Christmas in St. Louis

Mike, Louis and I headed to St. Louis for the holiday's. We landed at 2am on Christmas eve since our flight was delayed. In the morning we met Katie, Emily and Gerry at the coffee shop to catch up. We left Louis sleeping at home with Mike, but that didn't fly so finally at 10am my mom and Kate went home to wake him up and bring him! After coffee, Mike, Louis and I met Karen Franta at Ilvincio for lunch. Karen is about 8 months pregnant and is super cute! We went to 4:30pm mass and then my mom made her traditional steak soup and corn chowder. The Cunningham's and grandma came over. Louis was so tired he laid down on the kitchen floor and didn't get back up!

Christmas morning we waited for Louis to get up to open presents. He slept 14 1/2 hours without waking so we didn't begin gift opening until almost 10am. Louis doesn't quite get opening presents but if you give him a corner of paper he will tear it off and then smile. At 3pm we headed to Illinois to my Aunt Doris and Uncle Bill's house. They were expecting the entire family (about 37 people) but My Uncle Leo, Aunt Diane, Bryan and Sarah didn't come until the next day because their power was out.

The day after Christmas we visited Katie and Jim and there baby, Taylor. Pat, Jenny, and little Pat were there too. That evening we went to my grandma's for dinner and the big family gift exchange - this time everyone was there - even Bryan's girlfriend Annie. After the gift exchange the cousins went to Steve and Erin's home and played rock band and hung out! It was really fun to catch up with all of my cousin's!

On the 27th my dad rented a minivan and we drove to Columbus. I told him he was crazy for renting that, because now we would all be forced to ride with a baby who now hates his car seat - but Louis did great! Things have changed in Columbus because my Grandpa and Aunt are both in Assisted Living's but it felt like old times when all of my mom's sisters and their families and my grandpa all came over for dinner and gift exchange!

The next day we drove to Kansas City and met my Aunt Marcia, Uncle Brian, Taylor, JD and Amber for our traditional night on the town. We always shop around the Plaza, eat dinner, get Cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory and spend the night in the Sheraton Hotel. It was so much fun and Louis slept great!

The next day was our last full day. We drove home and then my cousin Laura and her family came over to take family portraits. My cousin has a photography company and she is awesome. Her name is Laura Boeker and her website is five-petals.com in case you need portraits taken! That night, even Jared came over for dinner and we played Cranium and hung out!

It was a Very busy trip to St. Louis and it felt too quick which means we will just have to come back sometime! As you can tell, Mike didn't get many pictures on this trip so hopefully Kate or my Mom can pass them along :)