So after a fun family day off on the 26th, Waylon went back to work and the kids went back to school that Tuesday. My company was closed the whole week, so I took the day to do laundry, pack up and shop a bit in preparation for our trip to MD on Wednesday. I actually debated going to get the kids and head on up but decided against it since it was a rainy and nasty day. I had the car fully packed though so we were ready to go first thing on Wednesday morning. The trip was fairly uneventful which was nice considering I was driving by myself with both kids.
When we arrived, the presents started right away. My mom likes to spread out the present opening a bit so the kids aren't overwhelmed. It actually works out really well. They can open one thing and spend some time playing with it for a while before getting another. First gift was a wolf hat for Noah and a polar bear hat for Kylie. So cute!
Then they got some magnet tiles - so much fun to build with!
 |
| Building with Grammy |
 |
| Kylie loves them! |
 |
| I just had to post this picture because Kylie and I both look like we are giving someone the same look. |
 |
| Buliding with Mommy - Noah is wearing one of my old bathrobes that Grammy was trying to get Kylie to put on! :-) |
 |
| Happiness! |
 |
| Kylie got a princess house and tunnel. |
 |
| Noah loves his wolf hat - this will be perfect for football games next year! :-) |
Lots of playtime while we were there of course. Kylie decided to put Papa to bed. She's big on this these days. Too funny.
 |
| Night night Papa! |
Thursday morning, we went to a fire station where they had a train garden set up for the holidays. They loved checking this out and Noah really loved looking at the fire trucks and asking the fireman LOTS of questions. He's so inquisitive, I love it!
 |
| The fireman giving Noah all sorts of info |
Opening more presents Thursday afternoon!
 |
| Kylie wearing Noah's cowboy hat and boots and her backpack! Adorable. |
Thursday evening, we went over to Roz and Duanes for our traditional celebration with them. We used to always get together with them on Christmas day - now that we are all older, we have to schedule it. This year, it worked out that everyone was there - except Waylon. :-( There were 17 of us and we all managed to eat in one room all together! So fun. We missed having Daddy there with us but understood that he didn't have much time to take off of work.
Jill and Dan were there with their brand new baby, Winston. Noah was in heaven. He loves babies and loved Winston. He got to hold him and was so sweet and gentle.
 |
| Kylie loved him too - she said, 'Look at his teeny ears!' :-) |
 |
| Leah (with Winston), Bill, Me, Jill |
 |
| Diane and Jeff |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|  |
| After dinner, I found Noah, Jill and Winston like this :-) |
 |
| Self portrait with Kylie |
 |
| Papa and Kylie-girl |
 |
| Ditters |
 |
| Big brother Max |
| I got a gag gift where a mouse pops out of this box. Noah loves it and has had so much fun scaring people with it! :-) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|  |
|
 |
| Noah's gag gift :-) |
Diane was a brave woman and decided to decorate gingerbread houses with the kids. They had a blast with it!
 |
| Noah's finished product (that's his proud face) :-) |
 |
| Kylie's silly face :-) |
 |
| Diane and Max |
The finished product...
 |
| Noah's |
 |
| Kylie's |
 |
| Max's |
 |
| Somehow the kids always decide to pile on Duane! :-) |
 |
| Me, Jill and Katie |
Friday morning, Waylon flew in and the kids were so excited to see him. Not too long after he arrived, we decided to do our big gift exchange with my parents and Leah and Bill.
 |
| Noah got a "real" sword and shield |
 |
| More 'Dora Presents' for Kylie! She loves it. |
 |
| We got Leah a 'yoga dogs' calendar. She and Bill had fun identifying the poses. :-) |
 |
| Noah got Mario Kart - one of his (and our) favorites! :-) It's so fun. |
 |
| Waylon (we) got a BluRay player and a Netflix subscription. We love it! |
 |
| Kylie got an alphabet puzzle and we found her stuffing the letters in her socks! :-) |
 |
| Helping Aunt Leah open her presents |
 |
| We got my parents a sign that had all the street names of places where they have lived. So fun! |
 |
| We have seen this face quite a bit these days. Kylie is very two. :-) |
 |
| Doing the puzzle with Aunt Leah |
 |
| Aunt Leah and Bill got Kylie a 'Baby Boots' (from Dora). She LOVES this and sleeps with it every night. |
 |
| Daddy's girl |
 |
| Kylie and I took a little rest together after all the action |
Naps these days for Noah are touch and go. And I think Kylie is attempting to follow suit. She's just so active, she doesn't want to sit still for too long. So the holiday schedule was a little flexible. :-)
 |
| Leah and Bill were heading out for a run and Noah wanted to go, too. :-) |
 |
| He got tired quick. :-) |
So, Noah, Kylie, Grammy, Papa, Waylon and I went for a walk down to the playground.
 |
| Noah climbed a tree before we left |
 |
| Not sure who had more fun at the park... the kids or Daddy. :-) |
 |
| Noah's mean knight face! |
 |
| Family shot |
 |
| The 'kids' (notice Noah's mean knight face again) :-) |
 |
| So we all decided to do a mean knight face - I think Kylie thought we were all crazy. :-) |
Friday night, Leah, Bill, Waylon and I went out to dinner with Julie, Ali and Andrew. It was so great to have a night out and catch up with my girls from high school!!
 |
| Love my Julie |
 |
| Ali, Me and Julie |
Saturday was New Year's Eve and Tina came by with Ethan to visit. It was so fun to catch up with her also!! So fun to get all the kids together.
 |
| Us with our kiddos |
Waylon and I made late reservations for dinner alone on New Year's Eve and my parents friends Knoop and Sandy came over to hang with my parents. The kids LOVED them. Kylie can be shy when she first meets people but she didn't do that at all with them. It was really cute. :-)
 |
| Noah had fun showing off his new mouse toys! :-) And notice Kylie in the background putting Grammy to bed. :-) |
We had a nice meal out alone and then stayed for midnight. They gave out free hats and champagne so that was nice!
 |
| Another self portrait :-) |
Sunday morning, we had a lazy morning, packed up and took off back home after lunch to start our new year! We made it back to town really quick and ended up stopping for dinner at Nana and Grandad's (Andrea, Sean and Savannah were there also). Everyone was pretty tired by the end of the night but we had the next day at home still to get back in the groove before school and work.
 |
| Relaxing before leaving Grammy and Papa's |
What a fun year it was! Lots of new things - new house, new jobs for both of us, new school for the kids.... And TONS of great memories!! Happy New Year!
No comments:
Post a Comment