Christmas with Family

The day after Christmas we got together with our extended family. We had such a great time, sharing good food and good fun, including board games and sledding.
Colin got so hungry waiting for lunch that he bit the table.
Grandma was impressed!
Eventually we let him have real food. :)
After lunch, Colin got some chocolate from Nana.
It was so good to get to see my grandparents!
The guys spent some time shooting over the weekend out at my aunt and uncle's. Here's Michael showing John how to clean his new AR-15.

We also all went sledding, but all those pics are on my sis's camera, so I'll get some up here later!
I miss these guys so much, so I was glad everyone got to be in town at the same time with all the spouses and kiddos! Such a great week!

No Poker Face

The Piano Man

My sister gave Colin his first piano lesson while we were in Missouri. He now knows "low" from "high", black keys from white keys, and that a piano has a total of 88 keys. End of lesson.
He sang a bit while playing too; very cute!

Raised by Wolves

In spite of how cute he can be, sometimes I wonder if my son is being raised by wolves.

Not sure exactly why, but for some reason Colin decided to play tug-of-war with the dogs and the new dog toys...

Christmas Day

On Christmas morning we headed to Missouri to see my family.
Colin traveled so well, singing, playing with sock puppets and his new toys.
When we got there, the first thing he wanted to do was read with my mom. He quickly found a book she reads to him on Skype all the time!
I love my mom's Christmas tree and spent a while playing with my new camera and trying to get a picture that did it justice.
After a yummy dinner, we opened presents.
Colin got a ton of new books, many of which he has memorized already, thanks to a constant stream of people willing to read them!
He got a new farm set, which he loves.
And also an ocean rug and lots of ocean animals for it from Aunt Katelyn.
Colin loved all his new gifts, but more than that, I think he enjoyed having an audience and family to play with.

Christmas Eve

We spent Christmas Eve at Gary and Cathy's with the Gray side of the family. We had such a fun evening. Here is just a smattering of the pictures I took:
Gary just got the same camera I did ~ neither of us are good at using it yet!
The grandparents...

The Prince and the Frog

While waiting for Papa the night we arrived in Arkansas, Oma let Colin open a "present" from her. It's staying at their house, I think...
It was intended to go with his fish and frog book and shortly after he opened it, we found a tree frog just outside the window.
So of course instead of touching or chasing it, Colin had to get the fish to "gulp" the frog. :)

The Christmas Train

The evening we arrived in Arkansas, we headed out to ride the Christmas Train in Fort Smith. It runs through a big park with lots of great Christmas lights.
Colin loved the train ride and also looking at the antique train they have stored there.