Christmas in Raleigh

We had a late Christmas celebration in Raleigh last Thursday through Saturday (Dec 30th - Jan 1st). We were really happy to see Brian's dad and see that he's doing amazing! Brian's sister (Shannon) and her boyfriend (Brendan) were home from Australia for a few weeks so we got to see them. They are moving to New Zealand soon to start new jobs there.

We got to Raleigh around midday Thursday and spent the afternoon around the house opening a few gifts. Carter enjoyed playing with a headlamp that Shannon got ...


Rylan was happy to hang out with Brian ...



And then Brendan and Shannon were nice enough to make us a very yummy dinner Thursday night.

On Friday we all went out to lunch and then Brian and I took the boys to the Kids Together Playground. It was really warm (mid 50s) and the boys didn't even have to wear jackets.



Both boys really liked the swings ...

We didn't do anything for New Year's Eve, other than try to figure out why Carter seemed to be scared to go to bed. Carter's usually super easy to put to bed, but he got to stay up until almost 10 pm when we finally were able to put him down without uncontrollable crying. It was weird.

On Saturday morning Carter helped Brian make pancakes ...






Carter also had fun popping bubble wrap with his new cowboy boots from Art and Cinda ...


All the fun and going to bed late led to this ...


It's been a really long time since Carter has fallen asleep on us!

We left just after lunch to drive back to Knoxville. It was a short trip, but it was great to see everyone!