Good thing I finally got this post up, before Christmas 2010 rolled around! We hope you all had a relaxing holiday, full of fun, good food, and family.
We started Gus' Christmas early, on December 22
nd. He opened some gifts at home before we headed back to Minot on Wednesday.
Of course, the $1
jumprope was his favorite gift of the night.
When we arrived in Minot, he started a new holiday tradition: posing shirtless with Christmas decorations.
He was really into this shot because his own Christmas card was on display behind him.
He ripped into some more gifts on Christmas Eve at
Gma Vickie and
Gpa Dave's.
Then off to the other grandparents house for Christmas Eve dinner, Thursday night.
Arggghhh!
Gus learned all the proper names in his first nativity scene. He kept turning off all the lights just so he could light up the star and angel in pure darkness.
The highlight of the evening was watching Josh and
Christy open gifts for their little baby boy. This little guy already has some nice stuff. They received a
glo worm, or as we called her when Gus was a babe, J-
Glo. As soon as Josh opened it up, Gus high-tailed it over to check it out.
So Elefun really IS fun. I'll post a couple shots of him in action with his
Elefun soon.
Read up!
Gus got a remote control car. He got low, into a stance, each time he'd put it into motion.
He wore himself out chasing the car around the house and needed a juice break.
Christmas Day morning came quick! Cars with
Gpa Dave was the highlight of the morning.
It's like Gus knew the blizzard of the year was about to begin.....
We headed to Great-
Gma Ethel's house for Christmas Dinner on Friday.
Gus and Laura enjoyed each bite.
Bjorn was Gus' personal manicurist.
He burned off every calorie from dinner by wrestling wrapping paper in a cardboard box.
He invited Maren in for a few.
Later in the day, he lead the room in Going On a Bear Hunt. This is the "freeze" portion.
And while were enjoying each other's company inside
Gma's toasty house, a blizzard was brewing outside. Our car was buried by 7pm. Dad loaded us all up in his truck and we made it back to their house for the night.
The next day, we did not grill.
Gus watching his Uncle Josh blow out the driveway.
Did I mention despite our heavy duty
snowblower, we were snowed in, all day long Saturday? The streets weren't plowed until later in the evening, so we had no chance of getting anywhere. Late in the afternoon, the delirium set in.
This wind-up swimming frog is great!
We weren't too cold to have a
popsicle for a snack.
About 7pm on Saturday evening we were able to make it safely back to
Gpa Dave and
Gma Vickie's house. The next morning we got up and had another wonderful Christmas meal. Because of the blizzard, Ross' family's Christmas was postponed until Sunday.
Gus smiling away with his Great Aunt Nancy.
More turkey!
Gus and his Great-Gma Betty played a duet.
He received the coolest gift from little Sofie, a harmonica! Here Patty and Nancy were giving him some pointers.
His second favorite toy was the spiky green ball.
Here's Sofie with her cuz, Holly.
Halleluah! A mini ping pong set of his very own.
Gus observed Sofie's aquarium (a little jealous, I think).
Great pic!
Gus with the girl cousins, Laura, Jenna, and Holly.
Holly and Gus.
Gus and Grandma.
Shortly after this shot, we headed back to Fargo. When we arrived at home, we hiked through the massive banks to our front door. Gus worked off some energy inside while Ross worked outside removing snow until about 10:30pm. Ahhh, reminds us of last winter.
Merry Christmas, everyone!
The kids woke up on Saturday morning ready to party. Gabby's hair is a scream.
Michelle, Erica (a best friend of hers since high school), and I, then left the kids in their PJ's on Saturday morning and took off to run a 5K in Waconia. We had fun but remind me never to run a race in January in the midwest again. It was so cold.
Gus took some time on Saturday morning to relax and unwind in Gabby's recliner. He borrowed her pink DVD player, too, to watch Little Einsteins.
Later that afternoon, they both ended up in the office watching classic Sesame clips on sesamestreet.com. They shared a chair at first, but things got too violent.
So we had to separate. It was much more safe after that.
We were able to enjoy an evening out on Saturday which was great. I had flashbacks to the good old days. We had the best babysitter for the kids, Allie. She's a young lady who I used to babysit for all the time when I first moved to MN and I should mention she is wise beyond her years. She handled the 1 and 2 year olds like a pro, both were sleeping before 8:45pm.
Fast forward 8 hours: what could be better than carrying around 2 cute kids first thing in the morning? Maybe a shower and a chance to wake up and have some coffee before snapping a picture? Yes. I apologize for the 7am morning photo of me. Scary.
Before we headed back to ND, we did the ceremonial posing-of-the-kids. Good news, it's getting easier. They really like each other!
Cute stuff, and a great weekend. I meant to get a photo of the breakfast gathering we had with the Goin's, Holly, and Tara & Buzz, but I ran out of time. That too, was great. Thank you for hosting and for everything!
