Christmas in 2 parts

It's so sad that Christmas was almost two weeks ago. 

We had such a wonderful time traveling back to Ohio to spend Christmas with the family.  

There were so many memories made in the many days we spent 

lavishing in spoils from the family, wonderful food, and great company.  

I have so many pictures from our 12 day world wind trip East that I 

have tried to narrow them down... to only these couple hundred. 

Just kidding!  

Seriously the smiles from Christmas were from ear to ear.  

I relish in the excitement my children get from the tearing away at the beautifully colored Christmas paper to reveal gifts that they just adore.  

The excitement is contagious. 

There were some presents that could't wait to open and set up. 

Rock'em Sock'em Robots was a big hit with Bubba. 

Everyone got a chance to play, even mommy. 

Jack looks could kill when playing me.  

It was a heated game until my 1-2 punch knocked him out! 

From Grandma Pam's to Grandma Judy's we were surrounded by family. 

Card playing at it's finest.

There's always the kid's table. 

I had to convince my sister Beth to let her boys stay overnight with us at Grandma Judy's and we had a blast.  I woke up on my birthday morning December 23rd, to the most wonderful gift lots of laughter and fun.  The night before we tucked all 6 of them in, in one room.  

I read them some Christmas stories and before I was finished, two of them were already fast asleep 

dreaming of sugar plums. 

There is a whole lot of bed head!  

 Gigi begged to open up her making headbands kit and 

was busy decorating headbands for the whole family. 

Aren't you envious!

Aunt Kathy and Lil Miss slaved over my birthday dessert and put lots of love into it.  

In the afternoon we headed out to go bowling.  

I was just so eager to wear those stylish bowling shoes!! 

We had a whole crew and had lot of laughs trying to bowl. 

None of us were exceptional bowlers, but we tried our best.  

Birthday girl had the first strike of the day!!!  

The adults goal during the two games was just not to let the kids beat them.  

The bumpers really help! 

On Chrstmas Eve... oh yes all that happened before we even got to Christmas Day, we woke up and watched Elf during breakfast.  What better way to get in the Christmas spirit then watching 

Elf.   

It took about all day to get everyone through the shower, hair done just right, and all dressed up for Christmas Eve mass.  It is amazing to see church packed to the max and even the folding chairs they sit out full.  Sitting in St. Michael's listening to the music is Christmas tradition for me.

When we got to Grandma's that night we set out Santa's milk and cookies, then cuddled on the couch to watch Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer and hop into bed. 

Then Christmas morning Santa found us!!! 

In true Santa spirit he spoiled our children good.   

Nate and I were so proud of our children this year in how grateful they were for 

every gift they recieved.  I know many years we were so frustrated with 

their words of "ewww clothes" or "I didn't want this."  

But this year, the kids were so kind and happy about 

every package they unwrapped.  Even clothes!  

 

 Christmas Lunch was delicious and was wonderful to spend with Grandma Judy and Aunt Kathy. 

Cousin Love!  

 

 Rosie had gotten a Cat's Cradle string and book and Beth and I 

showed off our skills.  We still got it!

Nate's been using his Si cup he got from Reed.  

What's in the cup Uncle Nate?

Bubba was in heaven in playing with all the boys!  

Love this college crew and seeing each other over the holidays. 

Hard to believe with have 10 kids between us 4 couples and one on the way!!! 

 The worst part is saying good bye. 

But our Christmas vacation didn't end there... 

it was just beginning. 

Not all of us had a hard time sayig good-bye. 

Trust me these two love each other... sometimes. 

Next stop Raleigh, North Carolina to visit Uncle Neil. 

More to come... 

2013 Recap

Goodbye 2013, Hello 2014!! 

2013 was a great year.  

We made so many memories. 

Cuddling babies

St. Patty's Day 

Losing more teeth 

Camping

Potty Training

Circus

Gardening

1/2 marathon

Weddings

Baseball

and 

So 

Much 

More. 

I don't know what 2014 has 

in store for my family but know that there are many more memories to be had. 

Some of my favorite memories this year were -- 

Favorite Memory:  Taking the kids to Chicago

Most rewarding memory:  Completing my second 1/2 Marathon

Biggest milestone:  TIE 1. Lil Miss being potty trained  AND Bubba losing his first tooth and then his second, third, fourth, and fifth! 

Luckiest moment:  Nate and I's weekend in Chicago ending up with him 

watching the Buckeyes play in the Big Ten Men's Basketball Championship

Most beautiful moment:  My little niece getting hitched

So many moments I want to relive.  

So many more moments to come. 

Bring on 2014!!! 

Happy New Year!!!! 

Our Christmas

I have been completely absent from the blog this month.  Yikes! 

While away, we have been busy like always making memories. 

December is always a busy month trying to go to Christmas parties, prepare for 

traveling, and of course shopping for gifts.  My goal for this year was to 

change that.  Slow things down.  

I also wanted to put an emphasis on giving back. 

I have spent everyday of December doing something for others. 

It has been as simple as paying it forward at Starbucks, to donating items to 

Goodwill, to writing letters to women who just found out they have breast cancer. 

{blog post on this to follow}

Most of these "acts of kindness" have taken a rather small portion of my time, such as smiling at random strangers throughout the day, but it has given me such an appreciation for the holidays this year. 

Here we are less than a week away from Christmas and 24 hours away from traveling to Ohio for the holidays and I can honestly say I am pretty calm.  Is everything done? No.  

Will it get done?  Yes. 

My to do list is manageable and I even have enough time to sit down and write this post AND 

get a workout in this morning. 

The best part about my "acts of kindness" this month is getting the kids involved.  

Last week, we helped out the Salvation Army by being bell ringers at 

our local grocery store.  I think my kids smiles had people putting a little extra in the bucket!  

Now just when you are thinking "Man, this girl has it going on!".... let me tell you 

how the bell ringing went.  

Yes, we were all smiles and ringing bell but it was cold and about 1/2 way through our 2 hour time slot, Bubba was sitting on the ground taking a break and tells me he has to go to the bathroom.  

Three seconds later he is throwing up all over the lobby of the grocery store.  

Yep.  Puke on him, puke on me, puke on the carpet, puke in a trail all the way 

to the waste basket ten feet away beside the sliding doors.  

What a site!! 

I felt like such a bad mommy. 

Luckily, daddy was on his way and was able to come and 

save the day and take Bubba home to rest.  

The staff at the grocery store was kind in helping me clean up and the girls 

kept ringing their bells amongst all the chaos!  

Making memories!!!  LOL 

{I was hearing ringing in my sleep}

This flu bug that has been going around our house is only a 24 hour thing so 

Bubba was back to his old self the next day..... only to give it to 4 more of us.  

This past weekend we celebrated Our Christmas with just the 6 of us.  

We have done this the past 4 years and take time to do family things over the weekend and 

then exchange gifts.  This year all the gifts the kids got from Mom and Dad were handmade by us.  

When I say "us" I mean me.  Nate isn't really the making type. 

The kids also got a chance to make some gifts for each other.  

We also can't get through a holiday season without making Christmas cookies. 

On Saturday we pulled out the cookbooks and found a few recipes to create.  

I love how much the kids love helping.  They all had a part in something. 

Everyone was taste testers! 

We did take a break from the cookies to have a dance party. 

Gigi was supposed to be helping me reach the cornstarch in the top cabinet when she got the urge to dance.  Love my crazy music loving kids!  

We attempted to make our own gingerbread houses too! 

Being really adventurous, I made two packages of gingerbread and  tried desperately to make large rectangle pieces out of the dough to create houses.  It worked.  They weren't perfect and 

certainly didn't look as pretty as the right of the box kind, but the kids didn't know any different. 

This week Bubba also brought a cookbook home from school. 

I love my kids!  He went to the library at school and picked out a cookbook so we could make some recipes at home.  Seriously they are my children, no denying that!! 

He had a blast making firecrackers.  A drink that includes grape juice, 7 up and ice cream.  

Happily I think we will have more cookbooks coming home from school. 

Sunday is when we finally got to open up gifts.  

You see all the gifts under our tree.... 90% of them were handmade. Only Nate and I's gifts to each other were actually bought at a store.  

After church, we started the fire in the fireplace and exchanged gifts.  

Seeing the smiles on their faces from such little gifts like a Hershey chocolate bar or handmade pajamas makes my heart swell.  It really isn't how much you spend, truely!!! 

There were lots of hugs!!! 

Even this girl smiled from ear to ear. 

After opening gifts, we declared it pajama day and everyone got comfortable in the pajamas made for each one.   I even made myself a pair.

That night we went out and looked at Christmas lights around town.  

We visited a few houses that have their lights programmed to music and the kids had 

a ball dancing around the car watching the lights. 

{first time using a timer on my phone... there are lots of bloopers!}

I love this family tradition of Our Christmas.  

As much as we love being with Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, Grandmas and Grandpa for Christmas, it is 

fun to have a little time with the 6 of us.  

I hope for many Christmases like this to come.  

Now on to more packing....