Christmas Vacation

One of the advantages to being in grad school is a nice, long Christmas break to enjoy being together as a family. Andrew had over five weeks off in December and January and he had earned every day of that vacation!

We spent a week relaxing around the house and basking in our exciting news (I'll save the details for another post):

December 14--our family of three is now four!

I also had interviewed for a position as a dental hygienist on Fridays at Peaksview Dental in Bedford, Virginia (about 20 miles down the road). Our friend, Dr. Rudy Wolf, is a dentist there and offered us an opportunity that I just couldn't pass up. Imagine my surprise to learn that I had accepted a job and then found out I was pregnant AGAIN (same thing happened with Cambria when we moved to Lynchburg in 2013!)  What can I say? Job interviews must make me fertile!  Thankfully, Dr. Wolf was willing to hold the position until we returned from our Christmas vacation.

We packed up the car and drove to Indianapolis, Indiana on Friday, December 19.  Cambria always does really well in the car other than needing a little entertainment every now and then.  She does not like to sleep in the car and so we are lucky if we can get a nap or two for about 20-30 minutes each out of her when we drive all day like that.

We stopped in Indianapolis to spend the weekend with our awesome, amazing, super fun, incredible friends the Silvas.  We are so happy that Chris accepted a job in Indy and moved the clan so close to where my parents live--probably more happy about it than Chris and Amy are!  We love spending time with them and are so grateful for their friendship.  They are our friends that seem to pave the way for us--marriage, kids, grad school, Dominion addiction...we look up to them so much!

There were board games aplenty to be played while we were in Indianapolis. It was a nice warm-up for the weeks ahead with my family. We also went downtown to see the lights.

Of course we had to take photos of the kids altogether in their Christmas outfits after Church.  It was a little tricky to get all three to smile together but not for lack of trying.

 Peter is just a few weeks older than Cambria. We have high hopes for these two and plan to vacation together frequently as families to force allow this romance to blossom.

Looking at these photos, I can't help but be reminded of the nursery rhyme:

Jack Sprat could eat no fat,

His wife could eat no lean.

And so between them both, you see,

They licked the platter clean!

All too soon we had to say goodbye so that the Silvas could leave for their family Christmas in Colorado and we could head north a little over an hour to West Lafayette to be with my family.

Since I get REALLY SICK and REALLY TIRED with my pregnancies, we knew there was going to be no way I could hide it from my ever-watchful sisters and Mom for two whole weeks. As it was, we almost broke down and told the Silvas a handful of times! Andrew and I agreed that we needed to break the news to my family members that were going to be with us for the holidays and pretty early on to trump my sisters' suspicions.  So we made our announcement at dinner, about an hour after getting in, and still had to put up with the "I knew it!" squad. Thanks, Sarah and Lisa, for telling me I "looked" pregnant at five weeks. I will treasure that.

Everyone except for Kyle's family was able to be in Indiana for Christmas. It was so fun to get together and again I am reminded that these gatherings may become fewer and farther between as our family expands geographically and in numbers. Curt has become our coordinator for these events and I believe we had a spreadsheet for activities, dinner assignments, the sibling gift exchange and what board games each family was bringing.

I especially love seeing Cambria play nicely with all of her cousins! The sharing will come later, I hope.

This Wiggles guitar was one of JC and Trinity's favorite toys and has been passed down among all of the grandchildren. Cambria definitely has the best rock star technique since she can play with her teeth. Our child is a wild one!

Monday morning we all did some last minute shopping at Super Target (be still my heart!).

Julie and Cambria strapped in and ready to S-H-O-P

That night for Family Home Evening, I organized some "Minute to Win It" Reindeer Games for all of us to play.  We found a box of ugly sweaters from a few years ago tucked under one of the upstairs beds, and dressed with plenty of Christmas cheer.

Vanessa, Ian, and Curt

Emily, Cole, and Julie

JC, Sarah, Todd, and Trinity

Dad and Mom featuring Flurry

Lisa and Millie

Andrew and I (happy that Cambria is asleep!) with little "Baby Poppyseed"

Thank heavens my Book Club had a holiday party a few weeks before so that I could get some ideas for games.  Our first game involved blowing up ten balloons and stuffing them into a pair of pantyhose that went on top of our heads to look like deranged, colorful reindeer antlers.

We made whipped cream tannenbaums and measured to see who had the tallest "tree" before they started melting.

We put a cookie on our forehead and had to work it down our faces and into our mouths without using our hands.

We "built snowmen" mummy-style out of toilet paper (much to the chagrin of Dad who was trying desperately all week to keep the full household stocked!)

And we drew Christmas tableaus on a paper plate perched on top of our heads without looking.

We finished off the nights with cookies and hot cocoa.  I hope we can do this again!

A bunch of us went ice skating Tuesday afternoon at the outdoor ice rink downtown.  This has been a fun tradition since my parents moved to Indiana.

Limbering up before getting on the rink

Ian was kind of sad so I tried to give him a Puff and he refused to eat it

On Christmas Eve, we all met up at Steak & Shake for cheap burgers and fries and half price milkshakes.  Cambria had her first taste as we have just started her on table food.  Go figure, she liked it!

Both of my grandmas are now in assisted care facilities so we decided to go and sing Christmas carols later that afternoon to them and the other residents. We are so blessed that they have been moved to homes that are both less than three minutes from where my parent's live!

Grandma Martin

Pooma and Trinity with the sleigh bells

Cambria hasn't quite caught the spirit of Christmas--it looks like she is about to start something with Ian

We also decorated sugar cookies that night.  I am so glad that Andrew understands how important it is to bring your A-game to this particular tradition.

Someone is getting excited about Christmas...(and baby diaper bums are just so dang cute!)

The Pajama Elf came to visit with new Christmas jammies for all of the cousins!

As soon as the kiddos were all tucked into bed, Santa's Workshop was officially opened!

What a haul this year!

Early the next morning (but, thankfully, not too early), we lined up on the staircase in age order for the traditional descent to gift-unwrapping mayhem. I didn't get as many photos as I wanted of the morning mostly because I was busy burning down the kitchen with a double batch of Pioneer Woman's Breakfast Casserole and smoking everyone out of the house.  Oh well!

The cousins are all lined up and ready to go!

After presents and a smokey breakfast, we got dressed for our family dinner.  Unfortunately, that is when the socializing started and the picture-taking stopped. In fact, almost all of the photos from Christmas day were swiped from Todd's phone!

We had a wonderful holiday and the following days were a relaxing mix of entertainment and naptime (heavy on the naptime for me!) All of the peer pressure from Cambria's cousins started to pay off and Cambria started hitting developmental milestone after milestone!

The day after Christmas she finally started crawling.  It wasn't your normal crawl and never evolved to be but we'll take the advance in mobility.  If she wasn't such a cute little girl, this crawl could be in a horror movie it's so creepy looking! (Of course Andrew and I were out on a lunch date when she started crawling!)

On December 27, Cambria learned to push herself up to sitting from laying down.  This was discovered at 2 AM when she woke up crying more than usual.  I finally went to check on her and she was stuck sitting up and couldn't figure out how to lay back down.  Unfortunately, this repeated itself several times throughout the night and for the following couple of weeks.  

On December 28, Cambria said her third word: "da" for "dog" thanks to Bailey and Millie running around all week.  She was fascinated by the dogs but didn't especially want to play with them and vice versa.

Also on December 28, I discovered Cambria's left maxillary first molar erupting.  This definitely explained her crankiness and why she kept waking up throughout the night.

On December 30, Cambria started to point at people and things.  I also noticed that she understood when I asked her if she "wanted to eat" and she would naturally get rather excited at the prospect of food.

On January 1, Andrew found Cambria standing up in her pack & play after her nap. That was the first time she had pulled herself up and she became proficient at it rather quickly thus completing all of her movement transitions that we had been waiting and waiting and waiting for her to learn.  She also was taught to blow kisses by Granny Slash while we were all watching the Rose Bowl.

During our break, we would often go to my parent's stake center to play basketball or volleyball.  The stake center is located in the neighborhood across the street from my parent's subdivision so it is quick and easy to hop over there as long as we can track down a key.

Sarah bought all of the sisters and sisters-in-law gingerbread house kits to have a decorating competition.  Man, I thought our sugar cookies were intense but the gingerbread houses easily take the cake.  Sarah and Lisa had made houses last year and studied up in preparation for this year's contest.  I was not prepared but I vow to "bring it" next year.

Trinity made a gingerbread nativity set

I am in need of some serious inspiration!

Sarah is so confident that she will win this year!

Lisa is quietly confident in her masterpiece

My finished house!

Dad took it upon himself to be the judge and declared us all winners.  Wah-wah!

We celebrated Andrew's belated birthday with Lisa on December 30. Cambria was happy to help with his presents now that she has a knack for it.

We also went bowling as a family per Lisa'a request. I am a seriously horrible bowler but I sure do love to go bowling when my family all gets together.

We loved spending time together for the holidays! So many memories and such good times! I especially love when Cambria can play with her aunts, uncles, and cousins. Her antics were rather entertaining for us all. She started to do this thing where she would raise a fist in the air and let loose a string of intense gibberish. We called it her "By the hammer of Thor!" speech. Here she is having an animated dinner conversation with Sarah.

And a final video and some photos of our last day together: