Snow

Finally we got a little bit of snow to play in.  Unfortunately for me it came on a weekend so no day off from work . :( 

It snowed overnight Friday so we woke up to a coating Saturday morning.  It was a dreary day with the snow changing over to drizzle as the temperature warmed up but we did manage to get out and enjoy playing in it for a little bit. 

First we had to shovel the driveway and front walk:

We needed their help too because the snow was very heavy due to a coating of ice on top of it.  Zach and Megan didn't shovel for long before the sleds were calling their names.  Time for some fun!

I will be perfectly fine if we don't see anymore snow this winter and if it does snow it better do it during the week and snow enough that I get a day off of work!

Cousins

We were invited to Kelly's house for brunch on Christmas Eve and I just now downloaded the pictures off of my camera.  As I was looking at them I noticed that all of them were of the kids (cousins) so that's how the title of this post came about. 

First here's Alex, Lauren and Ilene posing for the camera.

Ryan is hanging out with his best buddy Megan:

Zachary, Ryan and Lehlan take a break from harassing the cats and stop to color.

Kristin and Megan just enjoying the morning.

Lehlan was pretending to play the guitar:

And lastly Ryan and Zachary doing some more coloring.

It was a nice morning and a wonderful start to the holiday festivities.  

First Job

Lauren has a job!!!!  Paul and I are thrilled!  She had applied everywhere she could think of the past couple of months and finally over Christmas break Domino's called her for an interview.  She went to the interview and was hired and began working this past week.

She's worked 3 nights so far and it seemed like she liked it at first but after working this past Friday night she came home and said she hated it. (It was a very busy night!)  Maybe once she's comfortable there and has a little more experience she'll change her mind.  Her first paycheck will help with that too!  Anyway, we're very proud of her for getting a job.

A New Year

I only have one picture from New Year's Eve/New Year's Day and that's this one...

I had to laugh when I opened her door and saw her like that!  She didn't even wake up when Lauren took her picture, she was out, slept right through the ball dropping.  Who knows how long she had been sleeping like that.  All I know is that she was tired because she had sleepovers the previous 2 nights and the last one she didn't go to sleep until 7:00 am!  Maybe next year she'll be able to ring in the new year.

Christmas Afternoon

Kristin was my official taste tester as we were getting ready for family to come over.  She was a great helper with setting up the food, well what she didn't eat anyway!

The family trickled in at various times which was nice.  We have a standing policy that anyone can come over anytime after 12:00.  That's only so we can clean up a little from the morning and have time to change out of our pajamas!

So family starts arriving which totally occupies Zach.  He starts playing and everyone chit chats.

Presents eventually get exchanged.  (We did this late this year because Paul was switching over the girls' cell phones.)  Here's a few pics from that:

It was a fun day filled with presents, family and food.  I was exhausted by the end of the day but it was a good exhausted.  I'm really glad Christmas only comes once a year!

I'll leave you with one more pic and that's of Alex. Ryan and him were playing basketball with Zach's Little Tyke basketball net and he just looked so cute hugging the ball in his jammies.

I also loved the fact that they took the basketball net with them!  I had been meaning to donate it to Goodwill but kept forgetting to get it out of the basement.  I'm glad it got a good home.  It used to be Lauren's when she was little.  

Christmas!

This year I actually found Christmas pajamas that Lauren approved of, of course she was with me when I bought them!  I had to find something different for Zach but at least they all had a penguin theme to them. Here's the gang on Christmas Eve: 

And then again Christmas morning:

Zach saw the presents under the tree and was all smiles:

He was very excited that Santa filled his stocking too:

Who looks more excited, Kristin or Zach? 

Okay, now it's present opening time and these pictures are in no particular order.  Zach loved his pee wee pillow pet. 

Lauren finally got the coat she had picked out a month ago.  Of course mommy had to send it to Santa so he could put it under the tree.

Zach was in awe the whole morning, I loved his facial expressions.  He did a great job at getting the presents out from under the tree and passing them out.

Lauren snuggling with her zebra blanket:

It would not be Christmas if Kristin didn't get warm slippers:

A "22" shirt for Megan which was perfect for her.  Ask her about it sometime.

Kristin got a clip-on book light that went with the 50 million books she got.  Well, not exactly 50 million but close.

Santa must have stopped at Hershey, Pa before visiting our house because Megan got the Hershey chocolate bar pillow she wanted. 

Like I said, I loved Zach's facial expressions!

Kristin will stay nice and warm with her penguin hat.

When presents were all done I started breakfast while the kids checked out their stuff.  There was one last present for Megan though which was handed to her while I pretended to call mamaw and papaw.  Wait...the box was ringing...she got her cell phone that she's been wanting for forever!

It wasn't just any phone either, it was an iPhone.   Now she can not only text/call but can listen to music, play games and take pictures.  She loved it!

Another group picture before eating our sausage biscuits and gravy.

Lauren and Kristin got surprised after breakfast with their new iPhones.  We made them wait since we wanted Megan's to be special since it was her first one.  Of course Paul and I also got them too.  So now we are a family of iPhone users.  Who would have thought a cell phone could be so much fun!

Cookie Making

I was planning on making cookies last Saturday but Zach was sick and I really wanted him to help.  Of course I couldn't put it off any longer when he was still sick on Sunday so the girls and I went ahead and made them.  We did 3 different kinds and I didn't think about getting any pictures until we were on our 3rd one.  So here's the girls as they make Christmas trees.

They had to roll out lots of little balls and then put them together to look like a tree.  After the cookies baked and cooled Lauren then drizzled them with a glaze and I put the sprinkles on. 

Here's what Zach did the whole time we were baking:

Poor little guy!  He started with his fever Friday evening and had it until Monday which is when I took him to the doctor.  He just had a virus but at least with this one he wasn't quite as miserable as he was when he was sick the weekend before.  All I can say is that he'd better not get sick this weekend! 



Decorating the Tree

Our tree has been up for the past two weeks but it didn't get decorated until tonight.  Jingles, our elf that visits us in December actually put up the first ornament.  He hides every morning and this morning he was hiding in the tree with a brand new elf ornament that had all the kids names on it. 

Of course the kids added more ornaments.

They each have their own box of ornaments that I've collected for them through the years which they can pick from to put on the tree plus I have my ornaments that they also put on. 

Paul actually watched the kids decorate it this year instead of watching tv or being on the computer.  He actually came in handy too since we have a new tree that's 7 1/2 feet tall and none of us girls (or Zach) can reach the top! 

Here's the tree the way the kids decorated it.

I had to switch a few ornaments around because some of the picture ones were in the back or there were 2 or 3 ornaments on the same branch.  They did a pretty good job though and now that's one more thing I can check off my list of things to do.