A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Every three years, we stay home and celebrate the holidays in Texas.  It lets us take some of the stress out of the season by not having to travel with the kiddos and it's so nice every so often to see the kids faces light up as they open the gifts under our own tree.  We are also extremely fortunate that our family has been willing to come to us during these stay at home years, so that we can still enjoy being with our loved ones over the holidays.  This year, Mimi and Pop-Pop came down for Christmas and Mamaw and Papaw came to ring in the New Year!

As part of our gifts to the family this year, we got new family pictures taken (so that Little Sister could be included!).  Unfortunately, Little Sister was not the most cooperative with her pictures (or with Santa for that matter), but we did get some good shots, especially once the play piano was brought out.  

     

     

These pictures demonstrate what kind of mood Little Sister was in to start the session...thank God for the magic piano of smiles!

First, Big Brother did his best Schroeder impression from Charlie Brown...

...which got Sister interested...

...which then upset Brother because he was not keen on sharing...

     

     

     

...but we convinced him to give Sister a turn and ended up getting some good shots...

     

...so then we all snuck around her!  Bam, family picture accomplished!

The rest of Mimi and Pop-Pop's visit went well.  We had a Santa playdate at a friend's house, did some projects with Pop-Pop, enjoyed a Christmas Eve Santa visited, opened presents, and got to visit with Uncle C and A on Christmas Day.  

     

Santa stopped by Ms. J and Mr. C's house.  Sister, again, was not a fan.  Her angry tears kept distracting brother too!

      

      

Putting together and testing some of the toys their Great-Grand Pap had made a long time ago.

     

     

Santa made his annual Christmas Eve stop...Brother was excited, but Sister was content to watch from Pop-Pop's arms at a safe distance.

Sister was ok with leaving out the cookies, milk, and carrots...

     

...and she was certainly ok with opening presents with Brother the next morning!  Merry Christmas!

After Mimi and Pop-Pop left, we got to have second Christmas with Mamaw and Papaw, along with more family pictures!

     

Second Christmas!  The kids (and Papaw) were enjoying the presents (and tormenting the dog with the new remote control car).

Family pictures went a bit better this time around.  Sister smiled, but Brother burned out early.  Still made some great memories, though!

     

     

 This last shot is a perfect "Brother, stop, you're embarrassing me!" moment.

Unfortunately, our visit was marred by Mamaw and Papaw coming down with the flu.  They had to be put in quarantine for a few days, but finally were on the road to recovery when they had to leave.  Little Buddy and Little Sweetie were very worried about them, but we convinced them that "rest is best" and that they could best help by picking out Gatorade flavors to help Mamaw and Papaw's tummies.  Because they were sick over New Year's, we toasted together a few days late.

      

 Cheers!  Happy New Year!

Another important event closed out our year; Little Buddy and Little Sweetie are getting a god-cousin!  Aunt S and Uncle M asked Daddy and I to be godparents to Baby L.  We are so blessed to have this adorable little man as our godson! 

     

Our sweet godson!

So we leave 2014 one godson richer, one ASD diagnosis wiser, and all our bonds of family strengthened.  We came into our own as a family of four and adapted to the challenge that our family might be a bit different than we imagined, but that being different is ok.  We still have plenty of room to grow and mature and look forward to the lessons that 2015 will bring to us!

Wishing you a wonderful new year, 

LBM

Little Buddy's Momma