Day 360: Christmas in Marietta

It's Christmas morning!  We were so excited to bring Little Buddy downstairs to see if Santa had left any presents after we had gone to bed.

Walking down the stairs...

...to find lots of presents!

Helping Mimi pass out presents.

So many presents to open!  

Little Buddy still wasn't in any rush to open his gifts!  He likes to give individual attention to each present once it's open.

Pop-Pop helping to keep Little Buddy on task and open a new present.

What's this one?

He loved his airplane and school bus set!  We probably should have had him open those last, because he was too busy playing with them to be interested in any other gifts!

I did finally get him away from his playsets long enough to open another gift...his very own robe!  And it was Elmo!  He's always wanted a robe like Momma's and Daddy's.

Modeling his robe.  Such a stud!

After present-opening, we headed outside to feed and play with the dogs.  Because it has been wet here, it's pretty muddy, so Mimi and Pop-Pop loaned us some warm clothes to wear outside in case we got dirty.  Little Buddy got to wear the coat Uncle C wore when he was about 5 years old!

A little big on him, but he looked so cute!

Standing on the hill with Daddy.

Duke and Daisy running up behind Little Buddy.

I loved it with the hood up too.  Little boy in a big coat!

Little Buddy, Pop-Pop, and Daddy playing with Daisy and Duke.

Daddy wore his San Francisco jacket from when he was little too!

Later on, Little Buddy was upset that he couldn't play on Mimi's computer, so we had to distract him with a different toy.  We found Mimi's babydoll in the toy chest and Little Buddy was in love.  I told him that the baby was tired and needed to go down for a nap, so he took the baby and laid her down in his bed.  Sweet boy!

Putting baby to bed!  He even covered her up, turned on Scout's lullabies for her, and gave her a kiss goodnight.  He really loves babies.

Great Grandma B came over today to celebrate Christmas too.  We had a yummy Christmas brunch and Christmas dinner where Little Buddy amazed everyone with how good of an eater he is.  He definitely has to eat well to replenish fuel...even I have been amazed with how much energy he has displayed this trip!  All this grandparent love must a natural energy boost!  Thankfully, Mimi and Pop-Pop were able to get him to sleep so that Daddy, Uncle C, and I could go catch a movie.  I can't believe Daddy and I have seen two new releases this month...it's a record!  We're certainly more than willing to take advantage of available babysitters.  

Tomorrow will be our Christmas Celebration with the rest of the B family.  We are excited to see everyone and for Little Buddy to play with his young second cousin!

Hope everyone had a blessed Christmas with their families, 

LBM

Little Buddy's Momma

Day 359: Christmas in Canton and Christmas Eve in New Martinsville

Because we will be in Marietta tomorrow, we did Christmas at Mamaw and Papaw's today.  Little Buddy woke up early and ran straight to the tree.

Opening the first gift of the morning.

Slowly working through his pile of gifts.  I guess Santa thought he was really good this year!

We spent the majority of the morning opening presents (Little Buddy certainly is in no hurry!) and enjoying breakfast.  Little Buddy got to play a little more with Mamaw and Papaw before it was time to head south.  We started our trek to West Virginia to Great Granny's house for Christmas Eve.  Pop-Pop, Mimi, and Uncle C met us there. 

Playing cars with Pop-Pop and Cousin C.

Helping Great Granny open her presents.

 

Playing Peek-a-Boo with Mimi.

 

Great Aunt Gwennie, Cousin C, Great Granny, Little Buddy and Mimi.

After the Christmas Eve celebration, we came back to Pop-Pop and Mimi's house.  Little Buddy was excited to see that the dancing Santa from two years ago was still around.  He loved to push the button and watch Santa go!

Little Buddy and Uncle C dancing with Santa.

Then, something magical happened.  While Uncle C was out feeding the dogs, Santa Claus made his annual visit to the Byers' house.  Little Buddy almost didn't know what to do!

Santa's at the door!

 

Why hello, Mr. Claus!

Santa said Little Buddy had made the "Nice" list, so he would get presents.  Little Buddy got a Matchbox car and a tin of cookies!

After Santa headed out to finish his work for the night, we were able to get Little Buddy to nod off to sleep.  We are so excited to experience Christmas morning with him tomorrow!

Merry Christmas Eve, everyone!

LBM

Little Buddy's Momma

Day 358: Christmas Visitors

Little Buddy is loving being at Mamaw and Papaw's house.  There are many reasons (one of which being that having two grandparents dote on you is pretty awesome), but another one is because of Boo-Boo Kitty!  Little Buddy doesn't get to see a cat very often, so having one in the same house as he is staying is pretty magical.  Boo-Boo, for his part, is being very tolerant of having a toddler around.  Little Buddy just wants to hug him and try to pick him up, and I have to say I am proud that (a) Boo-Boo doesn't try to attack him and (b) Boo-Boo actually stays in the living room and humors him.

Cuddling with Boo-Boo after breakfast.

Little Buddy actually slept in a little today (hooray!), so we didn't make it to early Mass and instead went a little later.  The good news is he was well-rested, the bad news is that a well-rested Little Buddy is an energetic Little Buddy!  Let's just say that he made lots of joyful noises unto the Lord.  :)   He was really sweet talking about praying, Bible stories, and singing.

He ended up enjoying church so much that we weren't sure if he would stay awake on the way home to have lunch.  We decided to go to one of Mamaw and Papaw's favorite places, the Whipple Cafe, for lunch.  Little Buddy ate all of his applesauce, his grilled cheese, a pouch, and part of Momma's giant blueberry pancakes.  Although he was pretty animated during lunch, we were right about him being worn out.  He fell asleep about five minutes into the drive home.

When he woke up from his nap, Little Buddy was excited to find that he had visitors. Great Uncle E, Great Aunt P, and cousin A had stopped by to see him and give him presents.  He was very excited to check out his gifts, but once he opened one, he just wanted to play with it instead of opening any more!  I think Christmas morning is going to be a long process!

Opening presents!

Pretty soon we had some more special visitors arrive: Great Aunt K, Aunt D, Uncle C, and....Baby J!  Little Buddy was so excited to see his godparents and to meet his new baby cousin!

Aunt D, Baby J, and Little Buddy

Uncle C, Little Buddy, and Aunt D

Little Buddy was in love with Baby J and wanted to hold him.  He even kept trying to pick him up!  We compromised and held him together.

Cuddling Baby J

Baby J started to cry while we were holding him, so Little Buddy whispered in his ear, "It's ok, baby," and kissed him on his head!  I love how sweet he is with babies.

Baby J, Uncle C, Aunt D, Momma, Little Buddy, and Daddy.  We were excited to have early Christmas dinner with them!

Right as everyone was getting ready to go and Little Buddy was getting ready for bed, we heard Christmas music from outside.  I got very excited for Little Buddy, because I knew what it meant:  Santa was coming!  You see, there is a man who owns a local hardware store who loves Christmas so much, he decided to become one of Santa's helpers.  He decorated a lawn tractor to look like a sleigh and installed speakers to play Christmas music.  He then drives throughout the neighborhoods at night and has been doing it for over 30 years.  It's so magical for a kid!  If you go out to see him, you can get pictures and candy canes.  It was always one of my favorite things about Christmas when I was younger.  I was so glad that Little Buddy got to see him!

Santa Claus really is coming to town!

Little Buddy got to talk to Santa and got some candy canes.  He was amazed and I am sure he had some great dreams tonight!

Night all, 

LBM

Little Buddy's Momma

Day 357: The Wheels on Papaw's Bus

We began the day with some family portraits.  We didn't have any professional pictures of Mamaw and Papaw with Little Buddy, so we decided it would be a great Christmas present.  We had several excellent shots that I will upload soon. 

After pictures and lunch, Little Buddy was worn out.  He really needed a nice long nap, but all we got was 30 minutes.  Just too much excitement around here!  Anyway, our next stop was a big adventure for Little Buddy.  You see, once Papaw retired, he wanted to become a bus driver for the local school system.  Turns out that there is no better job for a grandparent to have.  Little Buddy loves hearing about how Papaw drives the bus "all around the town" and makes the horn "go beep, beep, beep."  Today, Papaw made all Little Buddy's toddler dreams come true and took him to the bus garage!

So many buses!  Little Buddy was in heaven!

Running to check out Papaw's bus!

Right up into the driver's seat.  He couldn't believe he got to "drive" the bus!

Checking out the back of the bus.

Running back to the driver's seat!

He was so excited and moving so fast, I could barely catch a picture! 

He even figured out how to turn the lights and turn signals on, activate the stop sign, and beep the horn (which startled him quite a bit the first time he did it!).

Happiest kid ever!

"Thank you, Papaw!"

Bus #1 with the #1 Grandson and the #1 Papaw!  What an awesome treat for our little guy!

We ended the night by visiting some friends and their two daughters whom we hadn't met yet.  Little Buddy was having a lot of fun with Ms. T, Mr. B, and their twin girls, K & K, but he wore out pretty quickly.  While I played dress-up with the girl, Little Buddy cuddled into a beanbag and watched some Charlie Brown.  He was getting pretty tired!

Dress up time for the girls!

Fighting sleep after a fun, busy day!

Little Buddy went to sleep fairly easily once we got home.  I hope he rests well, because we are on the go again tomorrow!

Good night, 

LBM

Little Buddy's Momma

Day 356: Ohio Bound Just in Time for Snow!

Good morning!  We were up bright and early this morning to get ready for our travels.  Daddy and I were up at 3:30 AM and we let Little Buddy "sleep in" until 4 AM, which is about when Uncle C got there.  Little Buddy was still a little sleepy when we got him up, but when we asked him if he remembered where we were going today, he immediately answered, "Plane!"  This was followed up quickly by shouts of "Mamaw and Papaw" and "Mimi and Pop-Pop!"  I think he was a little excited.  :)

Wide awake and raring to go!

Little Buddy was a great traveler today.  He worked out some energy in the terminals and was willing to quietly watch some Elmo on the iPad during the flights.  I was pretty proud of what a trooper he was for such a long trip.

Wheeling through the airport with Daddy.

Cheese!



 
Headed on his way.

 Happy little traveler!  He insisted on wearing his Santa hat for most of the trip.  He was so cute and spread a lot of Christmas cheer to everyone he saw.

His only nap of the day, all 20 minutes of it.  Again, I was pretty impressed with how well he did, especially considering his lack of sleep.

Little Buddy even earned his wings on this flight!

We made it safely to Cleveland, but then the real fun started.  The snow storm had hit and, although it was beautiful, the roads got worse as the night, and the drive, went on.

Leaving the rental car area and preparing to drive in all the white stuff.

This picture doesn't do it justice, but it was snowing pretty good and the roads were slick.  For a good part of the drive we were only going about 15 mph.  It took us nearly 2 hours to go 50 miles.  

But thankfully Mamaw and Papaw had picked us up some Donatos pizza for when we finally arrived.  We were hungry!  Little Buddy was so happy to see Mamaw and Papaw, as well as Mimi and Pop-Pop, who had driven up to get Uncle C.  He was over the moon to have all the people that loved him in one room!  His excitement was through the roof!

We are looking forward to a few days in Canton and then some time in Marietta.  It would be great if this snow stayed for awhile.  I am hoping to get Little Buddy some play time in this snow!


Night all,

LBM

Little Buddy's Momma