Family

We had a great time visiting with family the past week. My brother and his son, Jude came down from Detroit and my sister and her 2 kids came up from Florida. It was insane and SO wonderful! They actually spent the first few nights in our house, which was so much fun. We were honored to host everybody, and we had a blast together. The only people who had more fun were the little ones! Jude and AG (who are very close in age) were running around together making up games and following each other around. Z and his cousin Adam were trying so hard to keep up and fit in, but just couldn't do it. Z would hang around and just start laughing hysterically like he was in on some secret joke, little did he know he was being completely ignored by his 5 year old cousins!

My mom is so good with all of the kids. Every time she walks in the room, Adam runs over to her so she'll scoop him up. Then of course Z comes over and raises his little hands in the air, and says "uhhh." She was able to accommodate both boys this time.

*Adam's a bit unhappy in this pic, but it was the best we could do

I know she and my dad love it the most we all get together.




After my sis and her kids left, Z followed Jude around like a little puppy and Jude actually gave him a little bit of attention because AG was not there anymore.

We had planned to take some family photos because it is exceedingly rare that we are all together, and we were still missing my sister and brother's spouses as well as my twin nieces, but it never happened. Imagine that. Oh well, we did manage to get some more group shots later in the week.

Me and my bro

Dad and the middle kids, 2 Dr. P's and a Dr. G

Group Shots

 The Pacha men and mom

The boys

The week of Christmas was very quiet and relaxing, with a considerable amount of shopping mixed in. We knew we would all be getting together after Christmas and that it would be hectic, so we took the time to enjoy some relative quiet. Nick got his wisdom teeth extracted, which went as well as can be expected. He was well enough to go to the Summit the next day and the Shops at Grand River on Christmas Eve, where we wore Z (for the first time in a while) and shopped the outlets. It was great because it wasn't too crowded, and we found some great deals. Because I am a basket case anyway, I got borderline emotional walking around there with sleeping-15-month-Z strapped to me because it reminded me of the old days. He slept in there for a good 2 hours while we shopped (mostly for Nick) and then we had a food court lunch and headed home. That night we had a pretty decent semi home-cooked meal and watched Christmas Vacation with my little bro.

Christmas Day it snowed like crazy (well, for Alabama, anyway)! We opened presents and stayed home all day. It was wonderful! Then, the day after Christmas, we hit the mall again for the sales. My mom went with us this time, and Nick wore Z again, since it worked so well two days before, and once again, he did great. That day I got to shop more for myself! We went to early dinners both times, which is amazing, no wait, noone cares if your child is making noise and throwing puffs everywhere, and you still get home in time to enjoy the rest of the evening. I highly recommend it.

I had to work a full day and 2 half days the week after Christmas, and my bro arrived on the Monday. Everyone came to our house and we had a great home-cooked (by my mom) meal and caught up. My sister came the next day, and we all had lunch together and hung out at our house. Then on Wednesday my mom, sister, and I left the brave men at home with all of the children and did even more shopping. One would think I would get tired of shopping, and one would be wrong... We had so much fun together. I had forgotten how much fun it is to go shopping with them with no children.

We went to Sylacauga for New Year's, and didn't do much in terms of exciting things. The weather was so amazingly nice, however, we did take the kids to the park. They had a blast and wore themselves completely out! Z was asleep the minute we put him in the car.