Christmas pics

Christmas 2008 was a wonderful, happy blur. It is amazing how quickly two weeks fly when you don't want it to end. We travelled the world in our new CRV, which has much more room than the Galant. First, we drove about 10 hours to St. Louis, MO, and stayed for a little over 12 hours. We then loaded in the car again, and headed to Nebraska; another 5 1/2 hours drive; to celebrate with the Croffords. On the way back to St. Louis, we stopped in Kansas City, KS to visit friends, and Kansas City, MO, to see my brother and sister-in-law's townhouse (about a 3 hour drive in all). We then caravaned to St. Louis (add another 3-4 hours), where we stayed a few days and headed back to Atlanta, GA (10 hours again) on New Year's Eve. How did we survive the drive with two dogs and a 1 year old, you ask? Easy. Doggy seat belts and "Yo Gabba Gabba!", a show from Nick Jr. that will forever be imprinted in my mind. They only came out with 4 shows on DVD, and we watched those 4 shows over and over and over again. When we tried any other DVD, Griffin would start getting antsy and cry.

Before I go on, I need to preface by stating that Corey and I had agreed not to buy Griffin anything Elmo related. He doesn't watch Sesame Street, and had not started begging, so it was easy for us to stick to our guns. We forgot, however, to communicate this to the grandparents. On Christmas Eve, the very first gift Griffin opened was Tickle Me Elmo, Live. He loved it! He squealed with delight, and gave what I can only describe as his "happy pant" sound. I

guess now that he's been exposed, it's too late. We can never go back.

Griffin also enjoyed eating from a booster seat, making funny faces at the camera, and baking sugar cookies with Grandma and Grandpa Crofford. He wasn't quite sure if he liked the snow until we went back inside the house, and he decided he wanted to go back outside. Once he learns all the exciting things you can do with snow, I think we'll have a hard time keeping him inside!

At the Audrain's, we celebrated Christmas on Saturday, celebrated with the extended family on Sunday, did wedding stuff with my sister on Monday, and went to the mall to play on the playground on Tuesday. A very busy schedule. Griffin's favorite toy was his cell phone, which he carried around with him the rest of the evening. Then, he finally realized the cell phone wasn't real, so Grandma Audrain let him play with her cell phone...as long as he didn't try to destroy it. He called both his Great-grandma and his Uncle Kevin. Both had to call back, because he then hung up on them.

We all had a great time. More pictures will follow when I send them out on Snapfish.