An Early New Years Eve

Decided to celebrate the new year with the girls on Friday.  Took our chances in being able to get a table at Carmine's (our favorite restaurant) and luckily were able to get in.  Enjoyed the food and family time.  Shortly after dinner we were going to go to the blossom of lights but once again the line was huge so we decided to catch a movie and saw Hugo.  It was a very good movie and one we recommend.  Really enjoyed just spending time with the family though.  I sure love them all.

 

Christmas Day 2011

It took Santa a while to show up at our house because Kailei was waking up about every two hours in order to see if he had come.  Finally, he was able to slip in and leave us some nice presents under the tree.  The girls woke up about 7:30am which wasn't too bad for Mom and Dad.  They opened their presents and were grateful for all that they got.  I think what I loved most was how kind the girls were to each other.  (see video below)

After presents are over, we quickly get dressed and head over to Grammy's house for the best breakfast ever.  I actually suggested at one point of moving the Christmas breakfast to another day so Grammy doesn't have to cook all day but the resounding "NO!" from everyone lead me to believe this is a tradition not to be messed with.  So we ate, opened more presents and ate some more.  Grammy's meals were delicious and the kids were spoiled as usual (actually, we all were).  We missed having Kevin and his family but they were in our hearts.  I'm bummed that my camera battery died so I only have a couple of pictures but trust me that good times were had by all.

What a Good Lookin' Couple

Christmas Eve

This year we headed out to Kiowa for Christmas Eve mass as Nic was a scheduled to be a greeter at church.  We all managed to get a seat which was a bonus this time of year.  The mass well done and soon after we went to Tracie's house for some party grub.  We have our traditional finger foods and enjoy eating a lot. 

Wildlights

Met up with the Wyman crew to view the wildlights.  It was cold so the walk was quick but the kids had a good time.  We watched The Grinch on the big imax screen and enjoyed the holiday atmosphere.

Caught!

If you don't watch Nala closely, she often gets into trouble.  She particularly likes food so when Kailei left her mac n' cheese on the table, Nala took full advantage.

Cookie Day

And yet another tradition that can't be overlooked is Cookie Day.  I can't even remember how long Lynn and I have been doing this but we have it down to a science.  That said, we still look forward to the day when Keara and Kailei run the show.  We made caramel corn, sugar cookies, oatmeal raisin cookies, chocolate chip cookies, split seconds, snickerdoodles, fudge, dipped pretzels, rice krispie treats and mice and reindeer cookies.  Always more than we need but we enjoy sharing.