New Year's Eve

New Year's Eve was up in the air for the longest time. We normally play games and do a dinner with my family, but when the question came up no one said anything. We were invited to spend the night celebrating with Brandon and Christina, but we told them we hadn't decided what our plans were. So when the question came up and nothing was said we decided to celebrate with the Bodily's. 

The dinner choice for the adults was a fondue. We have never done a fondue before and were really looking forward to it. The kids were having hot dogs. You can never tell what the kids will eat and we didn't want to waste expensive meat on them if they weren't going to eat it. Along with that we had chips, dip, crackers, cheese, veggie tray, etc. We had a wide variety of things and if we went hungry that was our own fault.

After we were done eating we started playing some games. We played a few card games and then pulled out Scategories. It's one of my favorite games to play. I'm surprised we don't own it yet. I never have good scores, but its still a lot of fun to play.

While the adults were playing and having fun the kids were playing and having fun too. They are really good to stay downstairs and play, most of the time without incident. William on the other hand has a hard time staying downstairs for long periods of time. He found himself with me or Ben the majority of the night. He did find Olaf and that entertained him for a while.

When it was time for the countdown we called all the kids upstairs. Each of them were given a glow stick and some silly string. Then we headed outside. We counted down and then the kids went crazy with the silly string. They were shooting everything and everyone. They had a blast. Our kids have never heard of or ever used silly string before.

When their cans of silly string were finally empty we helped clean up and then gathered our kids to head home. We are definitely aren't 15 anymore. Late hours really take its toll sometimes.

Christmas Outfits

They may have gotten these outfits for Christmas, but they didn't get to wear them for a few Sunday's after, things come up. Now that they were able to wear them, we made sure to grab a few pictures. They look adorable, if I do say so myself.

William 2 years old

Owen 5 years old

Gabbi 7 years old

Box

William never seizes to amaze me. He always finds fun in what ever random and simple thing we have around. This time it was a rubbermade box. He was using it as a car and making the noises to match. He sat it, pushed it, and pulled it all around the front room after we had cleaned up. He was having a blast I almost hated pulling him away from his fun.

Christmas with Annie

The following Saturday was Christmas with Annie. Amanda and Kody volunteered their house for the party. We planned on doing a dinner and gifts, simple and fun. 

When we got there not everything for our lunch/dinner was ready so Amanda put on a Christmas movie for the kids to watch to keep them entertained, The Christmas Story. A Christmas movie enjoyed by many every Christmas. We were all having fun making fun of and quoting lines from the movie. When it was over our lunch/dinner was ready. There wasn't enough room for all of us to be in the dinning room, so we sat there and in the front room. While we were eating Amanda started another movie, Elf.

When everyone was done eating and there wasn't much entertaining the kids anymore, we decided to break out the presents. It was a little crazy, everyone got there presents at the same time and it was a giant free for all. It was hard to see exactly what was going on. When the frenzie stopped the kids were happy to show me what they got.

Gabbi was a new proud owner of a pet. It's called Little Live Pets. They have different types of birds, rodents, and even turtles. They move around make noises and even repeat what you've said. Gabbi got a mouse, and cute little purple one. She wanted to pull it out and see what it can do. Ellie had brought a bird that she got and Gabbi wanted to see if hers did the same.

Owen has happy to see a puzzle and a new car. The car was a color temperature changing car. He has a Ramon that changes from purple to white, now he has a Sheriff that changes from black to green. Sadly he couldn't get his hands warm enough to change the color of the car. Honestly I had a hard time to.

William wasn't quite sure what he opened all he cared about was the dinosaurs on top. He tried vigorously to pulled them out of the box. He then dragged the box to Ben and he was able to "release" two of them from captivity for him to play with. The rest of the set he would have to wait till later. It looked like fun, it had a volcano, a slide, rocks, plants, and boulders. Hopefully he likes it just as much as he does the dinosaurs.

After they were done opening the gifts from the cousins Annie brought out the gift she had for them. Again they all got to open them all at the same time. Annie played it really smart too, getting them all the same thing the only difference were the covers. The girls got homemade aprons made by Annie and a coloring portfolio case that came with markers and a few coloring pages. The boys got cars, two hot wheels cars and a hot rod car that makes noises. Their favorite (anything that makes noises).

In between all the kids opening gifts Grandma got to open some as well. Ben was excited to give her our gift. Ben wanted to give her a nativity scene. It took us a while to find the right one, but we eventually did, I hope she will liked it as much as I did. It was a wood burnt/carved set. Very pretty and not your traditional nativity scene.

When we were all done we started to clean up, then one more present was brought out. Greg had bought a gift for each family. The kids worked together to open the gift and they were excited to find Planes shoots and ladders. We had shoots and ladders, but not Planes. All of the kids wanted to open their games and start to play, but it was getting late and time to go.

We finished cleaning up and headed home.

Jingle

With the Christmas season Jungle came back to be with us. We had to remind the kids that they weren't supposed to touch her and they had to also make sure to help William not touch her either. Every morning they would search until they found her. Some morning they never found her and we would have to give them clues. It was a lot of fun and annoying to see the kids argue over who found her first. At least sometimes it was fun.

Day 1 and 2 (Nov 29th and 30th)

 Day 3 (Dec 1st)

 Day 4 (Dec 2nd)

 Day 5 (Dec 3rd)

 Day 6 (Dec 4th)

 Day 7 (Dec 5th)

 Day 8 (Dec 6th)

 Day 9 (Dec 7th)

 Day 10 (Dec 8th)

 Day 11 (Dec 9th)

 Day 12 (Dec 10th)

 Day 13 (Dec 11th)

 Day 14 (Dec 12th)

 Day 15 (Dec 13th)

 Day 16 (Dec 14th)

 Day 17 (Dec 15th)

 Day 18 (Dec 16th)

 Day 19 (Dec 17th)

 Day 20 (Dec 18th)

 Day 21 (Dec 19th)

She left for 2 days, the kids had been really onrery and misbehaving. 

Day 24 (Dec 22nd)

 Day 25 (Dec 23rd)

 Day 26 (Dec 24th)

The last time for Jingle she left a special note for the kids

 Day 27 (Dec 25th)

The kids were sad to see her go, but all said how excited they were for her to come back next year.

Christmas with Nelson

After we left Mom and Dad's we went back home and relaxed. The kids pulled out their new toys and played nicely (surprisingly) in the toy room. After a while Nelson and Deann came to visit and see the kids. The kids were very excited to be able to show Grandpa and Grandma what they got for Christmas. They brought it all upstairs. When they were finally done showing off their new toys they were happily willing to take the gifts that they brought them.

William was so excited about opening another present. He was finally getting into opening the wrappings. When he did so he discovered a John Deere SUV Gator. It moved around it made noises, everything a little boy dreams about.

Gabbi and Owen were told to open their together. They both opened the big ones first. They were floor puzzles, planes for Owen and Princess Sophia for Gabbi. Then they each had a little one to go along with it. Owen got a set of Hot Wheel Cars and Gabbi got a Frozen watch that projects pictures of the characters from Frozen.

When the kids were done, they gave Grandpa and Grandma there gift from us. We gave then a date night, dinner and a movie. Ironically enough they gave us something similar a gift card and some chocolates. They stayed for a while and we visited while the kids played on the floor.