Happy 2013! And a Christmas Recap.....

We had a relatively calm New Year's Eve but did party it up just a little with Auntie Karen and Uncle Tom, a bunch of appetizers and some of those "fun" NYE horns.  Uncle Tom did the balloon drop and they even had little surprises inside some of the balloons.  This required some popping of balloons.  The Louis booties seemed to be a little too small to pop them by taking a seat, but there was a lot of effort, which was hilarious.  They ran around the house blowing their noisemakers and it sounded like a gaggle of geese were being tortured (as we're the neighbors, I am sure), but they did have fun.

I'm going to try to get back to posting daily, with a photo or something written just to keep the memories "fresh".  Tonight I thought I'd post a little about Christmas too since I missed it here.

As I tucked the girls into bed on Christmas Eve, Emma said I should get to bed.  I mentioned that Santa makes his visits for boys and girls.  Kendall pointed out that he would have to bring me my stocking items, so I agreed that it might happen.  Kendall said that maybe Santa would bring me my "longest hair" for Christmas.  How sweet.

And then my precious Clark said Jesus would come over for dinner for his birthday on Christmas.  He explain that he would make pirate hats and I would need to get all of the other birthday "stuff".  That's my boy working on hosting a party for Jesus.  ;)

We spent the early morning opening gifts before heading to Auntie Karen and Uncle atom's house for  brunch.  It was a special gathering of friends and family including Tommy, Stephanie, Ricky, Doug, Nanny Barb, Mr. Jerry and Josh.  The food was amazing and it was a pretty relaxed time for all, except for the mustard incident.  Clark found a very interesting lazy Susan and wanted to give it a spin.  Unfortunately, it had two different types of mustard in open dishes that went flying onto the carpet.  I believe Clark has left a permanent reminder of his silliness on their carpet.

Aside from that, the kids enjoyed spending time with everyone, opening gifts, being silly and playing with their new toys.  Clark got a Lego camper and truck which got put together pretty quickly with a little help from Josh and Nanny Barb and Mr. Jerry.  They are SO handy!  The girls got new Barbie dolls and some accessories.  Clark and Emma also each got a kid's camera (one that Kendall had already), so they were ready to take photos of everyone.  It was also funny that the girls decided to show up dressed in their brand new Disney princess costumes.  They each got two  costumes and have worn them almost every day.


We also announced to the kids that we are GOING TO DISNEY WORLD in January! I am so excited that I just wanted to be able to tell them it is coming. I don't think they quite understood it like I had hoped, but I know they are going to love it!

Santa brought Kendall a skateboard along with knee and elbow pads (for all).  Emma got a baby doll with some play items/clothes from Santa.  And Clark asked for a Lego set and a toy motorcycle. Apparently all three had been good because Santa came through for them.

Dinner was at Poo Pa's and scheduled for 5 or 5:30p but we all fell asleep and didn't wake until until 6:10p when Teddy started barking like a crazy dog. We were lucky that Poo Pa, Uncle Stevie and Uncle Albert tolerated us being over and hour late, but we were so happy to get the chance for a meal and some Christmas celebrating with them as well. The kids were thrilled to get to share some of the excitement of their new toys with their grandpa and uncles, so I think it was awesome.

We are so blessed to live so close to family and be able to make Christmas memories.

Merry Christmas (belated) and Happy 2013!