Christmas & New Years 2010

I'm warning you, this is going to be a LONG post. We spent 2 weeks with my family for Christmas and New Years and had a fabulous time! My mom converted Meredith's room (and my old room) into a combination guest room/nursery. She is so creative! Here it is open...

And here it is closed for naps and nighttime...it was perfect!

The first week in Atlanta, we spent time with Sarah & Ryan, Meredith & Ben, Patrick, Mom & Dad. We did some shopping during the day, had big dinners at night, played games, watched movies, and just had fun spending time together and watching Madison Claire and Jacob! I continue to be so thankful for the close relationships that I have with my parents and siblings. It has been one of God's greatest gifts to me and Ryan and I pray often for our kids to have close relationships too.

We had so much fun spending time with sweet baby Jacob! Madison Claire was great with him - she would bring him his bottle and his blanket when he got fussy. She is going to be a great big sister!

Christmas Eve Day was spent cooking and cleaning the house, getting ready for the Christmas Day festivities. My Aunt Lynn, Uncle Alan & cousin Liga got into town that afternoon along with my Mama Howard, Uncle Russ & cousin Gregory. We had a nice time visiting and then headed out for a 4:30pm Christmas Eve service at Mt. Pisgah. After church, we went to our Christmas Eve dinner tradition - the Japanese Steak House! We had a big crew because we were joined there by Aunt Betsy, Wayne, Elizabeth, Josh & Elijah. We filled up 2 whole hibatchi tables. The company at dinner was great, but the dinner itself wasn't as good as it has been in previous years - we aren't sure they will still be in business next year! We did find out some fun news at dinner that my cousin Elizabeth is expecting her second! It will be fun for us to go through pregnancy together - she is due in early August. Here we are at the Japanese Steakhouse trying to manage all of the kids:

Once we got Madison Claire to sleep our Christmas Eve preparations began, including setting up a play kitchen with about 1000 screws that took over an hour. Luckily, Ryan had some great helpers in my uncle Russ & my dad. One of the great quotes of the night was my dad saying, "note to self...don't wait until 10pm on Christmas Eve to charge your powertools". This came as we were trying to find a power drill to get some screws in the kitchen! We finally got everything ready and headed to bed.

Christmas morning, Madison Claire woke up around 7:30am and we made sure everyone was ready for her big reveal. She came around the corner and was really cute...she noticed the Elmo and started saying "Elmo, Elmo, Elmo" and just peered over the railing for the longest time. We finally got her downstairs and she ran straight for Elmo and then on to the kitchen. She was precious.

We watched her for a while and then did our Secret Santa exchange. I had mom and had gotten her a track suit and some $$ towards tennis shoes. Patrick ended up having me and got me a gift certificate to get new running shoes - a great gift...THANKS PATRICK!! Ryan Fetz had Ryan McSwain and got him the Apologetics Study Bible and a tie rack (at Ryan's request). ...THANKS RYAN! After the gift exchange, which included a few gifts from Ryan to me and vice versa, we went for our Howard family Christmas morning breakfast, complete with fresh fruit, egg casserole, blueberry muffins and cinamon rolls. It did not dissapoint!!!

Elizabeth's son, Elijah, just turned 3 and he fell in love with Madison Claire. He kept calling her his friend and they were 2 peas in a pod. She would run after him squealing and they had such a ball together! We spent the rest of the day hanging out, having a big Christmas meal, and spending time watching Madison Claire & Elijah.

A glimpse into my future:

Mom, Meredith, Ryan, Madison Claire and I left on Sunday to head down to Destin. Madison Claire was great on the car ride down there - probably her best road trip yet! We made it in that evening and picked up some Jim & Nicks for dinner. When we made it to One Water Place, Meredith and I got the pack-n-play set up in the Master closet. Well, when I went to put Madison Claire to bed, it turns out that one of the sides had broken so it didn't work. We tried a pallet on the floor but she wasn't having it so after much deliberation, she ended up sleeping in the King bed with us. Note - this is the FIRST time she has ever slept with us and now we know why - it was a DISASTER!!! Neither Ryan or I slept very well and she woke up wide awake about 5 am, patting Ryan's beard, getting one inch from our faces to see if we were wake, trying to throw back the covers and basically just being a nuisance! It was funny later that day, but not at 5am in the morning! Needless to say, first stop on Monday was to WalMart to buy a new pack-n-play!

Everyone else (Dad, Patrick, Ryan, Sarah, Jacob & the 2 dogs - Nutmeg & Lucy) made it in on Tuesday and we were all there through Saturday. We had a great time! The weather was nice but not too warm. It ranged from this 40s to the high 60s throughout the week. We worked out, watched TV, went to the movies, shopped, ate way too much and played games.

Madison Claire & Jacob love Mimi and Papa! Madison would wake up most mornings and say "Mimi....Papa"

New Years Eve we went to the Red Bar for dinner - our favorite! Ben came in town for the last few days so he was with us which made Meredith super happy as I'm sure you can imagine! Luckily I called Red Bar on our way there just to make sure they were open and they said they were but they were reservation only! They had the ability to seat us, but we had to split up to 2 tables so that was a little bit of a bummer. We still had a fun time.

We left Madison Claire and Jacob with mom and dad for the evening. When we made it back, we prayed over Madison Claire for 2011 and Ryan told her that we were going home the next day. BIG MISTAKE!!! We think she thought that Ryan and I were leaving her because she proceeded to completely lose it. She screamed and screamed forever and would not go to sleep in the new pack-n-play we had bought. She ended up climbing out of it in the pitch black closet! I think she thought it was a life or death situation because she did not want us to leave her. Poor thing. So, our last night of 2010 (or first night of 2011) was spent with Madison Claire sleeping with us for the second time in her life. Again - a miserable night for Ryan and I and a firm reminder of why we didn't let her sleep with us when she was younger!

We made it home to Nashville on Saturday and felt rested & relaxed to start 2011!