa had brought her. She was pretty pleased with this coloring book.
This is her looking at Santa's sleigh bell, which he left with her Polar Express Train - her favorite gift of all, and the one she specifically requested that Santa bring to her.
And this is her with that oh-so-important train (and the remote that she learned how to use immediately):
Avery thought all the jewelry that Jim gave to Mom was actually for her. See how her face lights up when she sees it? We are in for it later in life with this one!
Our Family on Christmas Morning
She loved Sammie's Bed.
I'm not sure if you've noticed yet, but Avery has had a pj change at some point in there... well, she started feeling bad. Really bad. So bad that she most unexpectedly threw up (really threw up this time) on Jim's present from us. He wasn't even in the room when it happened. We had to unwrap it and hand it to him opened, which drew a quizzical look from him. Here's Avery and I resting on Rocky's dog bed, where she refused to move from after her first incident. So pitiful.
And then there were more incidents. At least three more (at least). Lots of puking and napping on Christmas day for a baby girl. Here's another shot of her sleeping on the floor (her place of choice all that day), in yet another pair of jammies. (I think she wore four pairs that day.)
And then I got sick. This happened after Mom and Jim left for Adam and Aimee's without us. We stuck around their house that day. By then, Avery and I were both napping in the living room - she still on the floor, and I on the couch. By that evening, both of us were able to hold down some soup, and since we'd already exposed the Bennetts all day the day before, we decided that we felt okay enough to go over there for the last couple of hours of Christmas. It was certainly not the day we had planned.
The rest of the week went similarly. Avery still had a couple of incidents and I felt poorly until the end of the next day. That night, Jim got sick. By the time that he was feeling better, Ed got sick. Then the Bennetts were sharing a cold. Somehow, Mom managed to avoid it all. But even after Avery had shaken the stomach bug, she was still teething, so she didn't feel great most of the week.
Having said all that, it was the strangest visit we've ever had. We were so happy to see everyone though, despite the crud. We were home in time for New Year's Eve, in which we had another jam-packed weekend. I plan to post some pictures from that pretty quickly, too. So come on back, ya hear?
Hope your week is going well!
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