Okay, okay...

I was waiting for my sister to get her wedding pictures back before I did my Christmas post (you know--to keep things chronologically ordered) but if I don't do it now, it's not going to get done.

So...Christmas!

This year we headed to West Virginia to celebrate with the Bloods.  We decided to open most of our gifts early so we didn't have to haul them on the drive.

Seth was incredibly spoiled (once again!) by Grandma Cathy--Signing Time DVDs, a Lightning McQueen sleeping bag, a Thomas the Train set, and--the favorite--a rocket that lights up and makes noise.  Much, much cooler than the gifts we got him (a dresser and bookshelf for his big boy room).

Jon and I didn't make out too badly either--Jon got himself a TomTom GPS and he got me...a KitchenAid mixer!!!!  My old (seriously pushing 30 years) Sunbeam was falling to pieces.  I LOVE MY NEW MIXER.  Merry Christmas to us!

This year the grand total was 22 people in one house.  Actually, I think we maxed out at 20--Stephen and Claudia scored a room at a neighbor's house.  We were all very, very jealous of their warm showers and quiet house.

Most of Christmas vacation looked like this:

The boys playing Wii.  Specifically, golf and some game involving tanks.  But we did get a little stir crazy one afternoon and decided to get out of the house for lunch and some fun and games.  I got to participate in the lunch part, but it turns out pregnant ladies don't get to drive go-carts or play laser tag.  Lame.  So I was the photographer/videographer (videos coming later).

Here's poor Claudia who is still learning how to drive.  How she ended up racing with Kade, Scott & Stephen who were all trying to run each other off the track is beyond me...

I like how Stephen is doing the Mr. Burns hands in this one.  I believe he was celebrating his victory over Scott & Kade.

And here's (a really, really good picture of--and thus, rare) Jonny!  He tried to take Seth in one of the double carts, but Seth kind of panicked and wouldn't get in.  Of course, once they were done he was all ready to go...

I didn't get any pictures of laser tag, but it was lots of fun.  They actually let those of us who weren't participating hang out in the room and basically be distractions.  Seth was in heaven--he kept calling all the players 'astronauts'.  Something about the glowing vest and guns, apparently...

Christmas Eve we tried to pull of a Nativity play with all the grandkids (and the younger Bloods).  Seth was supposed to play Joseph to Jocelyn's Mary, but he was having none of that.  Then he got demoted to a wise man, but he just threw the crown off.  So instead he was the monster running crazy in the middle of the Nativity.  This picture pretty much sums up how the Nativity story went at our house:

Seth understood a lot more about the whole Christmas deal this year.  Not quite enough to be excited about Christmas morning, but he recognized Santa Claus and he LOVED opening presents.  Especially when those presents contained chocolate or candy canes.

We learned our lesson this year--no more opening presents early.  Poor Seth had to sit and watch his cousins open their fun toys while he was left with the dregs (all his fun gifts were back at home--we didn't want to lose pieces).  Next time we'll be hauling them ALL to West Virginia.

We tried to stave off his frustration by letting him open all of our gifts, but the only one he really cared about was the one with all the candy in it.  It almost killed him to have to wait for our turn to open the gift:

Finally getting some of the good stuff:

Once the candy was open, he entertained himself by playing with Megan's new toys.  I love this picture--Wendy lecturing Megan, who was lecturing Seth for playing with her new toys.

Someone gave James a bunch of knives for Christmas.  No idea what they were thinking.  ;)

And here's Seth's opinion about 22 people opening Christmas gifts in one room:

Later that afternoon we went out and enjoyed the Christmas snow we got.  Please ignore the unmatching gloves--that's what happens when you're living in chaos.  This is also the part where I dropped my camera in the snow and didn't realize in until bedtime that night.  Thank heaven it survived!

That evening we celebrated Rebekah's 2nd birthday.  She loves buses, so Scott and Mary requested a bus cake.  It's always hard to make cakes somewhere different, but I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.  My favorite part was the flavors--they requested chocolate cake with raspberry filling and chocolate mousse filling.  So good...

Rebekah was so excited about the bus.  Unfortunately, she didn't realized that it wasn't actually a bus and was pretty upset when it crumbled in her hand.  Poor thing!

We usually stay until after New Years, but pregnancy and air mattresses don't mix for long, so we cut our visit short.  It's always hard to leave, knowing that we won't all be together again until the next year.  But we can't wait for the chaos next time--there will be at least 3 new babies in the mix by Thanksgiving!

Thank you once again to Mom & Dad Blood for feeding us and putting up with all our complaints about cold showers.  You know it can't be that bad because we keep coming back every year!

(Thanks, Elizabeth, for sharing pictures!  Let me know if you want any of mine!)