Mya sporting 2 teeth!!
Mya with her wrinkled nose.
Mya and Ava.
Claire and Ava.
Claire, Ava and Olivia waiting patiently to eat Christmas dinner.
Mya showing off. She has taken a huge liking to standing. This was taken during our 12 hour stay at the MSP airport. Torture.
Claire and her Papa.
Mya and her mullet. She actually liked wearing this thing. She must have some redneck in her.
Where are Luke and Olivia? After the huge snowfall, we all went out to play.
Christmas Day dinner.
Claire working on her ornament.
Claire, Olivia, Luke and Ava playing in the snow.
Claire getting ready for some sledding fun or not so much. She wasn't a huge fan.
Grammy bought art kits for the kids to do. Claire and Ava were waiting patiently to begin.
Kiddos handing out presents.
Claire handing out presents.
Claire opening presents with encouragement from Ava. These two were best buds.
After a very long Christmas Eve day, we finally arrived in North Dakota. There was a huge storm that swiped the entire midwest and greatly affected travel. It turns out we were very lucky to arrive when we did; however, after spending nearly 12 hours in the Minneapolis airport, it was very difficult to feel an ounce of graciousness. We ended up missing our Christmas Eve church service and opened our gifts in our travel clothes. Not exactly picture perfect, but my Mom went all out on the food and atmosphere preparations. She made so many goodies and the food was just as I had imagined. Yummy. We had our traditional feast--meatballs/gravy, mashed potatoes, vege tray, and salads. It was delicious. Snow continued to fall for the next two days, which kept us from embarking on our traditional day after Christmas ornament shopping. Instead, the guys shoveled and blew the snow from our street. We did make it uptown to watch Alvin and the Chipmunks--Squeekwal. Claire loved sitting with Ava and wandering back and forth from seat to seat. She also ate half a bag of popcorn, but I guess that is part of the fun of movies. It was her first movie since infancy in a theater and although she went to the Princess and the Frog days later, she still isn't quite ready for the theater. My family packed up and moved on to Bismarck for a few days. It was nice to spend more time with my sisters and Claire especially enjoyed the time with her cousins. Mya even broke another tooth. She wants to stand all the time and loves the love and attention from all. Tonight my sister is hosting a New Year's Eve party. As we left their house this morning, Claire had it in her mind that we were having a party too. We bought some lobster and scallops together with some potatoes, wine and movies. It is fun. Tomorrow we are heading back home. It is definitely bittersweet. I look forward to my own bed, our usual routine and a sense of normalcy, but I will certainly miss my family and Claire and Mya will most definitely miss their Grammy, Papa, Aunties, Uncles, and cousins. They have been spoiled beyond belief but have been really good. Good byes always stink, but thankfully, we'll be together again in April. Although this Christmas has been somewhat strange, it has been wonderful just the same.
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