Christmas is the time of year to be with the ones you love!

This is definitely a busy time of year for our family! So far we have already had two Christmas celebrations: Cary's immediate family on Friday and Cary's Grandma Taylor's Christmas yesterday. Both parties were lots of fun and were filled with food, family and presents!

At the Coppola family party we had Joe's pasta with clam sauce, fruit, bread and salad. Since I'm not a seafood fan, I opted to have plain pasta, but everyone said the clam sauce was amazing. With four boys under the age of 4, you can imagine what the living room looked like as we opened presents! Joey and Davis both got Spiderman big-wheels and Maddox got some sort of cool helmet/remote combination. It was so fun to watch Carter open his presents and be excited to see what was inside the packages. His Coppola aunts and uncles gave him a tricycle with a big handle so we can push him around in it. From his grandpa and grandma Coppola, he received Elmo Live, a duffle bag with his name on it and some cute clothes. It was a very fun and relaxed night. It's funny to think about how our family has changed so much over the past three years!

Carter on his brand new tricylcle! As you can see - it was a hit with all of the boys!

Carter checking out his new best friend - ELMO!!!

Yesterday was Christmas in Mt. Ayr, Iowa with Cary's Grandma Taylor and the Graham, Skinner, Bohn and Coppola families. Although Joe and Holly's family couldn't be there, there were still 4 little boys to enjoy the festivities: Davis, Dylan Graham, Graham Skinner and Carter. So once again, the attention was focused around the little ones and there were so many packages to be opened! Carter received a Little People tractor, a Curious George stuffed animal and book, a hammer toy, a Michigan sweatshirt and a puzzle. Grandma Farm gave all of the grandkids 30 pounds of ground beef - truly a gift that keeps on giving!!! We were so thankful for that gift and will think of her every time we make meatloaf or tacos or chili! :) Here are just a few pictures from the day!

One more VERY EXCITING development from the weekend is that Carter John is officially walking. He started getting a little more brave on Saturday as he would cruise around the furniture. Then yesterday he just started walking away from the couch, taking 5 or 6 steps out into the middle of the room. His balance is still very shaky and he moves so slowly, but I think we can offically say that he is walking!!!