Christmas 2009 in Ohio

Christmas tradition for us, is to drive back to Wilmington, Ohio to spend the holiday with my Dad's family. The trip should only take about 7 hours for us. On our drive this year we had one funny mishap. Josh was driving and having a very important work phone call while I was sitting in the back between Jenna and Peyton who were watching a movie on the drop-down tv. After awhile I look out the window and I was surprised to see an airstrip that had been built for a small town along our route. Then a little later I notice that there was a lot more commercial shopping places in the area than there had ever been. Finally I asked Josh if we were on I-77N...unfortunately we were not on that road but on I-85S. We had missed the turn off and had traveled almost and hour out of our way. Oh well, it made the trip longer, but it's a funny story!



This year there were 25 of us who stayed at my Nana's house...all sharing the 4 bedroom, 2.5 bath house. While quarters were cramped, we managed to make it work. Christmas Eve the extended family all got together to spend time together and celebrate. Here we are all dressed up.




This year was our niece Kandice's first birthday. The night we arrived we all celebrated with her by eating Donato's pizza and having cake. She had fun with the icing once she got over the stickiness of it!

This is my Nana, Shirley, the matriarch of our family. It never ceases to amaze me that she keeps her cool the entire time our family comes and turns her house upside-down. She is also unbelievably generous to all of us. I claim to manage chaos with my kids, maybe I learned it from watching her.






Before bed on Christmas Eve, Aunt Sara took Daniel and Jenna outside to sprinkle the reindeer food they had each made at their preschools. Jenna's had pink sprinkles in it, while Daniel's had green sprinkles!





The older kids had just set out a plate of cookies and milk for Santa and were posing for pictures. The 2 babies were already asleep, but these four cousins were excited!!!








Then it was Christmas morning and here they are waiting for the green light to go down stairs. It is tradition to wait to make sure that everyone is awake and downstairs as a family before we go into the family room. There are numerous pictures in this same place showing different generations waiting here for the same thing! This group has it easy...I remember when I was little we had to wait for my great grandparents to drive over and eat breakfast before we could cross this line.



After 30 years of holding the little kids back in the kitchen so they didn't see the Christmas surprises, my brother rigged up a sheet to block the view. I think I heard someone say...Why didn't we think of this before!







Wow...look what is down here!!!









Peyton and her cousin Kandice both got Lion walkers from Santa. Here they are test riding them together!









Here is little Tinkerbell...I mean Jenna. One of Jenna's gifts was the new movie Tinkerbell and the Lost Treasure along with a Tinkerbell dress-up outfit, which she wanted to wear around the house.











Little Peyton had the best time playing, but was a buster when it came to warming up to folks. Aunt Kitty was smart and held Peyton while giving her yogurt bites. After that they were buds!



We made it home safely on Saturday with no problems and were definitely glad to be sleeping in our beds. When I think back to the whole trips, I am grateful that my whole family still makes the effort to get together. I am thankful for traditions long established that are still practiced. I am thankful and grateful I am married to a man who puts up with all of this. I know it isn't relaxing for him at all, but he does it because he loves me and loves seeing our kids have fun. I am excited that our daughters get to play with all of their cousins and have fun, even when they don't get to be together that often. At the end of the day I feel very blessed for all that I have and for all of the loved ones in my live. Merry Christmas to all and here's to a great 2010!

The Cowley girls

I mentioned how Peyton was walking and she is!!! Every day her confidence grows and she walks more without falling. I finally went and picked my camera up from a friend's house this week and was able to capture the girls in action again.

Here is little Peyton strutting her stuff!

This week Jenna had a Gingerbread Open House at her school. My mom watched Peyton so that Jenna and I could go together. It was so nice getting to spend some one-on-one time with my little girl. Here's Jenna doing a craft project with her friend Sean who also lives in our neighborhood. Have I mentioned that Jenna LOVES to do craft projects!

After our craft project we got to decorate gingerbread men and other cookies followed by snack time. It was so much fun watching little Jenna be creative and introduce me to friends who were also there. She is growing up so fast!

Sisters gotta hug!

Jenna strikes a pose while pretending to be the mommy. Notice how she is wearing my watch.

And she's off...

It is official, Peyton is walking. On the eve of her turning 11 months old, Peyton decided she could do it on her own. She has been walking while holding onto things and keeping her hand on the side of the couch, but yesterday she did it freestyle. She was standing up with her hand on the banister post, dropped her hand, stood there for a second and took off. She made about 7 steps before plopping down with a HUGE GRIN on her face! Then later last night she took off taking 10 steps on her own. It looks like our prediction of Peyton running my Christmas might be accurate!

This morning I witnessed Jenna holding Peyton's little hands and helping her walk all through out the house. This is a vision I need to cherish/remember when they are teenagers and fighting!