Christmas #1: Kerber Family

On Dec. 18th we celebrated with Jay's mom's side of the family, the Kerbers. We started by meeting up with the cousins for a carriage ride in Uptown Normal. We thought it would make a good Christmas picture for Grandma Kerber. Here are all of the kiddos minus Hunter (staying warm in the van until the carriage arrived) :) and Kyle, who couldn't make it. I think Holden will be very in touch with his feminine side as he grows, considering he is surrounded! He loves all of his girl cousins.

It was a cooooold day with temps in the teens, and the carriage was 45 minutes late! We were about to leave when it showed up. The kids had fun though and we got some great pics so I'm glad it worked out! Holden told me that he likes the carriage rides in St. Louis better though, "because I can ride in my shorts." ;) From left: Aunt Allie, Hunter, Kelsey, Morgan, Tiffany, Holden, Chelsey, and Emma.

Afterwards we headed to Aunt Jennifer and Uncle AJ's house to warm up. Lots of good food, fun toys, and special people. Hunter had a great time at his first Christmas get-together. He loves people, and there were plenty to entertain him.

Holden loves playing with his cousins! This year was really fun because Holden, Morgan, Emma, and Kyle are all old enough to play together well with minimal supevision. Whenever I peeked in at them, they were busy with imaginary play. At one point the girls were "doctoring" Holden on the bed. Crack me up!

All of the kiddos. What a difference a year makes with Kyle! Last year he had just had his heart surgery, and nobody could hold him besides his parents and grandma. This year he was all over the place! :)

The "grown ups;" at least in age! Ha! (With a few random little ones thrown in.)

Our family. Crack me up at the attempted shots of the four of us! Not our most photogenic evening. Holden looks majorly constipated in the big picture!

Holden takes gift opening VERY seriously this year! He has to get every last bit of paper pulled off and then wants the item out of the box right away. With the Kerber side, we draw a name for each child. Morgan and Emma drew Holden and Hunter. Holden got a cool John Deere tractor that shakes and lights up, and Toy Stoy Memory. He loved his gifts!

Gift opening

Hunter was exhausted by the time we opened gifts. The phrase, "It's his party (insert Christmas instead) and he'll cry if he wants to" comes to mind. Poor guy but the pictures are hliarious! He got a really cute little tractor with a farmer and animals that makes animal sounds and plays music, and a "Cars" themed bath mat. He really does enjoy them...just needed a nap at the time. :)

Sweet, tired baby and playtime for the othe kids. Holden was very tolerant of all the Barbie and baby doll playing. At one point I had to laugh when I heard him say, "Won't ANYONE play soccer for awhile? It's really fun, I promise!" Needless to say, none of the girls took him up on it.

I caught some sweet moments with Great Grandpa Kerber.

After a power nap, Hunter was ready to go again. I realize I take a massive amount of pictures of him. I just can't get enough of his cuteness, drool and all.:)

He was scooting along and managed to roll right under the tree. He just laid there for awhile, staring at the lights and ornaments in awe. So precious! Then he decided to move on to more fun things, like eating the tree skirt.

We enjoyed our evening with family!