Go Pack Go!

Cheering on the Packers!

 

Christmas with G&G

Todd's parents (aka Grandma and Grandpa) drove from their house in Illinois, to Todd's sister's house in Denver to spend Christmas with her. Then they drove from Denver to Raleigh, where Vivian stays through the winter. Smart lady - NC winters might be crazy, but we at least get SOME warm weather. Anyway, they had quite the adventure - several hours stuck on the highway, being run into the guardrail, etc. - but they finally made it! We celebrated Christmas with them once they got into town. Here is a little glimpse at our Christmas fun, part 3!

Clockwise from top left - 1. Kate got more girly legos. 2. Brett modeling his new Marquette sweatshirt.  3. The kids got their new calendars from Grandma, as always!  4. Brett got a new Cubs truck to go with his other trucks.  5.  Kate showing off her new Brave ornament.  6.  Brett showing off his new Transformers ornament.  7.  Kate kept shooting baskets with her wrapping paper, and making the 3 Goggles everytime she made a basket.

Soccer practice

Brett's indoor soccer team is a bunch of 6 and 7 year olds, playing in a U-8 league, so their games are a little rough sometimes, but the boys love it. They did get to practice one time over Christmas break, and they ended with a parents vs. kids game!

 

 

 

 

Ho Ho Ho!

A little glimpse at our sweet little Christmas this year... no, I didn't remember to take a family picture, and yes, we did it in 3 parts, but it was great. We had a quiet morning, just the 4 of us, and then headed over to my parents' house that afternoon. It's hard to believe that this was our last Christmas in that house... 20 years, and this is the last one in that house. My parents close on the house next week (I'm writing this on January 22, even if the date above doesn't say so). It's sort of bittersweet. On one hand, it's the house that I grew up in, but on the other hand, NOTHING is the same as how it was when I lived there, which makes it easier, I think. We'll see how I feel about it next week!

We left cookies for Santa, of course, and Santa left a note in return.  Sparky enjoyed his last night at our house (we hope).  I'm glad he didn't cause all of the mischief that he caused last year!  Same effect, less mess!

Opening their stockings

Literally jumping for joy - "Princess and the Popstar!"

Ornaments from Aunt Ann - it's a tradition!

 

Shaking the box to try to guess - Legos?!

I picked this out by myself, and he loved it!  Success!!

Opening presents at Memere & Poppy's house - Kate got a new stamp set (among many other things)

Brett got this BIG THICK solar system book, that he proceeded to read cover to cover over the next week.  I was impressed!  He's spitting out facts that I swear I never learned once, and definitely didn't retain.

New pieces for his city set

The sisters <3

Gingerbread house

The annual gingerbread house... this year we each took a side. The kids each got a "big" side and Todd and I got a "little" side. Notice Todd's firepit :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Brett's side

Jenn's side

Kate's side

Todd's side (complete with firepit)

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

This was the view of our guest bedroom about a week before Christmas. Well, this was the pretty view of the guest bedroom! You should've seen what the rest of the room looked like. But I didn't take pictures of that. I only want to remember the prettiness of it all :)

I did this last year too - all red, white, silver, and lime green.  I liked it.  So I did it again.  Why change what's not broken, right?!

20th Annual

Twenty years ago, Todd was a freshman at Marquette. Yes, 20!! We won't talk about what grade I was in at that time (note: not even in high school). Anyway, he and his friends decided to throw a party - "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation Christmas Party." And so it began. I joined this party for the first time in 2001. That was the 9th annual. And this year was the 20th annual. Every year it's different, but this year was probably my favorite. It was a blast of good friends and fun memories. And I saw clips of the movie, too!

 

The big man in red

To see Christmas through your children's eyes is truly magical... maybe more magical than Disney. This year the kids were SO into Christmas. They truly "get" the meaning of Christmas, but they most certainly get the concept of Santa and what he can do for them :) They wrote their lists out for Santa - by themselves, with no help from us. It was great - we were so proud of our parenting skills - getting our 5 year old and 6 year old to sound out words on their own, figure it out on their own, and we were still able to pick it up and decipher what it was supposed to say without them telling us.

We picked them up from school on Friday and headed straight to the mall, lists in hand. They were so excited. We only had 2 other families in line before us, so the wait was short, to us anyway! I really wish I'd kept the lists, or at least taken a picture of the lists just as a memory, but the kids were so excited to hand-deliver their list to Santa!  You can even see in the picture, Kate was literally jumping off the ground with excitement!

Jumping with excitement!

Showing Santa their lists

Fa la la la la

For their fall field trip, the entire first grade went to Duke Children's Hospital to sing Christmas carols. On one of the last days before the break, they had a concert for all of the parents. It was coincidentally the same day as the shooting in Connecticut. Thankfully, most of the parents didn't even know about the shooting yet, and no one knew that it was a classroom full of first graders that were killed. Still sends chills down my spine thinking of that almost a month later. I look at Brett's teachers and know that they love those kids as if they were their own, and I can only hope that the sweet 6 and 7 year olds that were killed felt the same way about their teachers. I can't even begin to imagine what those families are going through today. Seeing these sweet, innocent faces brings tears to my eyes to think of those kids and families in Connecticut.

 

 

Prep & Landing

I always love to check the camera after I've been working on a Sunday because you know what?! I'm likely to find a few humorous pictures on the card... today was no exception. Here are a few glimpses of Todd and the kids working on the outside Christmas decorations. I can't help but to laugh at the similarity between Brett here and Rusty in National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation when he's holding the reindeer. Do you see the resemblance?!  I also love the fact that Kate's in shades, in December, and wears them on her head to hold her hair back.  I have no idea where she got that from... yeah, right.

 

 

 

Todd was very proud of the Santa and Reindeer that he won on E-bay this year.  I will not tell you how much he paid for giant pieces of plastic that take up tons of space in our attic.  But he loves them, and that's all that counts.

 

 

Out-takes

A few out-takes from our Christmas card pics! You'll have to check your mailbox in the coming weeks for the real deal!