We have returned from an eight-day Christmas marathon in which we visited with all 3 partitions of our family and really had a wonderful holiday. I think my kids would say that this has been the best week of their lives. Lots of family, fun activities, holiday treats, special events, and of course...the gifts.
Once we got home, we spent two days doing eight loads of laundry and purging through shelves and closets to be able to neatly put away our new toys (both kids' and parents'). Now I'm trying to wrap my head around starting a normal week tomorrow. Eeesh! I took a gazillion pictures, so here's a little glimpse of the week. (I feel like I have fallen off the photography bandwagon and I need to apologize as the quality of photos has taken a downward turn. Hoping to improve again, I should add that to the New Year's list.)
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At home on Christmas Eve, ready for church. My mom, Greg, and sister Melanie joined us for the weekend. My mom likes to give gifts, and I do too, so it's crazy kind of fun on Christmas morning.
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My mom brought my old coat for Katy to wear to church - she made it for me - circa 1982?
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| I LOVE this moment captured - this is what you see if you open the garage door and say, "C'mon, Lukey! Time to go!" Poor guy's worst fear is getting left behind. |
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Putting out cookies, milk, and notes for Santa.
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At our house, everyone contributes to everyone else's stocking (grown-ups have them too). The result is that the items may not all physically fit into one's stocking, and when you pull out that bubble bath or lottery ticket - you don't know who may have given it. This year I also made post-it labels because I'm the only one who can remember whose is whose.
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Stockings with bedhead!
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One of the perks of Christmas morning is getting chocolate first thing.
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Shout out to the consignment shop where we got 75% of the kids' gifts this year.
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| The biggest hit for Katy this year? A doll named Chloe from Oma - she came in a Girl Scout uniform, but my mom had also sewn her a wardrobe. I am shocked, because Katy has not been a doll person before now - but she LOVES this doll. Carries her around everywhere and changes her clothes and brushes her hair. Cute. She has also loved her lego set and non-fiction videos. |
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You might as well try on your new digs. Luke and I both got rain boots, and Katy got an umbrella. Rain really affects our school drop-off and pick-up!
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David was introduced to the world of Superman - a book, a costume, and an action figure. Maybe he'll branch out from his cars.
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A wrap-around generations canvas for Oma!
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The kids have gotten into building train tracks lately, so an expansion pack that I got on clearance 6 months ago was perfectly timed. It's really fun to explore the new possibilities.
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Skip forward to Dayton with Grandpa and Grandma Sue (Aunt Mel again, too). We went downtown to see a train set.
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The escalators were equally popular.
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| We also visited a set of historic department-store-window Christmas displays. |
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| Luke is battling David for the title of Family Cuddler. |
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The year of the argyle sweater.
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The kids had a blast at Grandpa and Grandma's. Katy and David got the new experience of sharing an air mattress - but they did great! We watched Polar Express, which I think may be the first full-length movie we've all watched together? (Besides Cars, of course. I'm not that sheltering, they just haven't been interested.)
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New state - this is Kentucky! Grammy's gift to all the girls (9 of us altogether!) was a trip to the nail salon. It was a fun girls' morning out together.
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| We stopped into Grammy and Papa John's travel agency to see the great map. COUSINS!!!!!!!!!! |
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We went bowling, but I had a hard time taking pictures because I was chasing Luke all over the place and trying to keep him off the floor (yuck).
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It's becoming a tradition: people disappear in turn to work on a thousand piece puzzle.
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The kids spent hours (and hours and hours) playing with their cousins. Board games, outside (we saw 60 degrees!), hide and seek, performing "shows," etc. The trip was actually quite relaxing for me because the kids were so entertained and just disappeared for long periods of time.
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As the oldest cousin, Kimmy always gets her picture taken holding the baby cousin! But she's really good at it.
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Thank you, dear family, for a wonderful week! Now back to reality. :)
1 comment:
Tell Katy that Oma has jammies and a robe cut out for Chloe. I hope to have some more clothes for her pretty soon.
I also finished the chair covers, Em.
Glad you had a great Christmas!
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