Smith Side

As I mentioned earlier, we drove to Indiana to celebrate Christmas with Joel's side of the family--his parents and 3 sisters. It was a house full of people--but SO much fun! And it's great now that the cousins are getting old enough to play well together--Ollie would disappear for an hour at a time--he was upstairs playing! (He actually really enjoyed playing with Brooklyn and Brianna's "Baby Alive" dolls....feeding them water, then making them pee into a cup...)

Anyway--whenever we visit, there's a few things we can always count on: eating a LOT, playing games, and having a super time.

Lily playing with Grandpa Smith

with cousin, Clara...and with cousin, Drew
The games:
Joel and Ollie...
The 'big' people...The kids game...Breakfast with the cousins...(there are 8 now!)Reading a book...
Playing with Ollie and Lily's new puppet stage! (with cousin Abi)
No trip to Indiana is complete without some good SLEDDING!!!

Finally, no trip would be complete without vising the New Carlisle Public Library. This is ONE SWEET LIBRARY. Plus, Roanna works there...as well as Roglenda's friend Amy. But we went to check out the model trains, eat some candy and read in the reading hut:
(At this point, Ollie was "reading" so loudly his cousins had to ask him to be quiet...)

Lily played with a rocking chair there...
And of course, we ended the trip with Lily's party.

We had such a great time! And if you are one of the few who actually read this WHOLE POST, congratulations. You get a prize!