Christmas 2011

No family pic this year....
gifts started before daddy could get a shower.

I'm way behind on posting about Christmas 2011, but I'm (secretly) still listening to Christmas music, so I ok with it.  We spent Christmas with Nick's family.  We rotate sides of the family every year.  All of Nick's family gathered at Nick's sisters' house in Kentucky, which is about an 11 hour drive for us.  Nick's dad road with us, so at least we had company and an extra driver.  Tillman did very well considering the LONG drive, so we were impressed.  Thank goodness for McDonald's in-door playgrounds, gold fish and portable DVD players!
It was funny along the trip.  He didn't too much enjoy watching the DVD as he did playing with the player by pulling on the cord, closing it, and pushing all the buttons.  He did enjoy the music.  Tillman loves to dance and  shake to the beat.

Cranky T....this is around hour 5 of the drive home.

Tillman got to play with his older cousins and spent time with his Great-Grandmother, Mimi (Nick's mom), and his aunts and uncles (two of which he had met for the first time, Nick's Aunt Suzie and Uncle Bobby). Tillman really enjoyed playing with his older cousins Parker and Mason.  They chased him around the house, and Tillman loved it.  When going to bed each night and even for naps, he was worn out from all the excitement.

Tillman and Mason unwrapping gifts

Christmas morning was crazy.  There was barely a place to sit with all of the gifts around the living room.  In Nick's family, they go around the room and each person opens their gifts and everyone watches.  Tillman, being the youngest, went first.  He wasn't too interested in opening gifts after about two of them.  He was more interested in doing his "own thing," which consisted of eating his breakfast and walking the Swiffer mop around the house while everyone else opened gifts.  He was completely content, but wasn't into all the excitement around the tree.

We made it a very quick trip to KY.  We left Charleston on Friday and started our venture back home early Monday morning.  We were LOADED DOWN not so much with Christmas gifts but with hand-me-downs.  Tillman had a double Christmas, and Aunt Robyn and Uncle Brad had the chance to clean out toys and clothes their boys don't use anymore. We are so thankful that they held onto all of these items, it's a budget saver for us and Tillman just loves all the toys.  I think we have more toys at our house than the daycare.  Boy can a room get messy in a minute!

On the way back home, I pretty much sat Indian style because every inch of the Tahoe was full.  Tillman got a Power Wheels Jeep, basketball goal, lots of small toys, clothes, and we even came back with a kitchen table. Nick had to use his side mirrors for sure to get us home because there was no seeing out the back!

Tillman being silly with gold fish
crumbs on his face!

Oh yeah, we had melt downs too along the way.
This is what Tillman thinks of a 11 hour road trip!