Christmas Wrap Up

I can't believe that Christmas was over a month ago already! The whole day passed in a whirlwind of activity leaving us all stuffed and exhausted.
We made a trip to Dubuque to see my mom on December 23rd. We had plans to take her to a hotel for a little getaway, but in the end decided that it would be better just to stay home. We went to lunch and did some shopping before just relaxing at her house. We convinced her to come back home with us and once the kids went to bed she helped me with all of my last minute preparations for Christmas morning. I wish that we could have kidnapped her for the weekend, but she left the next morning to finish her rounds at each of my siblings houses.
On Christmas eve we went to grammy and grampy's for the traditional Christmas Eve dinner of Happy Joe's pizza. All of the great grandparents, great aunts, great uncles and cousins were there. We got home just in time to tuck the kids into their beds and prepare for the mornings festivities.

Randy and I awoke by 6:30 and only waited until 7am to wake the kids. Randy woke up Reese first because she was already stirring. Then they went into Aidan's room to wake him up. Randy said, "It's Christmas!" To which Aidan replied, "I know." Then Randy said, "I think you have some presents!" Again Aidan responded, "I know."
They sauntered down the stairs and were shocked to see their gifts!

Reese had pajamas on when she went to bed, but woke up Christmas morning without them! Which is why I took very few pictures of the kids opening gifts at our house! We had all of the presents open and had started playing by 7:30. We had just over an hour to play and then we dressed and headed out the door for our second Christmas of the day at grammy and grampy's house. We had a delicious breakfast of omelets and cheesy potatoes before starting the gift opening. Everyone was so generous and our kids were spoiled with tons of new clothes and toys!

Cousins!

Randy and Aidan

Reese
After hanging out to play with their new toys and visit with the fam, we headed home. I tried to organize the new haul while the kids played with all of their gifts. After fixing them a quick lunch, we sent them to bed for a nap. A few short hours later, we were waking them up to get dressed for yet another Christmas get together. We went to Randy's grandparents house for a traditional Christmas dinner of turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes and much more. After everyone had eaten, we made our way to the basement to open gifts. With 4 great-grandkids, 9 grandkids(plus spouses), 3 children (plus spouses) it is a very large group. The great-grandkids passed out presents and everyone dug right in, throwing paper everywhere. Once again, we were all very spoiled!

Waiting patiently to hand out presents!


Recently, we had Christmas with my family. Although I hate not being able to see my family on Christmas Day, it is nice to be able to spread the holiday out a little so that we are not rushed and can spend the day with them relaxed and in the moment. We had a late lunch and openened gifts after resting our bellies for a little while. Then the kids played with their cousins while we enjoyed the company of my brothers, sister and the spouses.

More cousins!


My mom's reactions to her gift, a barn quilt that I painted for her.
We are so lucky to have such wonderful families and to be able to enjoy the holidays with each of them!

Easter 2011

My daughter woke me up at 6:30 am, ecstatic that the Easter bunny had come and left her a basketful of goodies. She dove right into her basket, eating as much candy as she could.

Aidan was equally excited to see his basket when he woke up a few minutes later.

The kids then got to try out their gifts from mom and dad. Reese got Just Dance 2 for the Wii and Aidan got a four wheeler:


They would have ridden that thing all day, but eventually we went in to get ready for the day. Here are my babies all dolled up!

We got in the car and drove to my uncle's for brunch with all of my aunts, uncles, cousins, and their kids. We only see some of these people once a year and it is always great to get together.
Before leaving to head back home, we got together to take a family picture. How long can it take to get 18 people together for a photo? Quite awhile! We asked my cousin to take a family photo with my siblings and all of our kids at our recent Easter brunch. She thought it would be funny to document the process of getting our whole group together:


Still gathering kids who were having too much fun to be bothered with photography!

The gang is all here, but we need to fill in the gaps.

Passing babies around! My god, our family multiplies like rabbits!

Looking pretty good, but why is my brother-in-law hiding in the back?

Finally, almost everyone is looking at the camera! My daughter is crying, Parker looks like she is chocking and my husband and I are too tall to be standing in the front, but we have proof that we were all toghether for Easter!

Though I knew the kids were tired and cranky, we tried for a photograph of just our family:

My daughter is still crying, my son looks like he is trying to look down my dress and my husband looks like he has been goosed! My husband did not understand why I wanted to even try taking a picture because he knew that it would not turn out. I said it is not about having a perfect picture, but actually to remember the moment! I will always remember that the kids had a great time running and playing with their cousins and were just worn out and overstimulated from the days activities.

After a quick nap in the car the kids were nice and refreshed for the remainder of the days activities. We had an egg hunt with their cousins from my husband's side of the family.



Then the kids played which allowed us a nice chance to visit with family. It was a wonderful and fun day with all of our family!

TV changes

After letting the kids watch cartoons for about 2 hours after dinner, I switched to a program that my husband and I were interested in watching. Reese wanted us to switch back to watching cartoons and said, "Mommy, I'm sorry that you want to watch your shows, but I want to watch mine!" In the past we have let her go into our bedroom to watch tv by herself until bedtime, but now that she is staying up later, I don't want her to become a couch potato and spend all of her free time watching cartoons. Don't get me wrong, most of the time the tv is just playing in the background while the kids play with their toys, they are by no means glued to it! My plan was to watch less tv this summer, but it is nice to relax and spend time together watching tv in the evening after running all day. Though we may not watch less hours of tv, I plan to watch only 1 tv so that we are all together in one room and spending time together, rather than spreading out to separate corners and living totally separate lives.