
After our fun weekend in West Va with Ryan's siblings, we left for Chesapeake to be with my parents for the remainder of the holiday. My brother Ryan was the only other family member who was able to come home this year, since David is still on his mission and Sam didn't get enough time off of school for Christine, him and the kids to be able to come out. We still had a lot of fun, but hopefully next year we can all get together. As you can see in the picture, Ryan got into the holiday spirit with a festive knit vest. He found it in my mom's closet (where Grant was sleeping this trip--it was warm and quiet in there) and put it on as a joke, but ended up wearing it all day because it was so comfy and kept him nice and toasty. I won't be too surprised if I find a crafty sweater-vest in our closet in the near future, as I think Ryan may have been converted.

We had a lot of fun with my family over this break. We did not go or do anything overly exciting, but my parents were off work a lot and so it was fun to hang out as a family. Grant especially loved the attention and playing with "papa" and "munga" (we're still working on a new name for my mom, but that's what he calls her now). Grant read many books, played constantly with his cars and trucks, and enjoyed many, many rounds of hide-and-go-seek and "chase you" (which is basically Grant running and gleefully screaming while an adult chases him). I especially enjoyed when my dad would take Grant with him on short errands to the store or church. Grant loves going for a ride with papa and it was really nice to have so much free time. In this picture, Grant and papa are responding to "say cheese" with nice, big, cheesy smiles!

We definitely played many more games this Christmas than we usually do. I was in a gamey mood the whole break. I learned several new games such as Othello, Thaxx, and a few card games. Othello was fun the first game, when I beat the shorts off of Ryan. The second, however, Ryan decisively beat me due to his strategizing and my arrogant non-strategizing. I guess it is a strategic game, so I must have won by pure-luck the first game.
We also put together the lovely 1000-piece puzzle you see pictured above. My dad and my brother also played a huge role in putting this together, and it was surprisingly fun. Grant even had a role in taking the missing piece from the bottom left side and hiding it somewhere we will probably never find. After staying up late a couple of nights working on the puzzle, we all agreed that this should become a tradition at family reunions.

We had a wonderful Christmas and we all received many nice gifts from family and friends. Grant's presents increased his truck and car collection by about 200% so he was understandably pleased with his haul. One of Ryan's favorite gifts: the four cans of Nalley chili shuttled from the West by my brother, Ryan. Apparently, such fine chili cannot be found east of the Rockies.

Ryan received his ortho textbook as one of his presents this year (something he needed and was very grateful to get). Ryan did not waste any time explaining to Grant the finer points of orthodontic theory, which Grant consumed with rapt attention. Do I sense a future partnership in the making?
3 comments:
Don't be sad that I am such a poor commenter but I have really enjoyed all your recent posts even if I just comment on one. Grant seems like he is a lot of fun. I have also learned that cars are a boy's best friend. I'm glad you had a great time over the holidays.
Thats what vacations are all about! Not going places, or spending tons o money (which I don't happen to have anyway), but enjoying family (we did a puzzle too) and getting a break from the kiddies with grandparents around (I love the cheesy picture with your dad). Glad you had a good vacation! Stock up on that peaceful time, since it may be a while until you have it again :)
LOVE THE VEST RYAN!!
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