Thankbirthmas

We really wanted to go visit Brian's family for the holidays this year. Unfortunately, once we started looking for tickets we realized we needed to come up with a different plan. The flights to Austin for Thanksgiving and Christmas were a little...pricey...to say the least for a family of four. Wait, wait, you might say. Isn't Jamison under two? Wouldn't that make him a lap child? Ha Ha. The boy may fit on someones lap. In fact, he might even sit on someones lap for a brief amount of time. But on a flight? Especially the four hour Baltimore to Austin flight? I'd rather spend the money on a seat.

So we decided to fly down to visit the second weekend in December. Those tickets were a lot more budget friendly. Apparently no one travels that weekend.

The week that we flew down contained FOUR birthdays - Uncle Eric (12/10), Uncle Jonathan (12/11), Auntie Demeree (12/15), and Lily (12/19). (yes, that's actually 9 days but whatever). So we also decided to have a small birthday celebration for everyone. As a result, we were celebrating Thankbirthmas.

Jamison was all ready to go the night before. He was very excited about getting to go on a plane again. I have no idea what was up with his hair.

The flights were happily uneventful. In fact, unbeknownst to us, my mother ended up on our first leg to Baltimore on her way to Nashville. So she got Jamie for that whole flight. We needed to conserve our energy.

The morning after we arrived Jamison looked at family pictures with Nana.

Then he got nice and comfy in his little rocker. That was actually Brian's rocker when he was little.
Lily cuddled up with Granny Pat and watched Cinderella. Pa enjoyed the movie as well. We don't get to see Pa and Granny Pat as often as we like, but we love every minute we can spend with them. By Friday night Eric and Rene and Jonathan and Demeree had also drove in. We hadn't seen Eric and Rene since last October at Jonathan and Demeree's wedding and we hadn't seen J & D since they moved from Albany to DFW in September. It was so nice to have the whole family together with no other agenda but to be together.

That night we celebrated birthdays. Nana put a candle on a muffin for each of the birthday boys and girls. Since Lily was last she was going insane for her muffin. The cold hearted part or me kinda wants to tell her - IT'S JUST A MUFFIN. CALM DOWN. But the other part of me loves to see her get so excited about little things that mean so much. And since the part of me that loves her always wins, I just took a picture.

Lily was just as excited over the muffin as she was to see Auntie Demeree again. She didn't leave Dem alone the entire time. And luckily, Demeree loves Lily so she played hop scotch, Pretty Pretty Princess, and all the other things that I like but only to a certain extent.

For her birthday, Karan made Lily a beautiful purple princess outfit. The cape is lined with Disney princess drawings and has the obligatory sparkles on the outside. I almost don't want her to play with it because it's apparent that Karan put so much time into it.

Papa gave Lily a book that he wrote and Nana illustrated. He read it to her as she sat in his lap. The book was about a princess named Lily (of course) and included all of the family members as characters.

The next morning was Christmas. We all crowded into the family room (except for Rene who is allergic to pine trees. She was doped up on Benedryl and other allergy medications). Jamison was especially cuddly and cute that morning.

Jamison decided that using his teeth to open presents was the most efficient way.

Lily received A LOT of princess gifts. How in the world did they all guess that Lily might like princesses? Could it be that she only thinks and talks about them 24/7? Could it be that every word out of her mouth is a question about a princess or an observation about one? I'm secretly hoping that one day she has the same obsession with something that will be worthwhile. Like math or history or gosh, anything but the stupid princesses.

Jamie received a lot of trucks and other things with wheels. I keep trying to psycho-analyze his interests - does he like trucks and airplanes because we keep showing him trucks and airplanes or does he truly like them? I mean, he sees fifty princess things a day but he hasn't started collecting Snow White figurines. Although he will sing along with Lily to Ariel's heart-tugging "Part of Your World." They will also sing the "Ah Ah Ahhhhhh" part where Ariel is giving her voice to Ursula. Despite my best efforts to get that duet on tape, I have only been able to record it on my phone. I just don't know how to get it off my phone.

There is nothing better than seeing my kids enjoy spending time with their Texan grandparents. Even though they only see them 2-3 times a year they are completely comfortable with them and obviously love them.

We had a great trip and we are thankful that everyone could take time off of work and school to visit with us.