Happy 13th Birthday Megan!

Another teenager in the house!  The birthday girl/boy gets to pick where or what they want to eat that day.  Megan chose to go out to breakfast at Perkin's so that's what we did.   

Later after dinner we sang happy birthday to her and enjoyed cheesecake.



 One thing that Megan likes are Hershey chocolate bars.  She was happy to get a bunch.

  The following weekend Megan had some of her friends over for a sleepover.

 

I can't believe that I've now got 3 teenager daughters.  That's pretty scary.

New Year's Day

We spent New Year's at Grandmom and PopPop's house We had delicious food, played games and just enjoyed each other's company.

Christmas vacation is over!  The kids go back to school tomorrow and Paul and I both go to work. :(

Christmas Part 2

So now we get ready for family to come over and celebrate with us.  We usually have some kind of theme and this year it was......Mexican!  I had bought a whole bunch of those stick-on moustaches, and had a sombrero floating around for picture ops.  Megan loved the moustaches!  Kristin decorated her Jones soda with a mini Mexican serape!

 Lehlan even got into it!

 Kristin and Mamaw hanging out in the living room...

 ...watching Zach and Lehlan play the piano.

 Megan and her green Christmas jeans join Mamaw and Papaw.

 I guess Ralphie didn't need a fake moustache!  Jordan did though.

The newest member of our family, meet Pablo...

 Lauren and Jordan just looking cute.

 Kelly sporting the sombrero.

 PopPop looks like he came straight from Mexico.  Of course he is Pablo's father.

 I'm not sure what to make of this :)

 We have so many people anymore that I set up a table in our foyer for the boys to eat. 

 We had a record number of people this year, 23!  Thank goodness we have a finished basement.

Present time this year was a little chaotic.  Not sure how we can make that go smoother in the future. 

A little Mexican treat I made for the kids was their very own pull pinatas.  All that was inside was little trinkets and candy but it was a little something extra and the youngest ones enjoyed it. 

 I don't know any kid that can't resist a cell phone and Jordan is no exception. 

That ends our day.  Some words I can use to describe Christmas day are:  long, fun, busy, chaotic, did I say long?, but mostly memorable and definitely special. 

Christmas Part 1

The older they get the more someone has to wake them up!  Our rule is that no one is allowed to go downstairs until everyone is ready.  While we're waiting on Paul I usually snap my annual Christmas morning on the stairs picture.  

The kids glance at the tree and then head to the kitchen to see if Santa ate his cookies and drank his milk.  He always leaves a note to the kids too.

Seeing what's in our stockings are next on our agenda.

Then it's time to dig into the presents.  We take turns opening presents so we can see what each other gets.  Megan got a make-up carousel. 

Zach and Paul got matching Flyers shirts.

Lauren got a whole case of Ramen noodles.  She's always asking me to buy them so I'm so glad Santa hooked her up. 

I'm not sure what Kristin got but it must have been pretty exciting!

A mini cow pillow pet for Zach!  Ask Zach why he doesn't like cows!  Santa sure has a sense of humor.

Once again, not sure what Megan got but it was a goody according to her.

Yet another pair of Ugg boots for Lauren.  Paul's just shaking his head in the background wondering why anyone would need more than just one pair.

It wouldn't be a Christmas without a #22 shirt for Megan. 

One of the many books that Kristin asked for.

He looks just too darn cute to not take a picture of.

Kristin got a lot of books but she also got a kindle. 

A roomful of family and presents.

All the presents from under the tree were opened so while the kids looked over their things I went into the kitchen to cook dinner.  Zach tried out his new Moo Mixer to have a little strawberry milk. 

Then we sat down and ate sausage, biscuits and gravy.  That's becoming a tradition too.

Wait a minute.  Kristin had one more surprise to find as soon as breakfast was over.  We asked her to go get Paul's iPad out of the office and look what she found.

A guinea pig!   

It was something that was on her Christmas list but Santa thought it would be funny to hide it until later.  Isn't she a cute little thing?  Kristin ended up naming her Gail.

 

So the morning is over and we have a little lull until family comes over later.  Stay tuned to part 2... 

 

Christmas Eve

Brunch

This is the second year that Kelly has had us over for Christmas Eve brunch.  A new tradition?  Hopefully!  I really must remember next year to get some pictures of adults.  We really were there! 

 

Lots and lots of cousins.  I love this picture because of Ryan and Zachary giggling. 

Ryan and Kristin.

 The boys playing with Katie's iPhone.

Presents!
After dinner we have a tradition of opening up presents that we bought for each other.  After all, Santa can't get all the credit!  For the kids I try to either make or put together a unique present for them.  Not sure how much longer that is going to be the case because I'm running out of ideas! 

Zach likes to play games so for him I put together a basket of game making supplies. 

Kristin got a homemade box of "chocolates."  The chocolates were actually either money folded up or gift cards to various stores. 

Lauren got a mini photo album with a sentimental saying on the front.  Inside each sleeve was either money ($1, $5) or a gift card. 

 I outdid myself with Megan's!  (I'm patting myself on the back right about now.)  She received a glass container with various candy, $1 bills and gift cards inside.  On the outside I used stickers to spell out "my stache" and then put one of those sticker moustache's on it. 

Before Bed
It wouldn't be Christmas Eve without a picture of the kids by the tree.  Their pajamas this year were actually purchased on clearance last year.  I'm surprised that I didn't forget about them!  I've given up on trying to get Zachary to match.

We were just getting ready to go to bed when we realized that we didn't scatter food for Santa's reindeer.  Thankfully we remembered at the last minute!  We were getting a little dusting of snow, how beautiful it was outside. 

The stocking were hung by the chimney with care in hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there...