Home for the Holidays

There is nothing like being "home for the holidays"!  And it seems like no matter how old we are, it is still so comforting to be with our family, in Michigan and Ohio, for Christmas!  

We had exactly 3 weeks in Michigan/Ohio and boy were we busy!  However, it was very important for us to see as many people as we could while we were home!  So thank you to everyone who rearranged their schedules and were flexible so we could see you!  We apologize to those we didn't get to see, as it was just impossible to see everyone, but we will be home soon (actually, in 5 months) and we will for sure see you when we return!

Time flew by while we were home, but we tried to take advantage of the time we had.  Grocery shopping was especially fun even though we didn't need to buy a lot thanks to everyone cooking for us! :)  Of course we wanted to buy everything we saw though so it was very difficult to restrain ourselves.  We were able to see our dog, Bella, and that was wonderful!  We miss her so much, but it is clear that she is being well taken care of by her temporary family!  We also tried to enjoy a few nights out without Ava since those times are so rare here in China. 

It was so fun to see Ava with her grandparents, great grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and friends!  She put a smile on everyone's face and she already misses everyone so much!  She says "Mamou", "Bapa", "Nana" and "Papa" about 50 times per day now!  Good thing we have those Hallmark recordable books so she can hear their voices anytime she wants!

Here are just a few pictures from our time with friends/family!

Christmas is so fun with all of the kids!

We got to meet Natalie!!!

Ava wasn't quite sure what to think of Santa this year

Nana teaching Ava all about lipstick!

While home we surprised Ryan with tickets to a Detroit Lions game!  It ended up being a big game for them with the playoffs on the line.  Of course they lost, but it was close and a lot of fun!

Happy New Year everyone!