Present Time!!!

You know, something that we all love about Christmas is presents!

Yes, we wish we could have made it to South Carolina closer to Christmas but it was kind of nice to be able to spread out the present receiving and giving.  We gave our presents to the family on Sunday night after everyone left (before Adrienne and I lived in the hot tub for a few hours). Amazingly enough I left an ENTIRE bag of presents for Grandma and Grandpa. They each had one to open but that was it. Naturally I was the one who loaded the car so I was the one to blame. Talk about feeling pretty ridiculous...and earlier in the night I had spilled an entire HUGE drink of Adrienne's all over their area rug. It just was NOT my day. Anywho...

For the people who got presents...

I made the joke that we were preparing Austin and Ashley for the future and played along like the contents in the box were the same as what was on the outside of the box. I am so funny.

Charlotte loved helping everyone open their presents.

Charlotte loved helping Aunt Adrienne open her and Uncle Adam's presents.

LOVE THIS PICTURE. This is the ornament I picked out for Adrienne. Charlotte loved it and wanted it for herself. Clearly Adrienne didn't want her to take it. (Kidding. I have no idea what was happening here.)

Once all of the presents were opened, Charlotte was ready for some snuggle time with Momma. The funny part is she actually sat and rubbed Uncle Adam's arm. She LOVES to rub arms.

Storytime with Grandma

The next morning we got up and we opened presents from everyone else. Alex was in charge of the camera and we got distracted so we didn't get any pictures besides this one of our little guy opening up one of his toys.

One of the presents Charlotte got from Aunt Amelia was a Build-A-Bear. Even though Charlotte was somewhat in Troll form, we went ahead and went to the mall to do it. Amelia, Charlotte, Sawyer and I headed to the mall (in Amelia's car because ours was getting new tires put on it.)

We got a snack at the food court and headed to the Build A Bear. Cullen was at the mall too so he was able to come help us.

Charlotte wouldn't pick out a bear. She wouldn't help stuff it. She wouldn't do anything. So Amelia did it.

Charlotte was a bit freaked out by the "washers and dryers" of the bear.

She finally participated a little bit.

Starting to brush her bear's hair.

When we got to the part of Charlotte having to pick out an outfit for her bear,

this is what she did.

So Amelia got to pick out an outfit and dress the bear. Charlotte was creeping on a little girl that kept yelling for her Grandma to come over and save her. We had to end up picking Charlotte up and carrying her out of the store screaming. I was holding Sawyer at the time and I had to toss him into Cullen's hands and grab her. I was sweating by the time we got to the car.

It was nice to get to hang out with Cullen and Amelia. We had a good time and it had been quite awhile since I had actually hung out with him. 

After our time at the mall, we headed back to the house. Charlotte played, Sawyer ate, and Alex and I got the car all loaded up. 

Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Amelia, Uncle Adam, and all four of us met Uncle Austin and Aunt Ashley at the sushi place just up the road. We enjoyed a fabulous meal of sushi. 

We decided to go ahead and leave straight from the sushi restaurant. We got the kids changed into their jammies and then we got them all loaded into their carseats. We said our goodbyes to Adam, Ash, Austin, Amelia and Ronnie in the parking lot (Grandma had to leave early for her yoga class.). We all got our hugs and well wishes and thank yous in and we were on our way back to the glorious state of Georgia. It was nice to have been back in SC again. There is just something about that state...

We left Irmo right at 8:00 pm. We got gas, some caffiene for me, and we headed to Georgia. I had Alex sit in the back so he could sleep. I am a much better night driver than him. And he had been up the night before with Sawyer (he had my typical night that night of being woken up every few hours.) so he was pretty exhausted. I offered to drive the entire way. I made phone calls and caught up with many of my favorite people. I only stopped to pee quick one time 20 miles from home. We made it in 4 hours and 15 minutes. I was pretty impressed :)

It was a great time in Columbia. The kids really had a blast and they felt extremely loved :)

Thank you for everything, Jackson Family!!