Merry Christmas!

Grant was quite excited for Christmas this year.  Although, he wasn't too excited about seeing Santa. Thankfully we got to see most of our immediate family during the holiday season.  Every time we asked Grant what he thought was in a present he would say, "Thomas" or "a Thomas Toy".  I thought maybe he would be getting "trained out" but he wasn't and thankfully Santa did bring him a train with a wooden train track.

This is Christmas Eve about 2 am.  Santa arrived a little later than expected at our house!

Actually to go back a little further, a few days before Christmas Eve we went to Jason and Heather's.  It was a rainy couple of days but the kids had a blast together playing in the house.  Here are a few of our favorite pics from the trip.

Grant absolutely loved playing with Cody.  He kept asking, "What's Cody doing?"  Actually, even before our visit Lara and I were surprised to hear Grant say in his crib, "Have muscles like Cody" and then flex his arms!  I think it is safe to say that he looks up to his oldest boy cousin.

We slept downstairs and Cody and Carly followed us down as we were getting Grant ready for bed.  They both wanted to sleep with him.  Cody even said he would sleep on the floor.  

It was a great visit and we can't wait to see you guys again.

After that trip came Christmas.  Christmas morning was pretty special.  Grant was excited to go "downtairs" and open presents.  

As you can see here, he was pretty patient with us getting some of his toys out of the box.  He even took a break at one point and got a book off his bookshelf.  He was a super good shopper when I was looking for something for Lara.  He would see something and say, "Mommy needs this".  I think everything he pointed out she would have liked.  I did take his advice on a few presents!    

We left our house in the afternoon (thankfully didn't hit a deer this year!) and arrived at the Standfest Cabin in the woods.  We had a wonderful Christmas dinner and enjoyed spending time with the family.  Grant and Sofia seemed to buddy up.  Sofia was trying to get Grant cookies and other kids sippy cups.  It was sweet that she was trying to take care of him.  At one point I picked up Grant and she said, "No, that's my Grant".
 

At night Grant just couldn't get to sleep.  He was nearly hyperventilating he was crying so hard and just wouldn't calm down and go to sleep.  Eventually I told him that he could sleep in bed with Lara and I.  However, we wouldn't be in bed for awhile so he would have to rest in bed and wait for us to come up.  Surprisingly the little bugger did stay in bed and didn't fuss anymore.  Somehow when we got up to bed his little body was sprawled out across the whole bed.  It was the first time ever (yes, ever...even as a little baby) that he slept in bed with us.  
 

We still had one more Christmas celebration to go.  We took a trip to Gram and Aunt Peg's the day after Christmas.  We also got to celebrate with Aunt Connie, Jackie, and Mikey.  Grant enjoyed being the center of attention and really hammed it up.  We had another great visit and enjoyed catching up with everyone.  It was just such a wonderful Christmas this year.  Thanks everyone for making our holiday so special!