Christmas to New Years

Christmas was SO fun this year! I don't know if it was the calm, slow way we took the day, or if it was the fun ages of our kids, but it was a great day. Our kids are old enough to enjoy the morning, but not old enough to wake up early...a magical combination. Here they are lined up ready to see what Santa brought. O had a super hard time waiting...she just kept sneaking down for more of a peak.

She wasn't disappointed :). I love this picture because it accurately represents her reaction. She was so far beyond excited that she forgot about everything else. She drove the car inside, but due to many banged walls we had to move to the garage. Carter was pretty thrilled about his airplane as well, but nothing beats this first picture.

After about half an hour of driving cars and airplanes all over, we convinced O to look for her stocking. Santa created a treasure hunt to find them...they were hidden in O's room!

Olivia only cared about the candy (surprise, surprise), and Carter was all about the 'ball' (orange) he found. Needless to say, we didn't eat that one :).

We had a slow morning of opening and playing with gifts, then we just played the whole day. This was a lot different from our past Christmases. Don't get me wrong, we love seeing all our family on Christmas, but we end up driving between 3 or 4 Christmas events during the day, so this was much different. We Facetimed with family on Christmas Eve and Christmas, and the kids had fun showing off their new toys. We did go to the G's for dinner, so we weren't completely deprived of Christmas crazy. Overall, a great family day. Looking forward to next year (which as I write this I realize we are officially closer to than last Christmas...blog fail!)

We spent the next week playing and playing...so many new things to try! We watched a lot of football, to the dismay of Olivia. One afternoon I heard this conversation :

O: 'Daddy, you will change it and put a mommy show on.'
Alex: 'Honey, I'm watching football.'
O: 'DAD. You change it or you will have timeout. I will count 1...2...3...5! Now you have timeout'

I just love that she isn't asking for a kid show, she would take the small improvement of a 'Mommy' show, which usually consists of food network or HGTV...something I can have on but not pay attention to.

 One day we ended up going out for lunch, and I just loved the kids pictures of ice cream. These are such fun kids!

For New Years we partied with cousins and friends. Per the usual kid routine, we started the celebration just prior to 9 PM. No, this is not midnight on the East Coast, but there is a small part of Canada that we celebrate with! Here are just some pictures of the kids testing out their noisemakers for 'midnight'.

Carter was already asleep at this point, and Olivia was a little overwhelmed by the noise and craziness. Maybe next year she will break loose, but this year I was her buddy. 

Shooting that popper in memory of Aunt Tashie...We love you!

After we pounded and pranced our way through the culdesac, it was time for some sparkling cider to celebrate the new year. I was thrilled to find tiny little plastic glasses so they could have lots of 'clinking' opportunities. Teag was so funny, he downed five or size glasses at least.

The men getting their 'drink' on...

After celebrating the new year, we spent an hour or two getting all the kids to sleep, then finally got to play some games. We played through midnight (without noticing the arrival of the New Year), then went home when we couldn't stay awake any longer. In case you are wondering, Amber is taking this 'selfie' :)

I woke up the next morning with a really bad case of strept throat that kept me in bed for a few days, I just couldn't handle the party lifestyle :)