Christmas-pa-loosa 2011

On the 23rd, we went to Hershey (about 45 minutes away) to visit some friends from Geneva.  Randi and Justin were in town from Indiana, and Steve and Abby drove in from Philadelphia.  We had a great time of visiting and catching up and meeting Abijah!

Connor, me, Bill; Steve and Abby with Simeon (who was camera shy) and Clay; Justin and Randi with Abijah.

Christmas Eve I decided it was time for Connor to get a hair cut.  It was really long over his ears, and in the back.  I was going to wait until after Christmas and his birthday, since so many pictures were going to be taken and if I messed up it would look horrible... but I couldn't wait anymore.

In the bathtub before the hair cut.

after!  And I cut it way to short on the sides - but it looks better then it did. 
This picture is a little deceptive because it looks shorter on the top, but really it's just combed back.

That afternoon we went to our friend's house to see Santa.  Mark and Bridget live in north Hanover, and her grandpa had volunteered to dress up as Santa so that we could have pictures of our kids without having to pay $25. :)  Anyway, as you can tell from the picture, I'm glad I didn't drag him to the mall - he hated being on Santa's lap!

Dad, please rescue me!

Much safer with Mom and Dad here.

Christmas Eve also included the service at church in the evening.  Bill and I played Mary and Joseph, and Connor was... Jesus!  He did great - and Bill and I didn't mess up either!

Christmas morning was finally here!  We spent the morning opening gifts.

Merry Christmas!

Opening his new toothbrush.

Opening his new hat.

We went to church and then came home and packed (and cleaned, and ate good food). Connor got some new bath toys from us for Christmas, so he ended the day with extra-long bath time!  We spiked his hair up just for fun - way too long to wear like that during the day!

Cool dude with his new toys.

Let the craziness begin!  The 26th was our busiest day.  We woke up way too early, put Connor in the car, and drove to Pittsburgh.  We were there by 9:30, and Connor had a great morning nap before we had lunch with the Hoffman family.  Here are a few pictures of our get together.

Oldest nephew Michael with Connor (weird sweater thing going on here for Connor-boy...).

This is what Macey and Connor looked like the whole time - moving, moving, moving!

Then after naptime we packed up and headed over to Grandma Barton's for food and presents and company.  There were a lot of people there but we managed just fine. :)

Told you it was a lot of people...

Bill gave Aunt Joyce her gift this year.

I gave Julie her gift this year.

The rest of the week was full of visits - Tuesday we went back down to visit with Grandma Barton and Aunt Nancy, and we stopped by to see my dad at work.  Wednesday we went to dinner at my parents.  Thursday we went to see Mom-mom Ritter.  Friday we had lunch out - Bill with his brother, and I went to a "girls-only" lunch with my sister, mom, grandma and aunt, and Chloe :)  Then, Friday we packed for an overnight trip down to the Sanders' house.  The Ritter side of the family was going to be having gift exchange and brunch Saturday morning, so it was easier then having to try to hurry in the morning to get there in time.  That's when things began going wrong.  Connor, April, and Chloe were in the bathtub, and Connor-boy got sick.  Really sick.  And then he got sick 4 more times between 8:00 and 11:30.  He had a horrible night's sleep... and then... it was Christmas again!  wha-hoo!...  He actually didn't do so bad, and he loved his gifts!

Blocks from Aunt Chelle.

Book from Grandma and Pap (note the matching outfits:))

Connor took great naps on Saturday, and then we headed home.  We were supposed to do more visiting in the afternoon with Bill's sister, and the we were supposed to have a night of great food and game playing at Bill's parents.... but that didn't happen.  We had to just bail.  :(  No one likes to be sick.  

Now we're home, Connor is slowly recovering (took a trip to the dr's yesterday and she said he looked okay considering), and I'm organizing all the great stuff we got for Christmas!  We loved being able to see everyone and hang out and catch up.  

We're looking forward to our next visit - with a healthy Connor-boy!