Merry Christmas!

We had a really nice Christmas around here! Relatively stress-free and completely drama free, and it was just what the holidays should be like in my opinion - the only thing missing was getting to see my sister and her husband, who celebrated with his side this year and will be coming up to MI in a couple weeks to celebrate with us! Christmas Eve we went (as we always do) to my grandparents' house (my dad's parents) to eat and open gifts.
It was nice and the kids were both really happy and well-behaved. They were pretty exhausted by the time we left, but still did not fall asleep in the car as we had expected. We had to make a stop at Walgreens for some last-minute things (yes, 9:30 PM on Christmas Eve). We finally got home and put them to bed, and got things ready for the next morning...
Christmas morning Lucy announced that Santa came! And he ate the cookies! She woke Henry up by screaming all this information at him, and then the kids opened a few presents :).
Before too long it was time to start getting the house ready for Ron's family, who came over around noon. Because one family on his side lives in Texas, and weren't able to come to MI for the holidays this year, there were (counting our two) seven kids under 10 years old (otherwise there would have been nine), and of course lots of great food (we just did appetizers and snacks) and lots of presents under the tree.
It was really nice to have our basement finished and furnished to provide a little extra room for all the people, and another place for the kids to play and watch a couple movies. After this party was over, we basically threw some things together and were out the door to the next party - my grandparents' on my mom's side. Everyone gathers on Christmas night to open gifts and have more food, but I was already so full I didn't really feel like eating anything else! I have some videos I need to upload and add to this post. Busy busy.... Hope everyone had a great holiday!

I have many more photos posted to Smugmug. CLICK HERE to check them out!

Snow Day

As everyone knows, this morning we woke up to a winter wonderland! The phone call at 6:20 AM woke us up to inform us that Ron had a snow day, so he was home to help me take the kids outside for a little while, and they could get their first chance to play outside in the snow. I won't lie, I dressed them in super fun bright colors and grabbed my camera with hopes of capturing a few shots that would work for our Christmas card. I always wanted to do a Christmas card that actually looked wintery, without having to wait till the last minute.

While Lucy ran around and trudged through the snow, Henry was not so enthusiastic about all the cold and wet stuff we were surrounded by. We do realize that he needs proper snow pants and boots, and we can't keep thinking fall is going to last forever! He wasn't outside for very long (and normally I would dress him more for warmth and less for fashion, but really how cute is that hat and vest?!). He was happy to go back in and change into a flannel sleep-n-play and eat some pepperoni pizza. Now if that doesn't sound heavenly... ;)

I managed to take enough pictures that the Christmas card task is completed, pictures put into the cute template (we went with one through Smugmug) and ordered! Christmas cards, check! Now we just have to tackle that shopping...

I do love fall, but I think we were ready for this day to come. It was truly beautiful outside, and this morning it was lovely to see the world blanketed in white, peaceful, and the sun glowing through the hazy sky (it didn't hurt that it also happened to be the start of a 3-day weekend for Ron). And he got to clear the driveway for the first time this season... so it begins. ;) Happy winter!