Happy Thanksgiving!

 We were thrilled to have out-of-town family come see us for Thanksgiving! Uncle Jon and Aunt Chelsea arrived first. Ian warmed up to them right away and was thrilled to have two more "playmates" in the house!

 He loved having Jon and Chelsea read him stories before nap- or bedtime.

  Uncle Jon and Aunt Chelsea gave Ian an early Christmas present ... his very own, kid-sized tennis racquet! Uncle Jon (who teaches tennis lessons in Lincoln, NE) gave Ian his first tennis lesson on Sunday afternoon! Here's a part of Ian's forehand instruction ...


 What a patient teacher ... and a very excited student!

 Uncle Jon gives Ian a high five before Aunt Chelsea takes a turn playing tennis with Ian.

 Turns out playing tennis in the house with a balloon can be fun, too! :)

 On Monday, we went to Meyer Park -- one of Ian's favorite parks in the area.

  On Monday night, Jon, Chelsea, Matt, Kim, and Ian went mini-golfing together -- Ian's first attempt at mini-golfing! He loved it and got so excited when his ball went into the hole.

 The hardest part for Ian was waiting his turn. So, he made his own fun by finding rocks to sit on,

 

 getting an up-close look at the scenery, or moving ahead to a different hole.

 The hole that involved the golf balls floating down the water was Ian's favorite hole by far!

 What a fun evening!

 On Tuesday, Jon, Chelsea, Kim, and Ian went to one of Ian's all-time favorite spots in our area ... the Woodlands Children's Museum. Ian had been telling Jon and Chelsea that his favorite part of the museum was "the wheels" (the cogs seen above). It's funny how his "favorite" part is always changing!

 As usual, though, he also enjoyed time in the rubber mulch,

the water table, 

 and the sand table.

 Uncle Jon helped Ian with the parachute

 and with using the microscope, too.


On Tuesday night at dinner, Ian was holding his hands up on either side of his head, imitating a picture he had seen in the Baby Bible. Kim mentioned that, when Ian held his hands up like that he looked like a pastor giving a blessing. So, Uncle Jon decided to teach Ian how to make the sign of the cross and say "God bless you." It was hilarious! We were laughing so much that Ian kept doing it over and over and over the whole time we had company. :)



Uncle Jon and Ian started a "pickle game" while they were together.



On Tuesday night, Grandpa and Grandma arrived! Ian warmed up to them immediately and was thrilled to now have two MORE "playmates" to play with and show his toys to!

 Ian enjoyed having Grandma read him books at nap- and bedtime, too!


On Wednesday night, Chelsea and Kim made calzones. Yum! While Chelsea was living with us, Chelsea had helped Kim make calzones for small group. So, Chelsea knew JUST how to help ... and this second time around, making the dough and calzones seemed much quicker and easier!

 

 

Ian and Grandma took care of making the Snicker/apple salad for the meal!

After dinner, we celebrated an early family Christmas. Ian was SUPER excited to open gifts!

 Here's a cute monkey hat he got from Grandpa and Grandma.

 Here, Grandpa is helping him put together a neat construction vehicle puzzle.

 Grandma helped Ian unwrap some of the big gifts.

We had fun playing a modified version of the Candyland game that Uncle Andy and Aunt Beth sent down. (Thanks, guys, for the game as well as for the fun stickers and neat socks!)

Uncle Jon and Aunt Chelsea gave Ian a fun hidden-pictures-in-Bible-stories book ... complete with a magnifying glass!

We were so happy to have everyone together for Thanksgiving dinner! We missed having friends Eric, Carrie, and Melissa with us, though, since Melissa didn't feel well. Carrie still sent over some yummy turkey cupcakes and delicious caramel apple pie!

 

Ian helped Daddy "carve" the rest of the turkey.

The rest of our whole-family time was spent ...

reading books,

 swinging,

going on walks,


singing songs,



laughing at Ian's antics,

 and, of course, lots of game-playing.

 

Matt's parents also graciously took our whole family out to dinner on Friday night. We went to Gringo's, a yummy Tex-Mex restaurant with FREE ice cream at the end of the meal!

Jon and Chelsea had to head back home early Saturday morning, but Grandpa, Grandma, Matt, Kim, and Ian went to the Houston Museum of Natural Science to see the Butterfly exhibit. Matt had been there before, but this was everyone else's first time.

 

 Ian enjoyed watching the butterflies from a distance, but he got a little nervous when it seemed like the butterflies might land on him.
 

 

 Grandma, Grandpa, Matt, and Ian challenged each other to a bug-trivia game show after our time at the butterfly exhibit.

Grandma taught Ian a little more about bugs.

Before we left the museum, Ian had a great time at the "pollinating exhibit" where he had to match up the block shapes (square, star, circle, and triangle) with the corresponding flower center.

When we got home, Grandma and Kim started a fun Christmas project ... making our own rag wreaths with Christmas fabric.

 

Here's the work-in-progress ...

Thanks for the great time, Grandpa, Grandma, Uncle Jon, and Aunt Chelsea. We have lots of great memories of our time together and can't wait to see you again soon. We love you lots!