Christmas 2009 in New Jersey

Three kids, two adults, one large dog, one minivan full of luggage for Christmas in New Jersey AND close to a week in Florida afterwards, and unfortunately, several colds a-brewing in myself and the kids, especially Abigail. Basically, that sums up the basic components of our family as we left for Pop and Nana's house on December 23rd. So, needless to say, we took on a lot when we planned our holidays this year but despite all of these caveats, we had a wonderful time visiting with friends and family throughout all of our festivities.

This year, Santa knew that we'd be in New Jersey for Christmas so he planned to make his stop there for the kids. Thank God, since we never would have fit another bag into our minivan if he had expected us to transport all of our gifts to different states! :) So, we spent some time with my parents and some family and friends from December 23rd until the 26th, then we left bright and early on our long drive to Florida the day after Christmas.

Here's little Nate on Christmas Eve, all dressed up...and fast asleep! He hadn't napped that day with all of the excitement of being at his grandparents' house so he fell asleep sitting up on the couch, watching television! If you are a blog follower of mine, you'll note that he has a habit of doing this as I have posted pictures in the past of him sleeping upright while performing basic day-to-day functions (usually while eating a meal or watching a show on TV). Our sweet little man...

And, of course, here's Ben laughing at me while he puts his foot in front of himself as I attempt to take a photo of him, too. Hee hee, I managed to get one anyways, though!

Nate is much more revived after his little catnap and poses for a photo with Pop. Below that, he is all smiles on Pop's favorite chair.

Here is our best attempt at a family photo this year on Christmas Eve. I personally like the way Andrew and I look in this photo so I'll consider it a decent one, even though the kids are all not too thrilled to be posing for the camera!

I took this photo erroneously and then realized that I like it a lot. How often do we forget to capture those small details in babies, such as their little hands and feet? Maybe this is the scrapbooker in me coming forth :)

Miss Abigail relaxing in her bouncy seat on Christmas Eve. As you will note, we finally got our pacifier child! Yes, she loves her Soothie binky and it has helped numerous times in calming her down and keeping her content. She doesn't use it when she sleeps since she sleeps on her tummy, but she loves that thing throughout different times of the day. You also can see fairly well in these photos that I think we have another blue-eyed baby in our family. Abby's eyes are a deep blue and don't seem to be darkening so I think she may take after her big brother Nate!

Here are the boys on the way to their Christmas Eve bath. But wait, it looks like they have found an early present under their pillows :)

Oooh, t's new matching red PJ's and a big, cozy fleece throw in Cars or Thomas the Tank Engine style. How fun! The name tags let them know that our Elf on the Shelf, Thomas, left them there for the boys on behalf of Santa Claus :).

Nate and his Thomas blankie.

And what to my wondering eyes should appear...in the bathtub? Thomas the Elf pays one last visit to report ro Santa if the boys were naughty or nice during bathtime. The boys thanked him for their packages under their pillows :).

All washed, in their new pajamas and with their cozy blankies on Christmas Eve night, right before bed. It's a rare commodity for Ben to look so nice in two pictures so I had to post both of these, even though they are similar. Man, was he excited for Christmas this year! It was the first year he really got VERY excited about it. He was practuically giddy when he went to sleep that night!

And how quickly the next morning came :). We listened to Ben over the monitor on Christmas morning telling Nate that they had to wait for Mommy or Daddy to come and get them before they could head downstairs and see if Santa came for them. It's so cute to listen to the boys' little conversations lately. This nosey mommy has a new-found love of the baby monitor!

Barney getting a closer look at the goodies as Nate opens up his packages.

Later that day, here is Mom with her two helpers in the kitchen - Chang and me in our cute new matching aprons!

After a nice afternoon and evening visiting with Mom's side of the family, we went to sleep and woke up the next morning bright and early to set out on our drive to Florida. Pictures from that part of our trip coming soon :)...