Christmas Vacation: Part 2 Lee Family

We headed to Bowling Green on December 27th and stayed through the new year until January 4th. Christmas was a big deal for the family this year. It was the first time Laura and Will and the boys had been home for Christmas in over two years. The last time I had seen my sister Caleb was about the age of Anna Kate! SO much has happened in all of our lives since then. When I first saw her sitting in Mom and Dad's living room, it was like, "Oh hi! There's Laura!" It didn't seem out of the ordinary for her and the boys to be there. That's the thing about living in our digital age; we're still able to maintain connections. We "see" each other all the time on Facebook or Facetime. We often text one another and send photos. We read each other's blogs or newsletters. So, even though it had been over two years since seeing each other, it hadn't felt as long as that with all the ways we can still communicate. Still, nothing like hugging and kissing your family in person!

Our time went by so quickly! We had several meals together with the whole family. We were able to attend church with them twice. We spent an evening with Dad's siblings and their families at my Aunt Cindy's house. Mom and Dad treated Laura and me to a spa gift certificate to get massages. (I think they realized how stressed Laura and I were with our trips to KY this year!) We celebrated Mom's 60th birthday with a meal and cake at the church's party room. The whole family was there as well as most of Mom and Dad's siblings and their spouses (and Memommy!) Emily and Caleb enjoyed playing outdoors on their property and swing set. Jeremy and I really appreciated having extra holding hands to help us with the kids during our time in Louisville and Bowling Green. Even now that we are back home, there are SO many evenings that I wish one of the grandparents could just rock Anna Kate for us while I read a long story with Emily. Now that Christmas is over, it's time to start planning our vacation weeks for when the grandparents come visit us in California. Love our families so much!

Silly Pop!

What a cute little kid's table!

Caleb jumped into the photo of my sister and me

We were treated to a lovely Christmas pageant by our children and nieces and nephew! My Mom was so sweet to organize their costumes and get them all ready. The kids were so proud of themselves and happy to put on a show for their parents! 

Little dude buried in presents!

Woohoo! Paw Patrol! This is Caleb's favorite cartoon right now--obsessed! 

A photo to capture a little of the fun chaos. 

This was a surprise big hit with Emily. She has loved creating cute things with her bead toy.

Anna Kate looks pretty comfortable in Uncle Stephen's arms.

The grandkids enjoying popcorn and a movie.

Aunt Mima made a quilt for all of the great grandkids! So generous and thoughtful.

We took the kids to cousin Jason's fire dep't to explore on a cold dreary day in BG

The Littlest Fire Marshall

Driving the big truck!

Cute photo op that didn't exactly get the expressions we wanted! ha!

Caleb was feeling under the weather and clingy. I knew he felt bad when even a trip to the fire dep't couldn't make his mood better.

Not the best photo of me, but oh how sweet is his face! 

Memommy holds Knox while Hudson plays a game.

Watching a show on the Leap Pad with cousin Hunter

I wanted to take a photo of Mom and Dad's house because it could very likely be the last time we're all in it together. They are putting it up for sale this spring and plan to build a new home on the property they inherited from Memommy and Grandaddy Lee's farm. I have mixed feelings about Mom and Dad moving. I want the best for them and I know they are excited to build again, but this has been home for my whole life--the place I can come back to no matter where I move. The land means more to me than even the house. It's on a beautiful large lot with acres of farmland in front and to the side of the house and woodlands to the back. The land has been in the Meisel family for several generations. It's just so, so sad to see our childhood home go to anyone else. 

Wonder how many times my siblings and I sat on this very same swing?

One last shot of my sis and our babies!

This year Emily asked Santa Claus for one thing. A dollhouse! We couldn't get her a dollhouse in KY, but Santa wrote her a note Christmas morning saying he had left it in our house in CA! Emily got so many things for Christmas that I don't think she was the least bit sad about not having it that morning. When we got home the evening of January 5th, a huge box was wrapped under our tree waiting for her to open. I wish we would have also had time to put it together, but we wasted no time and she was playing with it the next day.