Christmas Day in Indiana

We traveled through the night on Christmas Eve, and spent Christmas Day with Josh's family in Indiana. We spent Christmas morning at Josh's parents' house, and then went to his grandmother's in the afternoon and saw Josh's aunt, uncle, and cousins as well. It was the first time that side of our family has been all together since June, so it was a very special Christmas Day for all of us.

Family photo in front of one of Nana's many Christmas trees...

Of course Andrew has his toothbrush--it is one of his favorite

things to brush his teeth!

Andrew ran right for the Cozy Coupe from Aunt Amanda--he

was trying to climb in before we could all even follow him into

the room!

Cruising in the new car... Andrew now says "car ride"and "gas"

(he also received a toy gas pump for the car).

With Mommy at GiGi's house...

I love to climb on Daddy!

Christmas Morning at Home

Our Christmas morning at home was actually on Christmas Eve Day. We treated the day just like Christmas morning--we woke up and opened gifts, and ate our big Christmas breakfast. Andrew absolutely loved his new train table--he couldn't get down out of Josh's arms fast enough to play with it. We thought he would pull the tracks apart immediately, but to our surprise, he seemed to know exactly what to do with the trains on the tracks. He kept saying "Choo choo!" Last year on Andrew's first Christmas, we started a new Bolin family tradition. Each year, Andrew receives three gifts on Christmas morning. We have told him that three gifts were brought to baby Jesus, and that is why he receives three gifts as well. His other gifts this year were a popping push lawn mower, and a set of the Yo Gabba Gabba figurines that he sought after during the play group Christmas celebration. He has been toting around the Gabba figures since he opened them...

Running to get to his new train table...

Pulling the trains along the tracks...

Choo, choo!

With Daddy open a present... I am such a big helper!

Christmas Eve

We celebrated our Christmas Eve today since we will be traveling tomorrow night on Christmas Eve. In the tradition of both the Bury and the Bolin families, we opened up our new Christmas pajamas on Christmas Eve. We decided on penguin pajamas this year since Andrew has such a love for his "pengs" (as he calls them)...

Opening up the traditional Christmas Eve pajamas.

Matching in penguins...

Our family room after Santa came... :-)

Christmas with Everett

We had Andrew's friend Everett (with our friends David and Lisa) over this morning for breakfast. The boys exchanged gifts--Yo Gabba Gabba bath toys for Andrew, and a Yookido bathtime faucet for Everett. Ever since Andrew opened his new toy, he has been carrying the pieces around and asking to take a "baff". We have even had a few waterless "baths" today just to sit and play with our new toy. The new Gabbas are definitely a big hit! Thank you Watsons!

Play Group Christmas Celebration

Today we did a Christmas themed play group with some of Andrew's little friends from Gymboree class. The kids all did a Secret Santa exchange, and Andrew received these great animal puzzles from his friend Alex. Its so hard to believe that when we first met all of our Gymboree friends, none of the kids were even walking. Wow, how time flies... They are all getting so big!

I love this little gingerbread man outfit on him...

Alex's gift was a set of Yo Gabba Gabba figures. Ironically enough, she didn't get to play with them that day--the three "big" kids fought over them!

Finally, time to look at all the Gabba Gang!

Time out from playing for a quick hug from Mommy...

Thanksgiving

We spent Thanksgiving at home this year, and it was the first year that we spent the holiday with both my parents and Josh's parents. It was wonderful to have everyone together, as we all have so much to be thankful for this year. Andrew especially loved having us all together at once--you could tell he loved being the center of everyone's attention. It was also my first year to cook an entire Thanksgiving dinner. With help from my "sous chef" (my mom), everything went off without a hitch!

The finished turkey--yum!

Andrew loved the mashed potatoes, and did surprisingly well with his spoon.

He liked them so much, that he thought Elmo might want to take a bath in them...

Clapping for himself... He knows he is very entertaining. :-)

My little boy... He is such a sweetheart!

Charlotte's Baptism

Our 4-month old niece, Charlotte was baptized today. It was the first time that Andrew has seen either of his cousins since his surgery in October. He and Lily Catherine were so excited to see each other, and they had a lot of fun playing together while we took pictures before church. You could tell they really missed each other during Andrew's recovery.

Playing with Puppies

Andrew was so excited to see the pups when we got home from the Zoo today... It seems his favorite animals are the ones right here at home!

Playing with Lexi and Jake...

I love to chase the puppies!

Trying to give Lexi kisses... So sweet!

Zoo Day

This morning, we took Andrew to the Zoo for the first time. He seemed to enjoy the animals a bit, but he really had fun picking up all the leaves and sticks from the ground. We think he tried to make it his personal mission to collect as many as he could...it was so funny. We had a beautiful day for the trip, and we will definitely be going back again soon!

Walking on our way to see the animals...

Looking at some of the big blue birds...

We're not sure if he was more interested in the animals, or his reflection...

Giving rocks to Daddy.

On our way to lunch with Mommy.

Fall Fun

The weather has been absolutely beautiful here this week, and since we received "clearance" from the doctor on Wednesday, we have been outside as much as possible... As you can see, Andrew really enjoyed being able to play outside again!

Playing in all the leaves...

A quiet moment... a rare occurrence these days ! :-)

Andrew really missed playing outside...

Having so much fun!

This one is my favorite...

Playing with Mommy

Here are a few pictures of us playing while Andrew's been at home recovering...

Andrew's Second Halloween

We returned home from our second hospital stay the day before Halloween.  Since we still need to be concerned with preventing infection, we were not able to go trick-or-treating this year, but we did dress Andrew up anyways.  He loves frogs, but was definitely not a fan of the frog hood that we kept trying to put on him!  We did manage to get a few pictures though, once he resigned himself to the fact that we weren't going to take the costume off right away... Hopefully next year will be a better year for tolerating his costume!  

The first attempt with wearing the hood...

Chasing Mommy around the house is such a fun game!

Who wouldn't love this huge smile???

Whoops!  Busted...

Snuggling with my froggie--aren't they going to take this costume off yet?