To Grandma's House We Go!

After playing with all of the new toys and cleaning up the mounds of paper we prepared to head all the way to Grandma's house (exactly .5 miles south of us!)

Casey's Mom moved to Lincoln when I was pregnant with Kennedy, four years ago. We love going over to Grandma's house!!! It is one of the few places we can totally veg out and let the time slowly roll by. I remember the many trips we took to visit her when she lived in the tiny town of Lewellen. I am absolutely certain that time stands still there :o)

Playing a little Rumikub, one of our favorites!

Grandma always has her house decorated to the hilt and lots of surprises for the kids under the tree as well as overflowing stockings. We enjoyed chicken noodle soup over mashed potatoes for lunch/dinner and candy/pies for dessert. The Whiting's (Casey's sister/family) spent the afternoon/evening with us.


Time to open presents!!!

After our crazy kiddos tore through their gifts, we enjoyed our adult exchange. We draw names each year and choose a theme. This year it was "red".

Erika got a red scarf, slippers and Cabela's sweatshirt

Casey got an apron (and I can't remember what else!)I got a wall sticker that can be "read", and some apple pie mix--YUM!
Jimmy got a red Huskers sweatshirt and a red beverage :o)

Here's some more fun pictures of our celebration:

We didn't make it through the day without a meltdown!

Sweet little McCoy

Erika, McCoy and big brother Ryder

"Airplane"

My little elf!

Lovin' cousins (two months apart)

Grandma and her babies!

Celebrating Christmas!

When Kyndal was born we began the tradition of being at home for Christmas. I just love waking up and lounging around all day while the kids play with their new toys. We did get out of our pajamas later in the day though (more later).

We enjoyed another year of sleeping in, we were up before the older kids. So far we have avoided those pre-dawn wake-up calls from the kids that Santa has come and gone. (Unless you count those middle of the night feedings for Chase!)

This was the first kiddo awake...

He was all smiles, sporting his snowman jammies! Baby's first Christmas!

We hadn't been awake long when this big guy came running up the stairs. He dove right into his stocking....

The girls weren't too far behind him!

Apparently a little camera-shy, that's a first!

My Christmas clowns :o)

A remote control jeep!

New dolls are always a hit with Kennedy!

A new table/chairs for Kennedy

I'm not sure if Corbin or Casey was more excited about this Nascar race track.
This was the "top gift" for sure!

A baby doll and room full of gadgets, this was her "hit gift!"

Kyndal loved her "K" shirt, she's been wanting one for ages! She got a box full of new art supplies too, she's our little artist so they will get hours and hours of use!

She knows what is in the box! I couldn't put it under the tree because it kept "barking" at me every time I walked by it......

We aren't pet people, but I got talked into this Go-go dog and it was her big gift. This Furreal pet is at the top of Kennedy's list for her birthday now too! The girls had a blast with it.

The boys playing with the Nascar set...

My Boys!

Us girls!

December Catch-Up

As always December was a busy month for our clan and I had no time for posting! We just ended our last Christmas celebration this morning and our whole family is ready to get back to some structure. I will post soon about our Christmas festivities...but first here is a snapshot of what we did in December.

The girls both participated in gymnastics at the YMCA. It was Kennedy's first time and she absolutely loved it! We haven't decided what programs to participate in this winter. I would really like for them to do swimming lessons, but Corbin and Kennedy aren't fond of the idea.

We celebrated my SIL's (Erika) 30th birthday, with a surprise party at our house. She was totally fooled and we all had a great time!! It's hard to pull off a surprise for adults but so fun when it works :)

Some of the party guests enjoying every crumb of the birthday cake!

Partying hard!

Jimmy and Erika

The babies partying in their diapers in Chase's room...we thought the party would be G-rated!

We had a good time at Jodee's cookie decorating party! Loved her coordinating colors!



Santa made a surprise visit! It was perfect since we hadn't had a chance to run into him yet!

Chase enjoyed the sugar cookies too!

He also enjoyed seeing the puppies outside, he has a great bark!

The three older kids participated in our church kids program. Kyndal was an angel, Corbin was a sheep and Kennedy was a star. Chase was so fun to watch, he enjoyed every second of it. The pictures didn't turn out very well but the performance was very sweet!

These are just a few of our sweet memories from last month, I will share more very soon!