Fun, fun, fun

Hope everyone's had a great holiday season. We definitely enjoyed ours. We had a great Thanksgiving that we hosted at our house. We had a great turnout although we missed Ian & Nikki. It's so fun to have a house to do that kind of thing in. It's almost like being a grown-up. :-)
We enjoyed getting ready for Christmas. Kyrie's best friend (along with my best friend, her mom) was out of town which was kind of stinky but we managed to entertain ourselves with Christmas crafts. We enjoyed Christmas Day at Ian & Nikki's. Nikki is always a great hostess and we have so much fun hanging out with them. Rob's parents gifted everyone funny t-shirts which were a hoot. They were some very interesting gifts exchanged and I think everyone had a great day...except perhaps the inflatable, remote-control sumo wrestlers but that's another story entirely.
After Christmas, we had a fun holiday extra. My parents & little sister, Ani, came into town to visit. Kyrie had no idea they were coming. We had a great story for her, too. She knew that my sister, Leslie, and her family were moving into town on Dec. 30. We told her that some of Leslie's family was coming in early to be here to help them unload and visit and such. Of course, she was thinking more of Leslie's in-law family. She asked what their names were so I told her my parents' middle names. She asked if she'd met them before. I told her she may have met them at my parents' house a couple of years ago. Ha! Am I good or what? When she saw Ani, she went crazy. For a second, you could tell her brain was trying to register what was going on, then she squealed and ran over to her. It was so fun. Ani actually hadn't known she was coming to visit until she checked her stocking Christmas morning so everyone was having fun.
I do have to share the funny luggage story. My mom, as some of you certainly know, is a little, er, distracted, we'll say. It's definitely not a question of intelligence or anything but it's certainly a question of something. So we go to wait for the luggage on the carousel. My dad & Rob were standing up by the carousel and I suggested my mom could wait back by Ani, Kyr and me so there would be less congestion up there. Dad says he needs her up there to point out her bags. Oh, he so didn't need the help she could offer. I say this because 2 of her bags went by many, many times before she realized they were hers. The 2nd one had been going around most of the time they were waiting. We only realized it was hers because one of the airport employees saw Ani looking at it and pulled it off for her to check. This was almost 30 minutes later. It was insane. In my mother's (pathetic) defense, these bags were recent acquisitions so she wasn't completely familiar with them. However, she had specifically said they weren't hers multiple times. I just have to say that the Lord must have loved us children because we all survived...more or less.
We had an awesome visit with them which was made even more fun by Leslie & her family arriving. A few weeks before we left Oregon to come back to the Promised Land (aka Texas), their family moved to New York (outside Syracuse) for her husband to go to school. It's been about 18 months since we last saw them. Her 3 children have turned into 4. It's been so fun to get to know them again. They are such interesting, curious, and loving children. The baby, Grant (or "Gant" as his sister, Hatty, calls him) is the newest addition. He's a chunky, drooling chub with the biggest smile. We're so happy to have him here, too. A week after Leslie's family arrived, her husband left for a 2-month clinical in New Orleans that is part of his schooling. Due to this, Leslie's been attending church with us so I get to have her kids in Primary with me. It's just like old times because I was their Primary president before they left. It's just great to have them back around.
Mom, Dad & Ani left too soon, of course. We had a wonderful time just hanging around with them. Sometimes it's fun to do things on vacation, but sometimes it's nice to just hang out. It's amazing how big Ani has gotten. It's like I turned around and Baby Ani is Taller-than-Me-Somehow Ani. I'm beginning to understand my mom's chagrin when I outgrew all her shoes at age 11 or 12.
We're settling into post-holiday life nicely. I feel spoiled rotten to have 2 baby nephews in such close reach of me. And they're both just so squishy & adorable. I LOVE it!! I had no idea it would be so fun to be an auntie.