Birthday's & Christmas with the Nida Clan

Today started off with a new experience for the three of four of us....Indian food. (Dot not feather!) We met Rod, Lissa, Jen, Brady, Mike, Kathy, Tam, Ev & Eric for lunch in Corvallis to celebrate the triplet's 31st birthdays. For those of us that were used to walking through apartment buildings near Dearborn, the smell of curry powder was a bit overwhelming, but the food was good, a bit spicy for me, and Ryan wouldn't touch it, Kristin did try some, and found some things to eat. I must say, I do like goat (yep, goat!).

From there we headed to Rod & Lissa's for an afternoon of visiting, exchanging gifts with the kids, and enjoying the babies in the family. Brandon still isn't sure about me, but did give me about 15 minutes before he got fussy with me. He did get some quality time with Bill and really liked the same spot that Petee likes! Olin was pretty tired, but blessed me with settling down and falling asleep while in my arms. He had about a 30-45 minute nap, and it's so nice to have the joy of a snuggly sleeping baby. Shortly after that, Brooklyn woke from her nap a bit early, and laid on me while she woke up. Being she isn't much of a snuggler, this was a special treat for me. It was great fun watching the kids open up their gifts and playing with them. Brooklyn received a doll that she immediately snuggled, hugged and kissed. Jason received each gift, and said "Just what I always wanted"--he was a lot of fun--I wish we could be there on Christmas morning to see his excitement. After the gifts, Jason & Kristin spent a long time running a pizza restaurant. Jason of course was the chef, and Kristin was the helper...they made wrapping paper pizzas with a shirt box for a pizza box...the imagination was incredible.

We had birthday cake--and then headed for home. It was a long day, and for some reason, everyone is tired. I think it's the anticipation for Christmas. Check back in a few days. Tomorow is church, and a hopefully a low key family day....and then there's sure to be a post or two over the next few days! Merry Christmas!