Christmas Visitors - Daniel's

Our next visitors were my parents a few days later. Ally had just turned 6 weeks old and was really starting to interact, coo, and smile. Such a fun time with her!

 

 

 

My parents stayed for 12 days and we enjoyed having them here. The weather was great so they were able to get out with the kids a lot and take them to the park every single day. Emma and Jack loved this! They also picked Jack up from school and took the kids to gymnastics for me. It was really nice to just be able to relax at home with Ally while they spent time with E&J. We didn't have much on the agenda, we just did a whole lot of Christmas and hanging out.Will and I even went on a date night to dinner at Smash  Burger, to see the last Twilight movie (thanks Will) and to Christmas shop for the kids. Very nice.

In front of our house after a walk. Ally loves that sling!

Nana snuggling up with Ally

Pappy and Ally sleeping the day away

Christmas celebration with grandparents...lots of good stuff

Group picture after Christmas program at church 

Went for a drive to the top of Irazu Volcano. Of course it was cloudy by the time we got up there and couldn't see a thing. Mom got a little scared when we decided to off-road a bit on the edge of a volcano!

One of my favorite things to do at Christmas is to take Emma to see the Nutcracker. She loves that ballet! 2 years ago I bought her this Nutcracker when we went to see it in Memphis at the Orpheum. Mom brought it with her and I surprised both of them with tickets to the Nutcracker here. Emma was shocked! Mom asked if it was going to be in Spanish (hehe...it's a ballet Mom).

Emma, "Prince" and Me in front of the National Theater in downtown San Jose

Hanging out on the balcony on a sunny day

 

So fun to have them here

Pappy and Jack played baseball at the park every day

The girls...they're buds

Packing to go home!

Christmas Visitors - Savell's

Our families gave us about a month to get adjusted to Ally before they came to visit. That was perfect timing. We were much more comfortable with her so having guests in our home at this time was fun. Will's parents arrived Thanksgiving night and stayed about a week. They loved meeting their new granddaughter and celebrating the holidays with us.


We put up a little tree in our den and it really looks perfect in there. The grandparents unloaded their gifts and the kids were so excited. We spent a while the morning after they arrived opening gifts and just hanging out together. 

Matching jammies

Dress up clothes

Papaw loves holding Ally in the rocking chair. It ended up being really cold when they were here so we had Ally wrapped up with fleece jammies on most of the time. It was actually only in the 50's, but with strong winds, a concrete house and no heat it feels really really cold.

Mimi holding Ally and chatting with her

Always loving on his sister

Will cutting up pineapple for his dad. Tingle loves Costa Rican pineapple!

Sleepy girl on the couch while we opened presents

Dominoes game begins

With toothpicks just like Papaw

Ally did cry a lot that week. I felt like I was nursing her almost every hour or so. And she was really wide-eyed a lot! I love this picture with Ally's bright eyes peeking through...NOT going to sleep.

After church on Sunday we drove up to Villa Caletas hotel in Jaco to eat dinner and watch the sunset. The kids couldn't handle the drive :)

Sitting at the amphitheater watching the sunset

And it has an amazing pool. Emma adjusting goggles for Jack. I have to explain to them every time that this is a "quiet" pool so be as chill as possible. There are always lots of honeymooners around and I know they don't want my kids splashing all over them!

I don't think they realize how amazing that view is. It's so normal to them now. This time the clouds rolled back and we had an amazing view of the sunset.

  

 

 

Ally wasn't so sure about all of it. Of course she was getting hungry

I love this sequence of pictures. This sums us up pretty well.

And she wore me out after dinner.

A few days later Jack had his Christmas music program at school. I'm so glad his grandparents were there to see him!

 
Jack's kindergarten class

He looks so much like Will in these two pictures

Jack did such a great job performing! He really likes it and sang his heart out.

Then we hung out at the house a lot.

Mimi and Emma having a picnic on the balcony

Jack always has a popsicle when he comes home from school

Can you find Ally in this picture?

Hanging out in the park

Papaw teaching Emma some math

Sweet grandparents picture with all 3 of them

Sleepy baby

Me with my tiny Ally T :)

Wow she is already changing so much.

We had such a great visit with Will's parents!