Christmas in Clover

We headed to Clover on Christmas Eve, but Kevin, Jenny, and the kids arrived the next day after Santa visited their house.  Connor and Henley met once back in April, but they, um, interacted much more at this visit.

They aren’t old enough to play together, but they didn’t beat each other up too badly.

After everyone said hello and had some lunch, we moved into the den to open some gifts.  Well, we let Chase and Leah rip through their gifts then we adults took our time.

Connor had fun with the boxes and bows, no surprise there.

There was one last gift.  Jenny read a letter that had been left on the tree for Leah.

We followed the clues out to the barn.

What’s under that jumbo bag?

It’s a new bike!

We didn’t want Leah to ride alone so several of us hopped on the bikes that the McInlaws have.

Finally, we took some group shots of the whole family together.  We actually got several decent ones.  Hard to believe considering the number of moving parts and ages of those parts.

This was our first time with all of us visiting the new house at once and it worked out really well.  I hope the Nogtinis I made everyone become a Christmas tradition.  I think we all had at least one so I’m pretty sure no one would complain if they became a holiday staple.

Okay, we’re more than halfway through January, and I’m wrapping up Christmas?  Yep, sounds about right.  I’ll try to wrap up 2014 with my New Year’s Eve post this week as well.

Party animals

Two weekends ago, we traveled to Matthews (just outside of Charlotte), then Clover, SC (just over the border), and finally ended up in Greenville, SC for a wedding reception.  All in the same day.  The McHusband’s cousin had gotten married in Cancun the previous weekend, and then he and his new bride had a local party to celebrate.

We took the pack n play and put Connor down, but he didn’t stay that way and soon joined the fun with his cousins Leah and Chase.

Family photo: the McHusband, me, and our kid, Deer Inthe Headlights.  But we call him Connor.

Cousin Henley was a happy little party animal.

While her mom and siblings broke it down on the dance floor.

Grammie even joined in the fun!

Speaking of Grammie, let’s rewind to when we were less sweaty at the beginning of the part.  Jenny got some photos of Grammie with her grandkids.

Leah wasn’t in the mood to smile, but check out this picture of her at the table when we were eating.  Gorgeous, right?

Okay, fast-fowarding back to later in the evening when we were all sweaty and overtired.

Poor baby could barely keep his eyes open.

We wrapped things up with a group shot…of tequila.

We headed back to Matthews that night.  We really appreciate the McDad driving us, and we were especially grateful that he stopped at that McDonald’s on the way so the McHusband and I could get cheeseburgers.  Best. Cheeseburgers. Ever.

Who says family fun can’t involve tequila?

South Carolina cousins

Kevin, Jenny, and the kids came up here last Saturday.  Luckily they were in Charlotte for the weekend so it was a much shorter trip for them than if they had come all the way from home in SC.

Chase and Leah were very excited to hold Connor.

I know it looks like Chase was checking out Connor’s, um, unmentionables, but he was actually looking at Connor’s feet.

Kevin and Jenny took a turn getting some Connor cuddles, too.

(Does Jenny’s sweater look familiar?  Gotta love Target’s maternity clothes.)

We took some group shots of all the kids with the McHusband and me before they left that afternoon and this was the best one.  I give props to family photographers who can get everyone looking in the same direction with smiles on their faces.

I’m two weeks into my “vacation” as the McHusband refers to my maternity leave and so far motherhood is very time consuming.  Connor eats all.the.time it seems like and between the times I hold him because that’s what he wants and the times I hold him because that’s what I want, there’s not a lot of time left for other stuff like blogging, emailing, and, you know, truly important stuff like showering.  I think I need to get out the Bjorn so I can multi-task and hold the baby while computering.  Think I’ll continue to shower alone though. 

Connor has his two-week this afternoon so keep your fingers crossed that his weight is at least up to 7lbs15oz, his birth weight.  I’m doing my best to breastfeed, but I have had to supplement with one bottle toward the end of the day since Sunday night.  I hope to keep up with Connor’s demands at least as well as I have been, and I hope to get good news from the doctor today.  The upside to the one bottle is that the McHusband can experience feeding Connor, which is nice.  

TGIF!

Christmas: Part II

Kevin and Jenny had Christmas at their house before they, the kids, and the dogs headed to Charlotte.  So that meant that the McHusband, his parents, and I had a quiet start to the day.  The McHusband and I exchanged gifts and opened our stockings then got in some cuddling before Monte had enough of us and headed out to the sun porch.

Once Kevin, Jenny, and the kids arrived, things got a little more exciting.

One of our gifts to Leah was a real hairdryer, which she couldn’t wait to try out.  I was her lucky guinea pig, I mean first client.

The McDad was almost as excited about the license plate we got him for the RV.

That night, we sat down to a wonderful dinner prepared by the McMom with just a little help from us girls.

Post-dinner activities included a little wrestlemania.  Gotta burn off that holiday meal somehow!

Two Christmas posts and the celebrating’s not done yet!  We still have the McHusband’s birthday to look back at.