Day 232 | All Packed Up

...and ready to go!

We made it thorough one Uber ride to the airport, two flights (but we didn't de-plane in between), and one long car ride to Grandma and Grandpa's house.

Whew. It's hard to say who is most exhausted. I'm leaning towards me. 

Day 231 | Holiday House Scenes

One of the hardest things about visiting family over the holidays (aside from braving the airports during the busiest time of the year) is leaving our own house behind. Oftentimes, I don't spend much energy decorating because it's just not worth it for the couple weeks we're home in December. Thanks to our holiday party (and mostly my mom!), this year was a totally different story. We're bursting at the seams with holiday cheer.

Enjoy the collage above depicting the festive environment that's been getting us in the Christmas spirit all season. I'll miss my own tree, mantle, and decorations as we jump on a plane but I'll take family over holiday isolation any day!

Day 230 | Rec Center Revelry

We finally had the perfect day to get out and experience the Tiny Tots! program at our local recreation center. To call it intense would be a big understatement. It was Chase, Robbe, me and about 30 daycare toddlers with a handful of their caregivers. Whoa.

It took Chase a bit of time to warm up to the chaos but Robbe was right at home. He got lots of attention from the kiddos, as usual, and maneuvered the crowd shockingly well. 

One of the highlights for me? Watching the kids flock to the stereo every time a Frozen song came on (see bottom-right photo). Seriously, they paid no attention to any other Disney song but as soon as they recognized the beginning of a Frozen song, it was like a magnet pulling them in. They went crazy. It was more than a bit amusing. 

Day 229 | Favorite Things Tees: Part 2

The boys love their new t-shirts (remember this project?). Ok, "love" might be a bit strong, but Chase at the very least is very excited.

Day 228 | Christmas Came Early

We head out for our Wisconsin Christmas adventure on Friday so we decided to celebrate our family Christmas yesterday in order to limit the number of gifts we have to haul back and forth.

It was a lovely evening of gift giving. The boys' faces were plastered with smiles and Chase was just as excited about watching Chris and me open gifts as he was about ripping into his own (ok, maybe not just as excited, but close). 

A few highlights? 

1. Chase got a shed for his trains! I asked him this morning if we should call it a shed or a garage and he replied, "let's call it Tidmouth Station" (where Thomas sleeps). It's a big hit. 

2. Robbe opened up a toy chair. It's the updated version of a chair that Chase loves at his grandparents' house so we knew it would be well received. And it's a good thing Robbe is willing to share. 

3. Chris managed to completely blindside me again this year (two years in a row, for the record) with a super sweet and thoughtful gift: a printed book of my first 100 blog posts! The best, right? It's so much more enjoyable to flip through a hard-copy version of the posts than sit in front of a computer and click through the links. I'm a lucky lady.

Day 227 | Santa Fail

 

Our big plans to meet the jolly big guy today failed. Apparently even Santa gets sick (or at least that's what they said). Luckily there's a great train display around the National Christmas Tree so that was a fine consolation prize. You heard right, more trains. We've got to have exhausted all the train exhibits by now, right? We'll see...

Day 226 | More Trains? Yes, Please!

We managed to find yet another holiday train exhibit to enthrall sweet Chase. Today's excursion took us to the College Park Aviation Museum for their "Holiday Trains and Planes" display. They put on a good show and Chase could not have enjoyed it more. That kid definitely loves LOVES trains. Thomas even made an appearance, if you can believe our good fortune. Robbe had a good time, too, although his activity of choice was pulling himself up on a little riser. Whatever it takes.

The top-right photo is from my muffin date with my big man this morning. We snuck away to Union Market for some Christmas shopping. The photo was too cute not to share.