Time with old friends never gets old!

 Brian's favorite pool game,   toss the children!  They kind of love it too :)

 Because boys will be boys even after they are men,  Brian and Dave couldn't resist turning their noodles into light sabers and whacking the fire out of one another for a good long fight.

Little Chloe wanted so badly to be a part of the fun!

 Dave the ever unchanged PILL always desiring to ruin my pictures with his silly scowls!

And we wouldn't know what to do if we didn't get some XBox time in with them.  Can't deny genetics have made these kids all quite good at video games!

We had an awesome visit from some of our favorite dear old pals from back in our Army days.   Brandy and Dave brought their 3 sweet boys in to town for a New Years visit.  Traditionally we have enjoyed some New Years past with them and we love when they come to play.   When our little house holds host to all 5 of our combined offspring it gets...quite loud!   But we had a blast anyway since all of us are well schooled in the art of talking over noisy children pinging off the walls around us.   We spent the holiday swimming at their indoor pool at their hotel, and it was a fabulous way to ring in the new year.    We got into some good mischief while they were here.  They went to a go cart speedway and included a heated laser tag battle between Dave's young soldiers and Brian's little fighting princesses.   I won't disclose how the battle went down but we'll just say,  for once Brian held a bit of a disadvantage against Dave's team.  They loved it anyway and had an awesome time.  Brandy and myself relished the quiet time back home with only baby Daniel to distract our girl time.  It was a wonderful visit.  We are so blessed to have such great friends after all these years.  I love combining our families and seeing how things have changed, yet so many things never do.

Christmas 2013

 The girls modeling their new Christmas PJ's for me, even La-La the Bit's favorite stuffed cat got a matching pair.

 Wide eyed and ready to watch the messy madness together

 How cute are these boots!?

 I didn't get my homemade love going on this year but I did manage a couple things.  The biggest hit was the bags oh beans for the girls to microwave and get warm.  Complete with "made with love by mommy" tags on them.   I do try!

I had to take a picture of one of these presents.  The girls wanted so badly to participate in the giving that they rounded up items from around the house,  and Abigail made some gifts then they wrapped them all by themselves.   They had 5 or 6 a piece when they were done.  It was adorable.

It was a very nice Christmas this year.   Filled with lots of food family and fun.   This little family is such a blessing.   We keep it simple and therefore enjoy the simple togetherness to make us happy.   Another good year for the memory books :) Merry Christmas!!

Christmas Eve

On a very cold Christmas Eve our buddies Alisa and Ryan texted us after we already had our jammies on to come downtown to look at the Christmas trees with them.   We made the decision to get our festive spirits on and join them.   It was a good time and the girls enjoyed all the holiday displays.  We found the only restaurant still open at 9 o'clock on Christmas Eve to stop in for hot cocoa and deserts.   It made for a very nice evening .

Cause this family likes to cook!

Brian making his chocolate bobka with his little helpers

There is one time of year I put aside my avoidance of calories in mass and enjoy a side of my husband's family that is just delicious to be a part of.   They love them some holiday baking!  Brian has mastered a divine chocolate bobka that takes hours and hours to make and I asked for it for Christmas :)   And he was craving his mother's famous new england whoopie pies and all he has to do is whisper he has a craving for anything and his sweet mom always makes what her boy asks for in the kitchen.   I love that she and Brian are anxious to carry on the wonderful family tradition of cooking.  Abigail really seems to love it and is getting better and more skilled each time.   Brian inherited his family's love too of delivering samples of all these goodies to our close friends and he'll drop it all off on doorsteps and mailboxes like a little Santa Clause.   It brightens our season to make our friends so happy.   .

Dancing under the twinkle lights!!

 Chloe was a trooper to watch sissy so patiently when we knew she felt like poop.  She had a lovely head cold and we were sooo glad it was a warm evening.

This is their buddy Evelyn,  or better known lovingly to Chloe as "Ebawyn"

 Only our crazy Uncle Shannon could bring out those amazing smiles.  That man never behaves and the kids love him for it! :)

Abigail's dance school got invited to dance for a downtown Christmas program outdoors.  We were so afraid we were going to freeze to death but it wound up being close to 50 degrees.   The company kids and some of the non company classes performed selected Christmas numbers to do.  It was a special festive evening and made complete by her cousins coming out to support her.  We finished the night with hot cocoa and pie at the local coffee shop.  

Getting in the spirit

We had a full day of plans and birthday parties on the calendar for this December Sunday but collectively decided we needed a family day together.  So we blew off the obligations and decided to hit the movie theater to see Frozen.  The movie was fantastic and we all left humming the songs and sharing our favorite scenes with each other.  With bellies full of Nerd ropes, Junior Mints and popcorn butter we then headed to our non magical street market to select the tree for the year.  We have so many peers that hike up into the surrounding mountains to do the tree farm thing.   Brian and I giggle at this and neither of us want to drag the girls up into the hills because we know full well that they would just whine and complain to be out in the elements for that long.  There would be very little magic.   They would look very much like the Griswald children all blue and shaking at the expectations of a more memorable selection event.   Maybe when they're older we'll attempt something more festive.  But for now,  we're sticking with the market around the corner from our city home that incidentally delivers your tree for 'free' to your home with in the hour after you select it!  Brian loves this feature and doesn't mind paying a few extra dollars for our tree to not have to strap it to the roof of our SUV.   
   The girls giggled and ran wild around the lot playing hide and seek with each other until we made them focus and pick the perfect tree for this season.  After they picked I snapped a few shots and we headed home to get the living room ready.   By tradition we ordered pizza to munch while we worked completing our quality nutritional intake for the day.  We finished up the evening admiring the final product in the new 3D glasses we got the kids to make Christmas trees look even cooler.   It was  a great day, a needed recharge with just the 4 of us enjoying each other to make it special.  It's going to be a good season.  We have a lot to look forward to.