Christmas Travels, Part 1

**This is going to be a long post, folks! You've been warned!**

Friday
The day after Christmas, we headed to Huntersville, NC to my little sister's house! It was an early morning for us, so Miss Priss fell asleep pretty fast (thank you Dramamine!). And Nate enjoyed reading new books he got for Christmas and snacking on Funions (gross)!

 My whole family was at Bec's house when we arrived!! And little cousin Anderson was oh so excited to see Nate & Abby!! I love seeing the 3 of them together. It only happens a few times a year, so each smile & giggle together is extra precious :) First, Nate wanted to show off his new electric scooter. And of course Anderson had to join in.

 Anderson decided his (manual) scooter wasn't fast enough, so we moved onto the 'Gator. Watch out for the crazy driver!!



Driving Miss Daisy



Love these little faces :)

 When Abby took the wheel, Nate was a bit apprehensive at first. Check out his facial expression on the first picture, too funny! Once she got a bit more in control, he relaxed & enjoyed it though!

 After chowing down on appetizers, we started the annual #gibbsfamilyphotoshoot. Always an adventure. Thank goodness for Bec's tripod!



Three lucky grandkids with their Nanny & Poppy



The whole gang! (And yes, I'm a shrimp!)

 Every holiday, Nanny manages to break out a singing stuffed animal, sweater, book, or hat. Case in point:



"Pretending to sleep" under Anderson's new train table; one muchkin woke up early :)

 Bec is so gracious to open her home up to us crazies, especially on her BIRTHDAY!!! She turned 33 and we combined Christmas Dinner with her birthday dinner. Nanny made a "special" (read: mystery) ice cream pie, and as usual, Lora & I bought the same exact bithday cards for Bec. Love my little sis!

Abby looks like a unicorn....

They *sure do* look tired in their Christmas pjs! :)



Saturday
We all woke up to this beauty:



Cutest cousins ever!

 We let the kids open one gift while breakfast was cooking, and Abby got a Sofia the First playhouse! Lucky me got to put it together, with 3 little helpers :)



Chowing down on our delicious breakfast spread! #kidstable

 Then it was finally time for Christmas #2!!!! Anderson has been obsessed with karate/being a ninja/ninja turtles ever since Nate got into it, so we gifted him with a white (beginner) belt. He was just a tad bit excited! :)



Anderson is potty-training, so Aunt Lora gave him this appropriate book. Abby, however, was not amused!



Greg's "secret" santa was Bec, and she tried to trick him!! The only thing in that big ole box is a check, ha!



Empty boxes are oh so fun!



Aunt Lora hid ornaments on the tree with $$$ inside!!!



Nerd games with Uncle John! This is one is a laser maze and is pretty cool actually.

 That evening, it was time for Becky's gender reveal party!!! She is due with baby #2 in June, and has been convinced since Day 1 that it is a boy....



The Gibbs girls plus Becky's BFF, Kelly, who is also preggo!

The theme Becky picked was "Miss or Mister, Brother or Sister?" and I had so.much.fun decorating and planning this party!!



Everyone wrote their vote on onesies. Lots of pink!! (I voted pink!)

 The reveal itself was CLASSIC. Kelly was in charge of getting the cake, and was very anxious about it. She didn't want to mess up 1). the gender! and 2). my precious color scheme of magenta & navy, haha! Well, when Mike first cut into the cake, we saw WHITE. No pink, no blue, just white. We were all speechless for a minute, and then started yelling at Kelly!! Poor thing! She just started screaming "I didn't bake the cake!" and her husband chimed in "Go deeper!" So Mike cut a second piece and - thankfully - there was a color.....BLUE!!


Baby Boy Staton, coming in June 2015

I am SO excited for Bec & Mike, and for another nephew for me! But most of all, I'm super excited for Anderson to have a baby brother! I am not sure he will love sharing all of his Thomas the Trains though, haha :)

After the party died down, Nate took his new Spy Gear "Night Vision Goggles" outside. They really work and you can see up to 50 feet in the dark - so cool!!

Sunday
After another big breakfast (grit-cakes!), Aunt Lora & Uncle John headed home. The rest of us headed to Sports Connection for some fun!!



The kids' first time on bumper cars - hilarious!!

 There weren't many "attractions" that Anderson could do, so he & Abby headed to all the bounce houses. Anderson did okay on the first one and then it was Mommy (aka Aunt Bebe) to the rescue!

 After bounce houses, the two littles enjoyed the arcade! Lots and lots of games to choose from.



Skeeball, my personal fave!

 And where, you may ask, was Nate during all this!?!??! Well, just 40 feet in the air doing a ROPES COURSE!!! I.still.cannot.believe.he.did.this!! Not sure when my shy little thing turned into a daredevil. This is kinda fun though!


He is just a little spec, in the far left top corner, on the landing!



He was up there for close to 45 minutes, and was all business! I think he was pretending to be on "American Ninja Warrior!"



Pretty proud of himself at the end :)

 By the time he got down, Abby & Anderson were ready to go!! (Think: tired & grumpy & hungry.) So Nate hurriedly used up all the $ on his game card. And of course, the laser/ninja maze was his first stop.



After Nate finished, Anderson invited himself in for a dance party :)



They cashed in all their tickets for some prizes!

 After Sports Connection, we headed to Moe's for lunch. And when that sweet little boy asked his two big cousins to hold his hand, how could they resist!??!?

 ......next stop: Clemmons, NC to Nanny & Poppy's house! Stay tuned!