Merry Christmas and a happy New Year

This has been a crazy, fun-filled, exhausting holiday season, as it generally is around here since my family is so spread out.  It was our year to spend with my family, so the original plan, and try to keep up with me here, was to drive the family to Tuscaloosa the weekend before Christmas for my nephew Jack's birthday party.  I found $29 tickets on Southwest from birmingham to Louisville (1.5 hrs from Cincy), so my parents (who had come down for Jack's party), my sister and her kids and me and my kids were to fly up on Dec 22nd.  After the party, Lance was to drive back to Atlanta, work for 3 days, then drive up with Oakley and all of the presents on on Dec. 23rd.  Then, after Christmas, the boys and I would drive back to Atlanta with Lance.
Well...I started "trying" to pack for the boys and myself and in the middle of a break down in trying to determine what to pack and what not to pack, my mom called and told me to stay put...Trey came down with the flu and there was no chance of bringing the baby anywhere near him for a week! Ahhhhh!  The only good part was that it would give me 3 more days to procrastinate on the the stress of packing!  Harrison was bummed that he couldn't go to Jack's party and I was bummed b/c I wanted to see my family and I wanted Harrison to build his first gingerbread house (the activity for the party).  Now came the added drama of figuring out how to get the boys and I over to Birmingham for our flight.  On top of all this, both of my boys came down with colds and we visited the Dr twice in 1 week.  They kept saying Davis was fine, just a cold and nothing they could do for him, but they heard some mumbling in Harrison's chest, so he had to have his first breathing treatment (NIGHTMARE!!) and then they gave me an inhaler...translation - me having to hold down my 2.5 yr old in a head lock with arms trapped at his sides so I could hold a mask over his face that he had to breath into.  And this had to be repeated everytime he had a coughing fit.  Not fun.  boo.  To keep this story from getting any longer, Dad met us half way in Anniston, dropped the boys and I off at Teresa's in Birmingham and she drove us to the airport on the 22nd.  Surprisingly, the boys did exceptionally well on the plane

Once we got to Cincinnati, we had a great time.  Harrison just loves getting to play with his big cousins.  Of course, they are bff's for a few minutes and then screaming at each other over toys the next, but that comes with the territory, I guess.  The best part was that there was a ton of snow!!  I wasn't very good at taking pictures, but here are a few to capture the big hits of the trip.
Christmas morning was just crazy...presents for 12 people all in one room!  When the boys woke up on Christmas morning, we had them wait at the top of the stairs so we could capture the expressions on their faces...

Thanks to the help of Mungojerrie (our Elf on the Shelf), Harrison really got into Santa and the whole holiday this year so he was so excited on Christmas morning.  This year was just so much more fun than the previous years, I think mostly because Harrison can talk so well now and can really express himself.
He didn't know what to do with himself when he walked into the family room...

Harrison had fun opening presents for about 20 minutes, but then just wanted to play with the toys that he had already opened...

I let him take a little break so he wasn't quite so overwhelmed.  He got pretty much everything he asked for...soccer balls, Thomas the Trains, tunnels and bridges...and then some!

Lance has been obsessed with finding a model airplane lately, so I surprised him and got him a remote control helicopter.  I ordered it online and it was smaller than I expected but it works surprisingly well.

Grandmommy bought these "very special" guns for all of the boys that light up and make such a beautiful ear-piercing sound.  Thanks again grandmommy!!

Davis was grandmommy's little helper this year!

I think Mary liked her Alabama lunch box that we got her...although, I forgot to stuff it was dollars, so thus the look on her face.  If you know Mary, any present you give her, she always opens every pocket looking for dollars to put in her wallet!

Davis then got to help me open a few presents...

Oakley also enjoyed getting in on all the fun.  She got a huge rawhide and a new toy so she was in heaven!

Davis had such a fun first Christmas that he tuckered himself out!

Aside from the presents, I think Harrison's favorite part of the trip was getting to play in the snow.  We have a church across from my parent's neighborhood that has a big hill in front of it and growing up, we would always go sledding there in the winter.  This was the first year that Harrison got to go!  Davis had fallen asleep in my lap that afternoon and he had not been sleeping well during the trip so I didn't get to go, but Lance, Aunt Liz, Aunt Mary and my parents went with him and took a few pictures for me.

At 2 1/2 yrs old, he can sled like a champ!

All in all, it was a great trip!  We had such a great time seeing all of our family.  I also got sick on the trip so I didn't get to see any of my friends, but thanks to the help of everyone, I was still able to enjoy the holiday!  I will post a few more pics later of everyone all together, but I still need to get them from my sister.  It was a very merry Christmas for the Randolph/Koeppe household!!