We finally got Christmas put away this weekend! With a lot of traveling over the holidays, I had no desire to deal with it all last Sunday and with school starting, there was no time until this weekend. The house is feeling "back to normal," but as always, it also feels a bit empty without all the festive decorations! I figured it was about time I share all our holiday pics too!
Holiday Preparations -- The kids got to see Santa when he visited Bryan's work. Jack talked, Maddy did NOT. The kids had a Christmas program at church - Paige & Maddy were cute little stars. Jack was a sheep, but a fast one, because I didn't get any good pics. Jack also had a program at school, which he enjoyed getting all dressed up for!
More Christmas Preparations - The kids love going to the library and on this particular day, they got to be elves too. Maddy & Jack painted and made washer windchimes for their grandparents. And... Maddy's favorite holiday job is to crush candy canes with her hammer for cookies. She takes her job very seriously!
Timmy came to visit us again this year. He was quite the mischievous little elf, even hanging the kids' underwear from ceiling fan one night!
Dad arrived on the 23rd for our first round of Christmas. Sarah and the girls came over to decorate cookies in the afternoon. Then we headed to her place for pizza and presents!
Christmas Eve brought a big round of snow! It was estimated to be about 2-4" and brought nearly 8"! It was nasty driving to take Lily to the vet, but the kids enjoyed some good snow play. After snow, there was hot chocolate and puzzles while I cooked for our Christmas dinner.
Official Christmas fancy pictures! A few of them were from a week earlier when the kids were all dressed up for their Christmas program.
After church, Sarah and her family came over for Christmas dinner. It was delicious!!! Then it was time for our family presents and getting ready for Santa. The kids' favorites: Jack got the Lego Dimensions video game and Maddy got the Doc McStuffins mobile clinic!
Christmas morning - I have to say I love the main picture! There were more Legos left by Santa so even Papa got in on the action. It was nice to spend a little more time with him that morning before heading off for our next round of Christmas.
We headed to Algona on Christmas Day and got there about mid-afternoon. While in Algona, we got to see the new Star Wars movie (minus Maddy) and had more Christmas. There were fuzzy things, Mexican vanilla for Nana, more Legos, more Frozen toys, and a family favorite... the book of the Night Before Christmas recorded by Papa and Nana!
We headed home from Algona a day early due to yet another round of snow, so we got a couple good days at home before I hit the road with the kids again to go to Chicago (or near Chicago) to see my brother's family. After being cooped up inside for a snow day on the 28th, we made a family trip out for hot chocolate and shopping on the 29th. Jack and Maddy were so cute with their little Starbucks cups. Then very early on the morning of the 30th, Sarah and I hit the road with our littles for a long journey to Illinois. One of the outside adventures we had was walking to a nearby pond to feed the geese. Guess we didn't feed our kids enough because they all sat down and ate the bread instead!
There were even more presents and New Year's Eve celebrations while in Illinois too. The kids had fun watching the "Inspector Gadget" countdown and playing with glowing balloons & sticks. We sent Bryan a "Happy New Year" selfie and he did the same with a sleeping Lily. Aunt Liz had the kids make a fun Minnie/Mickey Mouse treat, took the kids outside for more snow play, and Uncle Matt got in on the fun with Jack's new set of Snap Circuits.
As 2016 has already begun, I am thankful for all this time we got to spend with family. We had a good 2015 and wish everyone a happy & healthy 2016 as well!
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