Christmas Recap #3 {St. Louis}

On the 22nd of December, we loaded up the cars and make the trek from my parents' house in GA to St. Louis! We took two cars and caravanned, which worked out really well. My dad & Derek did all of the driving while my mom, sister, & I took turns being the entertainer for Shelby. {Since she does not sleep at all in the car, it takes a lot of entertaining and a lot of patience in order to get through long drives with her. I was SO thankful to have my mom & sister's help!}

Both sides of my family live in the St. Louis area {my immediate family are the only ones on either side not living there}, so we spent many Christmases there when my sister & I were younger. This was Shelby's very first visit to St. Louis and her first time to meet the majority of our extended family, so this was a very special trip. But I will be honest and say it certainly wasn't easy. This was first the time we have taken Shelby to multiple different locations on one trip {AL-->GA-->MO}, and by this third and final leg of our trip it was starting to take its toll on her. Throw in her cold & teething on top of it, and Shelby was just all out of sorts. She slept well while we were there, but she just wasn't her usual self...way more whiny & clingy than normal. I can totally understand why she was acting that way, but that didn't make it any easier to deal with. But even though it wasn't easy, we are SO glad we went. There's just nothing like spending Christmas with family.

It was a busy couple of days in St. Louis! For my memory's sake, here's the run-down of how we spent our days...
--Dec. 23rd: rested up from our long day of traveling, drove through Lone Elk Park in the afternoon, and then went to my Aunt Claudene & Uncle Michael's house that evening..my cousins Nikki & Katie have 8 kids between the two of them, so it was fun, chaotic night!
--Dec. 24th: Paul's donuts at Aunt Claudene's in the morning, Christmas Eve service (Shelby & I hung back for naptime), party at Uncle Danny's
--Christmas Day: family brunch & Christmas dinner at Aunt Diane & Uncle Steve's
--Dec. 26th: visited with my mom's best friend's from high school in the morning, then party at my Aunt Diane & Uncle Steve's house for Mizzou's bowl game and lots of Euchre afterward! :)

For whatever reason, I didn't do a very good job of remembering to bring my camera with me everywhere we went while we were in St. Louis. But I did get a lot of shots of the Christmas Eve party at my Uncle Danny's...

{the entire Schumacher fam}

{my immediate family}

{it's probably not the safest toy in the world, but Shelby loves to play with my Diet Coke cans after I drink them...and Derek thought it was hilarious when she started playing with his beer can and pretending to drink out of it! ha!}

{Shelby & Grampy playing with her new bear from Grandma Jane}

{helping Shelby open all of her gifts!}

{playing White Elephant!}

{Dad got a motorcycle nightlight!}

{opening a present from Aunt Diane & Uncle Steve}

{playing with her "Beachy Santa Claus"--perfect for Biloxi--that sings & dances from Aunt Karen & Uncle Lee}

{loving on Minnie Mouse that the Bergers gave her}

{playing with Mrs. Berger, my Aunt Diane's mom}

{Grandma Jane posing with all 6 of her boys}

{Shelby being silly with Grammy & Auntie Em}

{Shelby & Claire, my cousin's little girl, were fascinated with my sister's phone}

{Grandma Jane & sweet Claire}

{all the kiddos opening gifts}

{Shelby & Claire playing together}

{Shelby & Grampy playing..love the look on my dad's face in this one!}

{dinner time!}

{my cousins Lauren, Hannah, & Rachel playing the piano--they are all amazing at it!}

{more fun with the phone!}

I have a few pictures from our time in St. Louis, but I will leave it at that for now! Hopefully I will be finished up with all of these Christmas recaps before it's February...ha!