Christmas was an absolute blast this year! We spent part of the time in KC and part of the time at home and enjoyed every single minute of it all. John, Charlie and Johnny got pink eye at some point during our vacation (it wouldn't be Christmas without a trip to urgent care in KC) but thankfully it wasn't anything more severe like influenza as many of our friends have experienced. We are beyond blessed and thankful to have made it to KC and back safe and sound!
We kicked off Christmas Break with a trip to McCords candies for dinner and milkshakes! My friend Kelley and I had an amazing vision for this activity and it turned in to a total disaster! McCords' stops serving food at 2:00 (which we didn't know) and of course our kids were starving. Once we told them they didn't have any grilled cheese or corn dogs, the whining began. Then there was trouble deciding what kind of milkshake they wanted; and then when they got the milkshakes, a couple of them were thrown off by the peppermint on the top and Johnny flat out refused to drink it for about 10 minutes. Charlie just about fell down the stairs. Mellany upset Charlotte by squeezing her face. And there were a total of 500 trips to the bathroom which takes two flights of stairs to get to. (Kelley and I made it a point for all the kids to go to the bathroom before we left the house to be sure we wouldn't have to climb all the stairs to use the bathroom at the restaurant.) It. was. a. disaster. The vision that Kelley and I had totally blew up in our face. But, the milkshake was excellent and the place was so cute!
Here's to trying again next year! :)
Pre-KC Oil Change. The boys LOVE getting to watch the mechanics at the dealership.....and of course eating a donut helps too!
Another friend of mine, Heather, brought us some oranges and peppermint sticks to take part in a family tradition of hers and the kids really enjoyed it! You take a peppermint stick and stick it in an orange then suck the juice....it was really good!
Another friend of mine, and neighbor, Jill, brought over some chocolate covered pretzels that Charlie thoroughly enjoyed!
And we are off to KC!
Christmas Eve @ Nana's
Dinner, Family pictures, Santa, kids running in the house playing and all the Christmas Day prep!
Santa's Here!!! Mellany loved it....Johnny thought he was going to love it then decided differently....Charlie hated it!
Cookies and Milk for Santa....reindeer food for the reindeer
Christmas Morning @ Nana's
Santa brought the presents!
Johnny got a combine
Mellany got a spa chair for her American girl doll
Charlie got a basketball goal
Everyone was happy!
Aunt Amy and Daxton came to Nana's on Christmas morning to open presents
And we tried again for a picture of the 4 kids in their Christmas PJ's....and it was more successful this time
...then it was time to open the presents!
Christmas Day @ Gammy's
We ate lunch, snacked on WAY too much puppy chow, opened presents and played games.
...trying to get a pic of Gammy and the 5 kids....then everyone!
After Christmas....
Helping Amiee get her car to the shop....2 adults, 2 convertible car seats, 1 high back booster seat, 1 infant carrier and 1 booster seat!! I love my Yukon XL!!!
Back to Nana's....reading, games and relaxing!
@ Papa & Teresa's House
For my dad's Christmas present, we all went in together and sent him and the boys pheasant hunting. They shot like 22/24 birds or something like that and had a great time! We then ate the birds at our Christmas dinner the following Saturday.
We weren't having our "official" Christmas but Teresa let the kids open one present early
Nana got the kids tablets for Christmas and they were a hit! At least they are sitting next to each other right?....
Back to Gammy's
More games, relaxing, the trampoline park and Corner Cafe with Brad, Amiee, Capri & Delaney!
Christmas @ Papa's
Johnny got a hold of my phone....and took a ton of pictures!
After getting back home in IN, we spent New Year's Eve/Day at home and decided that a trip to IKEA for some toy storage and a possible office rug would be a good idea. Neither John or I had ever been so we headed to Indianapolis to spend the day. We got exactly what we were envisioning and the kids even wanted to play in the IKEA childcare/play area....Win-win!! (Organizing toys means "weeding" out broken cars/tractors/trucks.)
We hope you had as great of a time celebrating Jesus' birth as we did!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
