Christmas Break...Family Time

Christmas break came and went just as fast as it does every year.  We tried our best to pack in as much fun as we could....I think we succeeded, but it made for a slow-moving Tuesday morning when it was time to return to reality!

Daddy took lots of time off to be with us, also.  We only had 2 days at home without him.  Those 2 days were filled with lots of package-opening, assembling, and then finding new homes for all kinds of fun new toys.  This also means it was time to dig into the storage room, and start packing away some of our out-grown toys.  A 2-day process, for sure!

Adi is loving all of her new toys.  She has been quite busy baking cupcakes, feeding babies, and checking their temperatures!

She wears this oven mitt like a pro!

She's been doing all kinds of grocery-shopping, and has talked big brother into being the 'checkout person' on many occasions lately!

And, yes, when we are home for the day, jammies are generally worn for the entire day:)

We love playing board games here.  Adi is just about old enough now to join us for an entire game.  Christmas brought lots of new choices to our game closet!  We were excited about that!  Some of our old favorites are Toy Story Yatzee Jr., Hi-Ho Cheery-O, and anything with fish!  Some new favorites now that our collection has grown are Cootie, and Zingo!. 
What are some board games that you enjoy playing that are appropriate for ones these ages?

Eli was excited to win, and then had to hug his very cute Cootie!

 Playdough is another HUGE hit around here!  Adi is loving her new ice cream shop, and Eliott has been playing this Cars set pretty much every day since Christmas.  This keeps them busy for quite a while!

Grandma-Great is Adi's go-to for having her nails painted!  Every time she sees her, she thinks she needs them done.  Grandma-Great and Grandpa Great stopped over last week to visit, and check out our tree and gifts, and she was put right to work!

And Eli had to show Grandpa Great how to play his new game!

 One day last week when Daddy was home he wanted to take Eli ice-fishing.  The boys went to the lake, and the girls went shopping!  Our vacation is very quickly approaching, so there were a few things to pick up.  We also needed to deliver a fun Christmas package to the best dentist in the whole world!!!!  Chad's cousin did some dental work for Eli, and we are so entirely grateful to her for all that she did that I called on my friend, Steph to place an order for her wonderful 'thirty-one' stuff!  (if you don't have any of this- you should check it out!!)

We came home from shopping, and decided that laundry and un-decorating didn't sound super exciting, so we thought we'd join the boys at the lake.

5 days after Christmas, and we finally had some snow!

Check out this happy fisherman with his catch!

And she totally looks like she knows what she's doing!!!

And is loving it!

These little buddies do lots of hanging-out together.  They are a busy duo, and like to spend time together at the cabin.

 We took off Saturday for our friend's house to hang out for the night and ring in the New Year.  It was  wonderful, we did it well, and had a TON of fun!  I have lots of cute pictures of all the little ones hanging out too.  They didn't quite make it until the ball dropped, but we faked it a little early for them with a verbal countdown, and some glasses of sparkling cider.  They cozied-up together with a movie, and all fell asleep.  I love their great friendship- Just like their parent's!