Christmas 2014

We got to go to Arkansas for Christmas this year for the first time since 2011! We decided this past summer we would probably try to make it work this year since we will have to start paying for a plane ticket for Samuel after he turns 2.

God totally worked everything out for us, though - another guy in Eric's program asked for their days to be switched around, and as a result, Eric got 9 days off instead of 6!

My brother's college graduation also ended up being the same weekend we flew in, so we got to see him, and my grandparents, one of my aunts and two of my cousins, which probably wouldn't have happened otherwise.

Getting there was a little wild and crazy. Eric worked until almost 8 pm his last day on and then we picked up Chick Fil A and drove to Charlotte to stay the night in a hotel. Samuel was way too hyped up to sleep, so it was close to midnight before we all knocked out.

And of course we were up at 6 and out the door a little after 7 to catch our 9 am flight. It's a good thing we left when we did too - the airport was crazy. Samuel did way better than I expected in the long long lines. The coveted use of our iPhones probably had something to do with that. ;-) We got to our gate about 3 minutes before they were going to close the doors and were the last ones on the flight. Whew!

Flying with an almost-2-year-old isn't the most fun thing ever... I was definitely glad Eric was with me! We watched a lot of tv shows on the iPad and passed him back and forth and took turns singing silly songs and holding him while he cried about not being able to run around. (To be fair, he had a cold, which didn't make things any better!)

We made it, though!

We met my family in Little Rock to celebrate JJ's graduation. Then we all drove back to DeWitt and had "Christmas" there. We went to church on Sunday and spent Monday just hanging around. Samuel got to watch Frozen about a million times and ride on some tractors, play the piano and drink way too much sweet tea. He had a blast.

Morning music time with Grammy!

On Tuesday we made our way towards Magnolia. Most of the week was rainy and dreary, so we spent a couple of days there just hanging out by the fire and watching too much tv.

We did finally get to have some Backyard BBQ (our absolute favorite restaurant!), but it took some serious effort. We attempted to go on Tuesday night when we got to town, but, upon ordering, found that they were out of, um, MEAT.

I promise you, this is the only place in the whole flippin' world that can run out of meat (it's a BAR B QUE PLACE!), be soooo nonchalant about it, and we would still go back the next day. But we did. Or my MIL did, because they weren't actually open, they were just processing the first to-go orders they got. Until they ran out of meat again.

Seriously, though, this stuff is that good.

We made Christmas cookies for Samuel to "decorate" on Christmas Eve. :-)

He loved playing with Eric's old toys!

Anyway, Christmas rolled around on Thursday and I'm pretty sure I was way more excited than Samuel could have imagined being. He had no clue at all what was going on. I, on the other hand, woke up every hour waiting for him to make a peep so I could get him up to show him his new toys! We just gave him his train set and basketball goal on Christmas morning. That was enough to entertain him for a while!

Reading a new book with Granddaddy.

Just watching some Christmas morning PBS. ;-)

We spent a few hours Christmas afternoon out at Eric's aunt's house. They have a few horses, so Samuel got to ride on one of those and play on one of their tractors. He also got cars from pretty much every family member. He was pretty much in heaven. :-)

There were a few more gift exchanges over the next few days. I got Samuel's cold and was a little on the miserable side, but still enjoyed spending time with our family. Eric got the cold on the last day, fun fun!

Samuel was way more cooperative on the flight home and the lines were practically non-existent (Though I should probably add that he was kind of a terror in the airport, throwing major tantrums on the floor multiple times right before getting on the plane. I was pretty afraid getting onto the flight, as were all the other passengers. The magic iPad fixed all of that though. :-)

We had a lot of re-training to do when we got home. Baby boy took some seriously hardy naps the first few days back after missing them most of the week. He's still adjusting to NOT getting electronic devices whenever he wants and NOT getting to watch PBS all morning long while drinking sweet tea and eating whatever he feels like.

It was a ton of fun though, and I'm so grateful we got to see so much of our family at one time! :-)