My Parents' Visit

My parents came out to visit for a few days before Christmas so we could celebrate Christmas together and so they could check out where we live now. It was a quick visit, but as always it was filled with fun. They were coming in on Thursday which the weather was forecast to have a huge snow storm in the Midwest so a few days before they came out they switched their flights to have a layover in Houston rather than Kansas City. It was a good thing that they did because the flight to Kansas City was cancelled and they would have never made it...well not never, according to my dad they would have had to drive down because my mom would have not been happy at all. We started telling Chloe a few days ahead of time that mama and papa were coming to visit and started counting days until they were here. She doesn't really understand the difference in numbers because she started at 3 days and then the next day she said 4 days, regardless, she knew they were coming. The night before they came we reminded Chloe that she had to share mama and papa with Levi because they were coming to see Levi too. So her rationalization was that Papa could hold and play with Levi and Mama could hold and play with her. No matter how many times we told her that Mama can play and hold Levi too she just kept going back to her original plan. She is kind of a mama's girl and when mama is around no one else can do anything for her.

We took a trip to the Gaylord Texan to catch all the lights, miniature trains and Christmas decorations and we hoped to catch Santa too. We went during the day so the lights didn't really shine, but it was still a great time. Chloe loved all the trains and she partially cared about the life size gingerbread house. She just wanted to go around and around to see all the train sets that were around the hotel. We also missed Santa because he was only there in the evening...which is kind of bogus if you ask me because this is a place that is known for its Christmas decorations and it was just 4 days before Christmas so he should have been there for most of the day. Later that day Zach's parents and uncle came over for some dessert and we were suppose to play dominoes, but everyone ended up just swapping stories, which was perfectly fine. I would have hated to beat everyone at dominoes right before Christmas!

We also celebrated Christmas and opened up presents and had some traditional Allen snack foods, had a lot of time just playing with the kids and talking with my parents, played a lot of hearts and just had a great time with my parents. It was hard to see them go, but they will be back for Levi's birthday in a few months so it is always easier to know the next visit is just around the corner. Below are some of our pictures from the weekend with them.

Chloe fascinated by the trains at the Gaylord Texan. She would have stood there for hours if we let her.

Chloe showing Levi how to ride the frog. She likes to rock him on the frog, but she first makes sure that he is holding onto the handles so the crazy rocking doesn't throw him off.

Chloe loves to watch videos and look at pictures on our phones. This visit she was glued to my mom's phone and the video of her, Sydney and Carter painting pumpkins while we were in Indiana in October.

Chloe being silly with her Cheeseburger Happy Meal. I'm not sure where she gets some of her ideas, but she thinks she is hilarious...and I would have to agree.

Well we all made it into the picture...that is about as good as it gets when Mama is around.

I just had to put this in because of Levi's face...he loves the camera.

Well at least there was one good picture of our kids at the Gaylord.

Chloe loved the cash register that my mom got her. She play with that for what seemed like forever. It was cute to see her scan the items and actually use the cash register for what it is suppose to be used for. It is amazing to see how much she picks up for being only 2 years old.

This was in front of the life size gingerbread house. Chloe was knocking on the door and trying to go in. She also was very curious about the candy on the walls and I caught her trying to pull off a piece.

Levi and Papa on the Carousel. Levi loved the carousel. This was a picture while they were standing still. As soon as it started moving Levi had a huge grin on his face and my dad had to take out his pacifier because it wouldn't stay in his mouth.

This was the first time that Chloe actually enjoyed the Carousel. She did not have as huge of a grin on her face, but she said she liked it and gave her horse a hug and a kiss when they were done. She still asks if we are going to go ride on the horse up and down with mama.