Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, Happy Valentine's and everything in between!

Well, I knew it had been a while since I last updated this blog, but I didn't realize it was so long that 3 holidays had passed and I even forgot my password to sign in. Here is my feeble attempt at catching up for 3 months in as short of time as possible!

Though things are good here, we are busy! When I think about what we're busy doing- it's really nothing but life. I guess it's just being back to life with a baby in the house. There are lots of messes, lots of meals, lots of laundry, lots of homework and tutoring jobs, and lots of cuddles. I feel like I can get approximately 1.5 things done each day, which is about the equivalent of a shower and shaving one leg!

Christmas first:

My Mom came to visit a week or so before Christmas. We had a great visit and I was grateful for her extra help before Christmas break hit! She did cookies with the boys and spent a lot of time with Littlest Brother. She even gave Kevin and I an evening off for a dinner and movie. So wonderful!

Our Christmas held our traditional activities: cutting down our tree, Christmas books and cookies, visiting Santa, Christmas Eve service, and letters/cookies for Santa. This year, though, we got to include the latest precious gift to our family. 

This little guy started solids (oats) a few days before Christmas. He was a happy camper!

Big Brother took a pottery class and made ornaments for us all. He loved it!

Daddy wrote what Big Brother wanted to say. He also had a warning to Santa that didn't get included: "If you see a chocolate cake in our kitchen, don't eat it because it's not for you!"

The big family surprise the boys found in our basement!!! We've had a few family tournaments for air hockey and ping pong. I see many hours of fun in our future with this!

A "Cousins" Christmas: Part 2

After we spent a few days in our home, we headed up to the mountains for some skiing, snow, and sledding! We stayed at the Snow Mountain Ranch, YMCA camp near Granby, CO. We had a cabin with 4 rooms and got cozy all together! Staying at a YMCA camp was awesome with kids. They had a gym where you could rent roller skates, tricycles, and balls to play basketball, pool, foos ball and ping pong. There was an indoor heated pool (though we only got to use it for 20 minutes because of bad timing). And, there was sledding galore!

This was our cabin. Notice Little Brother's facial expression. This is what happens when he doesn't get enough sleep. Precious, isn't it?

The first full day up there, the adults went skiing with the three of the kids. I stayed back with Little Brother and his sweet little cousin. Big Brother has skied a few times and was so excited to have his cousins learn for the first time. I wasn't there, but I heard that there were some good times and some not so good times throughout the day of learning!

Before and during skiing!

On our last day, we did a couple of hours of sledding. The snow was not that great at this point in the season, but it was good enough to send us all flying down the hill! It was a long trek back up each and every time. The littlest ones usually got pulled up, but the oldest 3 were on their own!

The last run of the day, the kids wanted to be tethered together down the hill. They had a blast!

It was a great time, and as you can see from the photo above, we had a lot of fun and a lot of noise and energy leading up to Christmas. The cousins went home the day before Christmas Eve, but we were able to do a small Christmas celebration together. We felt blessed to have their family visit with us for the holidays this year.

A "Cousins" Christmas: Part 1

We were blessed to have Kevin's brother and his family come to visit us the week before Christmas. We had a busy week and a busy house: 5 kids- ages 2, 3, 4, 6, and 7! We kept busy playing in the snow, watching movies, skiing, sledding, shopping, eating a lot, and just hanging out.

The kids headed for the snow as soon as we pulled into the driveway. Poor AZ kids- so deprived of the seasons!

We got a kick out of passing around my Halloween wig! Lady Gaga- step aside!

We also enjoyed visiting Santa. Well, most of us did!!!

Cousins Christmas: Part 2 to come...

A few Christmas Preps

We did all of our normal Christmas traditions this year, but I didn't always have the camera out! We did, however, make a gingerbread house and celebrate with parties at school.

This year we had to tag team the school parties since they were at the same time in the same building. Little Brother's class party was a little more "family-friendly", so we ended up in there a little more. They had a potluck, story time with the principal and a little singing show, complete with the "12 days of Christmas". They got to wear their pajamas and decorate train cookies since it was a Polar Express party. We don't get to volunteer or spend much time in his class, so it was our first time seeing him in action. We realized quickly that not much stays private for him! He tends to just blurt out whatever is on his mind. I think we're gonna be in trouble down the road!

The big kids have to keep their parties a little more "educational". So, during the days leading up to the party they had $3 to spend on treats with which to decorate a gingerbread house. I got to be part of the store that "sold" the items to the kids. Unbelievably, not one kid in the class spent their entire $3! They planned out their houses and on the party day they got to assemble them.

I'd hate to see what $3 of decorations looked like!

After the parties, we were off to the airport to pick up Kevin's brother and his family. They came to spend the week before Christmas with us. But, that is another post entirely!

Did you miss us?

I almost forgot my log-in for the blog, so I realize it's been quite some time. I'm going to try to get caught up on some Christmas memories and then get back in the game here!


One of our traditions is to cut down our own Christmas Tree. We usually go over the Thanksgiving weekend. We were blessed again this year with a nice day, no snow and a great tree! This year we even had a couple of extra helpers to get the tree chopped down and carried to the car!

And here it was all decorated for the season. Every year we underestimate the size of the tree. This year we had to decorate the top half while standing upstairs! The bigger the better to us all!

The Holidays All Wrapped Up

We got suckered into buying the Santa photo this year. In prior years they let us snap our own photos, but not this year. I figure we won't remember getting ripped off when we see this photo when they are all grown up!

Christmas Morning

Our traditional overnite cinnamon rolls. This year, served on the funny food face plates from Grandma Sheryl!

Playing some Wii. The favorite gift of the day!

I love the face plant up above! He was trying to get a running start and ended up face in the snow!

We had a small New Years Eve party with a couple of friends. Was a fun night.

Last year we started the tradition of a "dated" family photo to ring in the new year.

(This was obviously last year's photo!)