We have been busy, but I thought I would take this time to sit down and wish everyone a Merry Christmas (belated) and a Happy New Year!
I also wanted to share some of our busy holiday! Christmas was great. We did many activities as a family leading up to Christmas, like zoo lights, gingerbread house "building" etc. We had a great time! We spent Christmas eve day with my dad, step mom and sister, and it was GREAT! We all had a wonderful time. Then we spent the evening with Brett's family at his parents house. We had a wonderful mean, and a good time visiting!
I also should add that my mom arrived on the Thursday before, and we had a great time with her being here. (more on that later!), but she watched all the kids on Friday so all of us could get last minute things done. Of course, I have been ready for Christmas since September, so we were good. But there was one thing I wanted to take care of... Giving Brett his gift. Starting in September, I was slowly planning and booking a trip for us to take in March. I wanted to give it to him without the kids around so I could explain what all was included. So, after we dropped the kids with mom at Ryan's, we came home to get ready to go for lunch. Before we left I told him that he had to open his gift. He started with the bigger box of the two. It was a box of tofefee chocolates. I then explained that he had to have one. He opened the box and found a golden ticket! On the golden ticket it explained that we- just the two of us, are going to San Francisco in March- this is for Christmas, his birthday, and to celebrate being together for 10 years (our 7th wedding anniversary). He was shocked, and excited. But, his excitement grew when I explained that mom is coming here to watch the kids- to which he kept saying, "the kids aren't coming?!" And then I told him of all the places that I had booked already- his life long dream of visiting the Monterey Bay Aquarium (on his birthday), six flags, the wharf, and of course a night tour of Alcatraz! He was very happy! After that we went for a great lunch at Tony Roma's!
Christmas day, it was just the four of us for the morning, which was great. The kids slowly opened all of their gifts, and had a great time sitting around playing with them! They were spoiled, but it is all worth it! After that Mom came over from Ryan's and helped me get the turkey in, opened her gifts, and played with the kids. Ryan, Leslie and the girls, along with Leslie's sister came over for dinner, and another round of gifts for the kids! Dinner was great, we all enjoyed a good meal and some good laughs!
Mom stayed with us from Christmas Day until she left on the 28th. We always love having her here. Danika especially. I feel sorry for mom because she shares a twin mattress on the floor with Danika- in Danika's room, but while Grandma is here she will NOT sleep in her bed! We did some shopping with mom, and visited with a couple other friends. Mom and I had some quiet nights sitting around the house talking, that was very nice!
Here is a video of our Christmas (it is long because there is some video footage in there- the longest one being when Mom was teaching Danika to play charades!)
For New Years this year, we had our friends over to celebrate New Years and Andrea's birthday! We made a cake for Andrea, order Chinese Food. The kids played with Landon and Neely, and the adults played Cranium- and I have to put this in writing- the girls beat the guys twice! Which has never happened! And they were not the ones drinking! I guess that is a drinking game! We had a great night, and we were in bed by 11:30! I don't think I have seen midnight since my early 20's!
This morning I started taking down the decorations, and trying to get the house back in some sort of order! (good luck). But, I also wanted to start something with the kids. I am going to take their pictures on the 1st of each month, and at the end of the year, watch them grow! So, here are the first pictures of 12!
And this is Bryce on January 1 2012, he is 2 years and almost 8 months. He loves cars of all kinds- especially anything to do with Cars 2! Today he told me that when he grows up he wants to be a worker guy! ( which leads me to this video that Brett took a couple weeks ago when he was taking them outside- he thinks he is a worker guy when he has his snow pants or overalls on- he made up this song all by his self, and after a couple weeks we decided to get it on video!)
No comments:
Post a Comment