Christmas in Kansas

Our family loaded up and headed to Kansas to spend the Christmas holiday with our families. First stop was Nana and Papa's house. Papa had a surprise for the kids before they even opened their presents: A big jump house in the garage! The kids jumped and played until they were exhausted Tuesday and Wednesday. We also visited Ling and Hoopy's house, for a change of scenery to play. Christmas Eve morning everyone gathered in Nana and Papa's basement to open presents. The kids were all in their PJ's and seemed to enjoy handing out the presents before tearing into their piles! After everything was opened, the kids all went upstairs for a break while the adults reloaded for the BIG stuff...trampolines, a train table and a head (check out the pic!). The kids played all day long with their new loot, and made lots of memories. Two other memories for that day: Ling and myself had a stomach bug and, on a happier note...it snowed! It would be a white Christmas in Kansas!

Christmas morning we went to Gram and Poppy's house. Uncle Frank was already there when we arrived, and Unkie and Staci (with soon-to-be baby boy cousin) followed close behind us. We opened presents that afternoon and immediately started charging the RC cars all the boys got in their stockings. The traditional "Silly Santa" appeared soon after the wrapping paper was cleared and we all enjoyed funny stories about things that happened in the past year and opened another round of gifts related to our "story". Once again, the kids played the rest of the day with new goodies and raced cars in the garage. One last memory for Christmas: Geoff got the stomach bug that night. We stayed and played the next day too, and actually went out and enjoyed the drifted snow in the backyard. Although it was just too darn cold to stay out too long! Gram then got the bug too, and with that we decided it was time to cut the trip short and head back to Arkansas. Although we had a wonderful time, we hated that the holiday was tinged with illness. Hopefully the new year will bring healthy days for all!