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We flew to Oklahoma on Christmas day. Serenity was wonderful on the flight, and Grandma picked us up from the airport. Poor Grandma has been having a horrible time with her carpenters, so her house was a construction zone still. We still had a wonderful Christmas with Mexican food and all the traditional desserts though. Eric and I took a LOT of kids to the park to play. It was so fun! Eric had Casey on his back, and was pushing Serenity in the stroller. I held Raegan and Barrett’s hands. It was crazy fun to have so many kids around! We were met at the park by Kyle with his baby girl Kiley, and Brayden and his parents came to play as well. My brother Mike came by too! The boys had a blast running up and down this enormous hill. They are really into Indiana Jones right now. They have the whip and hats as well! Eric named them Casey-ana Jones and Barrett-ana Jones =) There was a pond with ducks in it that fascinated all the kids. They tossed rocks in the pond. Raegan was too cute doing this. She would gingerly pick up rocks with just two fingers (to minimize contact with the dirt) She would concentrate so hard on picking the perfect rocks and then toss them into the water! Eric was excited because she started giving him big smiles and jumping high fives! She had never gotten a chance to play much with him, so he was thrilled that they got along so well this trip!
      Christmas at Dad’s was fun too! Jason and Tiffany came into town, and so we got to play lots of games. Eric was shocked, but he played far more games at Christmas in Tulsa than he played in California! In the three Christmases Eric had, he ended up playing more games at Jess's house than Diane's house, and more games at Diane's house than in Cupertino!!!! What has Serenity done to the natural order of things!! Serenity got a nifty pink poodle. Grandpa wrapped his presents in tissue paper that she could open =) The crinkly tissue was her favorite part!
 The Tulsa visit this year had a definite park theme. We enjoyed several 80 degree days (interspersed with 30 degree days) We went to the park several times. Serenity still loves swinging! On the swingset in my brother’s backyard, we swung with Carson and Raegan. Serenity thought it was hilarious for them to swing toward her while Eric was holding them. She giggled and had so much fun! Raegan and Eric played balance beam on the planter boxes. Raegan really loved this =) Eric also tossed lots of leaves in the air for Raegan and Carson. We stayed at Mike and Kelly’s for several days this trip, which was such a blast! Raegan and Carson are polar opposites at this age. Raegan loves everything to be neat and tidy (she even sleeps on top of her comforter so her bed doesn’t get messed up) and Carson follows behind knocking down towers and making messes =) He is completely a morning person, and she needs thirty minutes after she wakes up before she wants to talk to anybody. One morning, Carson was playing downstairs, and he started saying (in his beautiful, loud, 18 month old voice) “I want to get Sissy!” And then from Raegan’s room you heard her cry “Nooooo, I don’t want Carsy!!!” He was pushing her buttons even in her sleep =) He will also instantly do anything you say “don’t” to. Raegan loves princesses and Fancy Nancy. Raegan was so excited that Serenity liked her, she kept saying “She likes me!” Carson was very sweet to her too. Once she’d dropped her pacifier, and he came running over to her with it. (He is so into pacifiers he needs two at all times so he can switch one out when it gets too slobbery)
     Andrea got to meet Serenity too! When she came in the door, Eric started to hand her Serenity, assuming she'd want to hold her as most people do =) Well, Andrea is not in to babies. She banged her head on the door she backed away so quickly! Then, when Eric tried again, assuming she'd be ready this time, she hit her head again! Well by this point, Eric was finding this quite funny. So he threatened Andrea with the baby again, and she hit her head a third time! Too funny!!
  We spent New Year’s Eve with Casey and Barrett. Barrett was so cute, he sent a message with Jen one day “Come in my house Chrissie, and bring Serenity so I can play with her!” Both boys loved playing with the baby, and she thought they were hilarious, especially Casey. He has this frog that says “koki” and she liked the sound so much he repeated it for her a lot! He even let her hold the frog when she was fussy. We celebrated the new year with Rio for Serenity, at 8pm, and then again with Puerto Rico at 10pm. My sister had bought hats and noisemakers, so we had a great party! Casey played Ten Days in the USA with us, and he figured out a winning trip all by himself! The game is technically for age 10 and up, but he’s smart enough at almost 7 to do it. Barrett liked playing with the cards too. We took them to the park again, and Casey played boot camp. Sweet gum seeds as grenades.
       We took Serenity to the aquarium! She was fascinated by the colorful fish! She really stared at them! We are going to have to take her to Petsmart occasionally to visit some fish. Her favorite was this black and white spotted fish with a yellow mouth. We stood in front of that for at least 15 minutes while her daddy watched the otters eat. We got her a shirt with a shark on it that says “I chew everything!” Alex and Allison drove up from Texas at the spur of the moment, so they went too! They played lots of games, both at Mike and Kelly's and all night at Mom's with Eric. He was SO happy!
   Abbey, Brent, Brendan, Scott, Jessie, Nate and Allie drove all the way from Norman to visit us! Dad was so nice to let us fill up his house with company! It was so wonderful to FINALLY get to meet Allie =) She is so adorable, with enormous blue eyes =) It’s interesting to see how she’s different from Serenity. They already have their own personalities. Allie loves to roll, and Serenity doesn’t even seem interested in it. Allie also feels a lot looser, more relaxed. Serenity is always trying to stand and hold her muscles tight, she feels sturdier. I hope they get to be good friends!!! The boys are so cute together already, it’s wonderful to see =)
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