Calls Come to Town

Jason's parents and sister came in on Saturday and we ended up meeting up with them at our Ward Christmas Party that night. We were quite the group with both sets of parents, my oldest sister, Jason's youngest sister along with her husband and two kids!

Here is the whole group together that night!

It was so fun to spend time with my family and have people from our ward meet them too!

Our family of SIX!!!

Grandpa Call meeting Maylie for the first time!!

Some Grandpa love!!

Here are both of the wonderful women that Maylie was named after...Grandma Maylene and Grandma Julie!!

Even though it made for a pretty full house, it was so fun to have everyone there to celebrate our little Maylie girl and her blessing that would take place the next day!

Frozen Wonderland

On Saturday morning we all headed over to Citi for their kid's Christmas party. This year's theme was "Frozen" and the children all had a great time participating in the different  festivities. Their favorite event was probably this maze made out of big appliance boxes!

Maylie enjoyed the party from the comforts of her wrap!!

Meeting "Olaf"...

Landon and Nolan enjoyed all the different "Frozen" themed carnival games including this snowball toss game...

And the race to pick up the most ice cubes game...

This was the best picture we could get with Santa this year. I think Abby was the only happy one about this experience as you can probably tell from the picture below!

Making Daddy into a "snowman" was a fun treat too!

Pictures with Elsa...

And Anna...

We made a few crafts and had some treats before heading back home. The party was a lot of fun but packed full with kids and their parents so it was kind of relief to get back home to a much quieter place!

Gettysburg

Since Tami had never been out this way before and because she loves history so much, I knew I wanted to take her on a visit with my parents to Gettysburg. It's only about 40 minutes from our home and since most of the stuff is inside (museum and driving around the battlefield) it didn't matter that the weather was cold. I actually realized that winter is the best time to go to these places. We always seem to go in the summer during peak tourist season but on Friday, December 5th, we almost had the entire place to ourselves.

Tami really enjoyed being there and even though my parents have been there before, they really enjoyed being able to see everything without so many people around.

Here is our little Union soldier. The older two kids were in school so they missed out, but Nolan was such a trooper through it all and Maylie pretty much slept the entire time.

It was a nice way to spend a winter day in Pennsylvania!

And because Grandma Julie was around to take pictures, it was fun to get a more recent picture of me and my sweet little girl!

And she pretty much has Daddy wrapped around her little finger too!

Pirate Party!

Nolan got a bunch of pirate gear during our Christmas exchange in North Carolina. He loves playing with anybody who is willing to be either Captain Hook or Jake from the Neverland Pirates.

What a cute little Captain Hook he makes!

We have quite impressive sword fights together!

We have already had to duct tape one of the swords several times so I'm not sure how long it will last, but we'll enjoy our sword fights together while it does!

Clevelands Come to Visit!

Just a few days after returning from our Thanksgiving vacation, my parents and oldest sister, Tami came for a visit. This was their first time meeting Maylie and they were immediately smitten. 

I mean, how could you not fall in love with this little face!!

Tami was such a big help while she was here...washing dishes, doing laundry, making beds, etc. and it was so nice to have her here. This was her first time visiting us in Maryland!

Of course Nolan loved all of the extra attention that she gave him too. I think she must have read a hundred books to him while she was here!

Grandma Julie was so excited to meet her 10th grandchild. She just loved sitting in the recliner and rocking her sweet new granddaughter. 

My Dad spent a lot of time reading and playing games with the other kids so Maylie wasn't the only one to get a lot of extra attention.

Abby and her dogs...she is in charge of feeding them and pooper scooping the yard each day and she does a pretty good job with it. She was mighty excited when she came home from school on the day that my family arrived and discovered that Tami and Grandpa Don had done the pooper scooping for her!

Landon has just learned how to play chess and enjoyed playing several games with Grandpa Don (although Grandpa took a LONG time deciding on each of his moves!)

Grandpa and Grandma with their four Call grandchildren...

These kids were pretty spoiled while Grandpa and Grandma were here. They got a few Christmas presents and then each got $20 to spend on a gift of their choosing. I think they were just a little excited about that!

We went shopping while my parents were here so that they could see what each child would choose with their money. Landon picked out a new LEGO kit...

Nolan chose a dump truck...

And Abby picked out a walking pony (and even made a LEGO barn for it!)

And Maylie just enjoyed having everyone here!!

Santa Claus is Coming to Town!

Abby and Landon ran off one afternoon and returned looking like this...

We added the other two kids and had quite the Christmas scene.

I sure do love these kids and their creativity....

not sure our dog Cooper was so excited by it though!!