Christmas Part III

And now to wrap up Christmas.

Christmas Day was spent at Nick's parents' house, as were the next few days before we loaded up and headed back up to Ashland.  Lilly is a big fan of her cousins, so having a few days to just play with her cousins was a big deal for her.  Fun for us as well, both to see her playing independently with her cousins and not having to play with her all the time.  A good break for all of us!  Nick's brother Sam and his wife Suzy were there, along with his brother Ben, his wife Becky, and their three kids.  Arriving on Monday evening, his brother Matt and his wife Nisse.  The kiddos were sad they weren't arriving until dinner time, for present opening had to wait until they arrived.

They had an intricate game happening with unicorns as royalty, other dolls trying
to steal them (including an old man named Bill) and prisons built out of magna tiles.
We also had an intense game of spoons, and Lilly had lots of people read to her.

Another crazy game the big cousins invented.  Suzy played and at one point said,"I have
no idea what I am doing!".  This game involved hiding beanie babies, shooting the other
team with Nerf guns, Nick as a sniper, and other miscellaneous rules.  Lilly was in her safe spot.

The game went on for a very long time.  Tim and Dianne just watched, at first
while in the living room, then they moved to the table.  Greta watched and ate a cookie

Play time

Owen was a dedicated fort builder.  Grandma started wheeling him snow, then Sam and Suzy
worked on the fort, and finally Grandpa - all in the freezing rain.  The rest of us watched from inside.

Present opening.  Again, Greta lost interest.  Some presents didn't get opened until
the following day for her.  Everyone else had no problem opening their presents that evening.

Greta and Cally play with Greta's new cars and car rug

Stomp rockets on the back deck - a bit slippery but Cally got some to the far tree line

Whose toys?

That is basically where the photos from the holiday end.  Nick's parents took Lilly and Greta to the library and McDonald's, while Nick and I went out to lunch with Matt and Nisse and played a game of Settlers of Catan.  That evening after the girls were in bed, we played another round.  It was a nice getaway (minus the fact that my cold turned into a sinus infection and I had to go to urgent care to get some antibiotics), and it was pretty relaxing for all of us.  Lilly struggled coming home again, but kept the tears in more this time than she did at Thanksgiving.  I'll post more later about the rest of our vacation back in Ashland, but now I must really buckle down and grade essays.