A Magical Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve was a lot different this year.  It had the potential to be very sad.  Nanny was always a huge part of Christmas Eve (and everything else).  She decorated her house, had special treats for the kids, made a fantastic dinner - she made Christmas Eve feel like it should to a kid (and to us!).  We kept on the tradition as best we could with a yummy pasta dinner, a few presents, and lots of laughs.  

But then something magical happened.  It snowed.  It wasn't just any snow.   It was the most beautiful snow I've ever seen.  Huge snowflakes that coated the ground in minutes.  The kids asked if they could go out and play.  Even though it was almost bedtime, I didn't have to think twice.  The answer was YES!  Of course, they could go out and play... this was Nanny's Christmas present to them from Heaven.  

Christmas at Grandma & Papa's

We celebrated Christmas a few days early at Grandma and Papa's house with presents, a delicious dinner, and lots of fun with family.  

The boys

The gift opening lasted about 10 minutes and was complete chaos!

Lego man!

Helping Grandma

The Hersey's are Here!

We were so lucky this Christmas that the Hersey's came to spend the holidays with us.  We had such a great time, and it was so wonderful to see all the cousins playing together.  They got along so well, and Matty even got to have his first sleepover when Cole and Chase slept in his room with him.  

The band with Jocelyn dancing

Gracie LOVED that Cole could read to her!

Fresh out of their bath, watching movies

Playing in our new backyard

Brady loved having more kids to play with

Gracie Girl needs a purse at all times.  She is also slightly obsessed with Frankenstein.

And she just loved our blowup Santa that we had on the back deck.

The lawn crew

The boys constructing their "wolf trap"

Santa

This was the most successful year of visiting Santa since Matty was a baby!  No tears, just lots of excitement!  They had so much to tell him, and they were in awe.  This picture makes my heart smile every time I look at it.

Matty's Christmas Concert

I'm still trying to catch up on blogging!  Here are some pictures from Matty's Preschool Christmas concert.  Matty's class was the star of the show since they are now the "upper classman" (the 4 year old class).  That is the oldest class in his preschool!  They sang 5 songs including Alvin and the Chipmunk's Christmas Song which was so cute!  After the concert, they had a small party in their classroom.  Gracie makes herself at home in his classroom everyday, and loves to play with the toys and the girls in his class.  I really love his preschool, and I will miss it when he is off to Kindergarten next year (yikes!).

Matty's class

Matty's BFFs

DIY Christmas Card Pics

Have you seen the price of professional photographers these days!?  They are crazy expensive!  So, we headed out to the lovely Gibraltar Gardens armed with a decent camera, two cuties, lots of candy, and a promise of a Happy Meal for lunch if everyone cooperated.  The kids had a great time, and we got a couple cute pictures.  They may not technically be perfect pictures, but they are perfect to me!

Such a gentleman twirling his girl

True Best Friends

I couldn't just include the good pics.  This is reality.

Gracie's mad/pouty face

Thanksgiving 2012

Well, here it is January, and I am writing about Thanksgiving.  Life has been a little crazy.  We moved into our new house, hosted our first Thanksgiving, have had a lot of fun guests stay with us, hosted our first Christmas, had a rockin New Years Eve party with Pa, and have just been living life. 

Thanksgiving was so much fun!  I had no idea how much work went into hosting a Thanksgiving dinner - thank God for Grandma who helped with almost everything!  I think that all the food turned out great.  But most importantly, we spent the day with family and shared a lot of laughs.  It was a wonderful day, and I can't wait to host again next year!

 

Fun times!

 

Checking out the Black Friday ads!

Lots of love from Daddy after her nap

Silly times with Uncle Steven!

Crazy times with Uncle Bobby!