Auntie Kelly checks in, Boyles fam checks out!

Katie, Fred, and Lily are now safely on their plane heading back home to Texas. This is Auntie Kelly (Katie's sister) checking in...I somehow finagled "author" status for myself on their blog. What a coup!

Our visit with the Boyles was wonderful as always, but tinged by a semi-disaster. Every year our Auntie Vicki hosts a huge Christmas party in San Jose with tons of family, friends and food. Here we are, innocently on our way:


And without fail, every year this party is hit with some sort of "incident". There was the year that the Christmas tree fell over mid-party, shattering the ornaments; the year when a fart machine made its way to the bean dip bowl, delighting some and horrifying others; and the list goes on. This year was no different when 2 days post-party (Christmas Eve), 80% of the guests were put out of commission by the stomach flu.

Fred went first, and while we were all offering our sympathies/silently giving thanks that WE were not the ones on the bathroom floor, it picked us off one by one like the evil Christmas sniper. As we all took turns expelling the contents of our breakfast, our biggest reason to be thankful is that my parents have four bathrooms. Lucky.

Despite Grandma, Grandpa, Mommy, Daddy, and Auntie all being walking germ incubators, Lily proved she has the Immune System of Steel and just giggled and cooed her way through the week, never getting sick. Bionic Baby, perhaps.

Another fun part about their visit was the never-ending parade of fashionable baby wear that Lily sports. The girl likes a theme, I'll tell you that much. In addition to the kicky phrase tee above, we had the Santa suit:


The reindeer suit:
The Christmas pajamas:


And of course, the Christmas dress (while watching Tom Brady...good girl, Lily):


Katie and Fred were very good about giving us babysitting opportunities, and we loved every moment. There is nothing like seeing her look up into your eyes, give you huge smile, and then spit up all over you. Must be love.


We will miss the Boyles so much, but can't wait to see what Lily will be doing next time we see her. With her genius status already (to quote Grandma x 1000: "She's so ALERT!"), I'm thinking it will involve Shakespeare and/or Stephen Hawking. Happy New Year!