Christmas - Part II Dayton Style

We ended up driving down to Dayton the day after Christmas. We got there around lunch time and the kids took a nap. We did Christmas with my mom and sister Friday night at Jen's house. It was a house full with all of us and 4 dogs!


On Saturday we headed to my dad's and spent the day there. We did Christmas there and Savannah and CJ got their very own laptops! Now they can fit in with mommy and daddy. It was very nice and relaxing. I even got a little nap!



That night Dad watched the kids. I was supposed to go to my mini high school reunion but the Link clan went out. So we headed up to Elsa's and joined the family and quite a few Bad Juans! On Sunday we just hung out.



We went to visit my Grandpa in the nursing home. We got a really nice 4 Generation photo.




Neil thought it would be funny to make CJ look like Rambo. It turned out pretty cute!



I also got some cute video of CJ laughing:


On Monday, Savannah went and got her nails done at Grandma's salon. What a great treat. She did so well. Sat there and let them dry!



Monday night we met up with our old neigbors who are also from Dayton. It was only for a few short hours, but it was great to hang out!

Christmas - Part 1 Cleveland Style

This year we decided to stay home for Christmas Day. It was really nice to be home for Christmas. Now that Savannah is starting to get "Santa" we thought it would be nice to be home. Also for as long as I can remember I have never been home in one place for Christmas.

Christmas eve we went to church with Jim's parents. We went to the early children's service. It was really nice. When we walked in each kid was allowed to pick a costume they would like to depict the Christmas story. There were angels, Mary, shepards, animals, etc. Of course Savannah picked the angels. We didn't think she would actually go up there, but she did. It was so cute the older girls were trying to help her. Once they were done with their part they were supposed to go sit down in the choir pews and Savannah was still there waving to us. Yes we have one of those kids. A nice mom showed her the way to her seat.



We went home and left out cookies and milk for Santa.



The next morning CJ was up early and Savannah was sleeping away. I finally went up there and woke her up to see if she wanted to see what Santa brought. She kind of acted like she had no idea what was going on. So we all went downstairs and she finally got excited. She ripped through her presents. She really opened everyones. She was a good big sister to CJ helping him with his presents. And after all the toys she got, she is telling everyone her favorite present was clothes and underwear! That is a kid for you. And then there was CJ, he was happy to just chew on the wrapping paper!



Christmas night we headed to Diane's house for dinner. It was really nice to spend a little time with them and not feel so rushed to have to get to Dayton.

Trip to Tower City

We were looking for something to do the weekend before Christmas. We wanted to do something holiday related. So Jim came up with the idea to head downtown to Tower City. Now I figured there wasn't much down there since most of the store have closed, but I looked online and they had tons of holiday stuff.

So we got the kids ready and drove to the train station and took the Rapid into town. Savannah thought that was so cool (even though we only took it a few stops!).

Once there we ate lunch and then watched the show they put on. It was about 1/2 hour long. We walked through Gingerbread lane and Savannah and daddy took a train ride.

Daddy even took Savannah into the Twigbee shop to buy me something. He didn't quite understand that everything was only $1-2 and gave her a $20! The "elf" with her spent it all and I got a whole bunch of fun gifts on Christmas morning :)

Gymnastics Open House

The place where Savannah takes Gymnastics has an open house every winter and spring where the parents can watch from the observation deck in the gym vs. the little waiting room that they have.

So Grandma and Grandpa Stobe, Jim, CJ and I went to watch. Overall Savannah did a great job. She just has a hard time waiting in line. She must get that from me :)

Dayton Visit

Jim headed down to Atlanta for the weekend to visit the Browns. So we headed down to Dayton for the weekend. On Friday we took Savannah to Pump It Up which ended up being right by my dad's house. It is a place where they just have a bunch of big bounce houses/slides. Savannah had a great time. They even brought out a few things for CJ to play with. Now that our big guy is finally sitting up he was able to play there on the mat with some toys.


On Friday night we headed to the Cincinnati Zoo with mom, Jen and my stepsister Lori and her two girls. It was a pretty good time other than it was freezing and towards the end Savannah's feet were frozen. I thought about her upper body quite a bit, but didn't really think about doubling up on the socks or wearing better shoes. We learned our lesson :) I was worried about CJ being cold, but I think he was the warmest of us all!

Then on Saturday morning we met my dad at Der Dutchman in Waynesville for a Christmas brunch with his shirt. It was a really nice time. And to top it off, my dad had one sweet shirt on :)



We pretty much rested the rest of the weekend. We were supposed to pick up Jim at the airport in Columbus at around 4 on Sunday and head home from there. Well his first flight was delayed quite a bit so I called Delta and rebooked him on a flight to Cleveland. Then that flight was delayed (both due to mechanical problems). He didn't make it back into Cleveland until 10:30. It was so late that he ended up taking a cab (cost us $50!) and wasn't home until after 11:00. I am quickly learning no matter how much you plan, things don't always go as planned!

Visit with Santa

Savannah and CJ's sitter has a holiday get together every year. She brings santa in and has crafts and food. It is such a fun time. The kids always enjoy it. This was the first time that CJ saw Santa and he was very interested in him. He didn't cry just stared at him. It was pretty cute. Savannah and her two best buddies were there. Savannah and Claire.

Savannah's First Gingerbread House

I bought this Gingerbread house last year at the Pottery Barn Outlet, so it was probably a year old already when I bought it. So I was a bit worried that it wouldn't go together all that well. But Savannah had a great time and I think it turned out well.

Visits with Friends

While we were home for the holiday weekend we had the chance to meet up with some friends. On Friday night we headed down to Cincinnati to meet up with some of Jim's high school/college buddies. We met up with is buddy Jay and his wife and kids. They have twin girls that are 4 and a little baby girl. Savannah loves to hang out with the girls. Took her a little while to get comfortable, but she had fun. We also met up with Kevin and his fiancee Jenny from Honduras. We are heading to their wedding in January so it was nice to hang out with them before we go. We had a great time visiting with everyone. Jenny really took to CJ. Watch out Kevin you may be having kids very soon!



Then on Saturday we went to Panera to meet up with some of my mom's knitting friends which included Becky and Carolyn. We had a great time. We then picked up and moved down the street to Marion's Pizza were we met up with a group of friends from high school. It was great to see everyone.