Over the River and Thru the Woods...

Christmas 2008

To Grandma's House we go...We headed off to to spend Christmas in North Da-COLD-A with the grandparents this year...I thought that as the kids got older it would get easier to travel with them, no breastpump, no bottles, heck, even no diapers this year as we have two potty trained kids!! But...notsomuch!!!

We started off early in the am crammed into our SUV, husband - check, girl child - check, boy child - check, 94 pound dog - check, presents - check, clothing, toothbrushes, toiletries, dog food, children's snacks, parents snacks, sleeping bags, jackets, hats, scarves, boots, mittens, etc etc etc - check ... We headed on down the road, stopping for bathroom requests three times in the first 100 miles!! All the while watching the numbers in front of us...

looks like they are climbing right?? Take notice of the MINUS sign before each degree -



Let me just say that it DID get colder than minus 10 - but I got bored with that game real fast... I'm pretty glad that the truck doesn't tell us what the windchill is too!!

Is it any wonder that this is a common sight in North DaCOLDa? People really do have to plug their cars in for them to start!!


Once we arrived in North DaCOLDa - All was right with the world - Bosco resumed his normal position in front of Grandma Betty - Oh how he sits soooo good! (When someone is feeding him their popcorn chicken!!)


The gifts were piled higher than our kids on Christmas Morning -


Even Bmann got a gift to unwrap and enjoy!








There was as much love and togetherness as there was gifts - and it's hard to narrow down and post pics of the favorites as they were many - but this year we received some very special hand made gifts - made with love from Grandpa Larry -

A doll cradle for the little miss - with a new baby she promptly named "Zoe"




And a home made tractor set complete with his name on the side and blocks to put in, take out, put in, take out and haul around!!








Mom and Dad even got a beautiful hand-made gift - my FAVORITE kind - and a kind, that during the holidays, has me missing my carpenter by trade dad all the more - but we do love the gift - it's beautiful!!