Christmas part 2

After we left Mom's we headed to NLR to spend a few days with the Riley's. It is always a fun place to be. We didn't get to see everyone this visit, but we had a lot of fun. It was very cold while we were there and so we spent most of our time inside. The Sacco's also were in town to visit so we were able to spend a little more time with them. It was the icing on the cake to our great week!

 

Aunt Marilyn always lets the boys take gigantic bubble baths!

They made a gingerbread train with Aunt Marilyn one morning.

She had fun hats waiting on them to wear! You squeeze the strings and the ears move up and down...super fun!

 Haynes Riley has an art gallery www.goodweathergallery.com. He had a gallery opening while we were in town.

 Bryton loved sipping hot chocolate by the fire pit with Uncle Bryan and Camden.

Here we are bundle up in the gallery space!

 Some of my very favorite people! 

Arkansas Christmas part 1

A few days after Christmas we traveled to Arkansas to meet up with the Sacco's and Mom and Dana. It had been almost 2 years since we were all together and so the visit was long over due! The kids were so excited to get to play with their cousins, even though Car is now a teenager! It was such a fun week and makes us miss them even more. The boys have been talking about them non-stop since we have been back. Here is picture overload from our fun filled visit!

Mom was just in heaven having everyone together as we opened gifts on the first night we are there.

Bryan and Amanda :)

3 of the 4 munchkins

CareBear got a new karaoke machine from Honey  :)

We all played some crazy games of Rummikube!

The kids loved playing ball outside, even though after the first day it got COLD!

Bryton and Honey did some baking together.

At first the gingerbread house project was a little iffy :)

They turned it into a masterpiece!

Car and Cohen had a blast together. Hide and Seek was the game favorite!

We had a fancy Christmas dinner in the formal dining room. Bryton helped Honey set the table and get everything ready.

Oh technology...

We had a family game day on New Year's Eve....crochet, bocce ball, rock paper scissors, rummikube, and karaoke!

Nothing like burning a big pile of leaves!

My sister does not like being cold!!! Oh how I miss her!!

New Year's Fun! B tried to stay awake and he made it until 10 and crashed :)

So proud of this kiddo!

Dana was our New Year's chef. We grilled pizzas on the Green Egg....delicious!

Mom and her girls!

Love this!

Happy New Year SSL!

Walking the boardwalk to the Mississippi River

One last lunch date with his Honey before heading out of town!

Cohen wouldn't take a picture without Scott so he jumped in it too :) 

Christmas Day

 Since our Christmas Eve kept us out a little later than expected due to my key incident, everyone actually slept until 7:30 on Christmas morning! That was a wonderful gift from the boys :) Christmas morning is always so much fun! It is a guaranteed pajama day with no agenda. We slowly open gifts, munch on homemade cinnamon rolls and other deliciousness and put together toys! It doesn't get much better than that!

Cohen had a quick pouting session when he was told he had to wait before coming down the stairs :)

The Playmobil airplane and a recycling truck were the two things on his list!

Cohen thought passing out the stockings was fun!

Cohen asked for a fire truck!

Big smiles!

 Working together to figure it all out!

This was the scene all day...all of us sprawled out on the floor with toys all around us!

Christmas Eve

 Unfortunately, Scott had to work all day on Christmas Eve but the boys and I didn't have any problem staying busy. We spent the morning making sugar cookies! I think there was one of every Christmas shape. :)

 We got all dressed up to go to the early Children's church service.

Oh how I love these two crazy boys!  

 Scott met up with us and we had an early dinner at our friend's house before we headed to church.

 After church, we went to another friend's house for a special Christmas eve party. It was so much fun! Santa even stopped by to deliver an early gift to each child. Most of them got new pajamas! We read Twas the Night Before Christmas before we all headed home. It was a perfect way to spend the evening. We are so blessed to have wonderful friends that we can celebrate holidays with when we are away from our families.

 I must add that we got a bit delayed in heading home because I accidently locked our keys in the car when we arrived at the party. It added an extra splash of drama for our Christmas Eve, but hey it all worked out!

 Cohen fell asleep on the way home from the party, so Bryton took care of feeding the reindeer and leaving out Santa's cookies this year!