Happy new year 2013

 Since we just got back from a road trip last night, we decided to stay in this New Year's Eve and have some quality family time.  We toasted with some champagne and sparkling cider (about 6 times... the kids love to toast and say cheers!), danced, and played trains.  We've have  a wonderful and blessed 2013 and can only hope 2014 brings the same.  Cheers!

A visit with Grandma J

A couple days after Christmas we drove down to see Lance's mom, Judy (or Grandma J as the kids call her).  We spent the weekend hanging out, playing with her kitty "Freya," eating delicious meals, and just spending time with Grandma.  The kids love her so much.  They both gave her tons of snuggles and Rylee got lots of wheelchair rides.  I wish she lived closer so the kids could see her more often.  At least we have Skype!

The kids loved staying in a hotel.  Rylee liked having a big bed right next to ours, and Carson just loves anything new and different.  The pool wasn't bad either.  Their favorite part about the hotel by far though was the elevator.  They would get so excited every time we got in it!

Christmas Day 2013

Everyone must have been extra good this year because Santa came and brought lots of gifts.  The kids had fun opening their stockings to see what toys and goodies came for them.

After stockings we grabbed Starbucks lattes for all and headed over to my parents house.  My mom made an amazing breakfast and we helped Dad open his birthday gifts.  Later that morning we opened our Christmas gifts... LOTS of gifts.  Every year we say we aren't going to go overboard on gifts, but somehow that always goes out the window.  The kids had piles of gifts to open and had a blast opening every single one.  At first, Carson was a little slow getting into it.  He opened his first gift and immediately wanted to set it up and play with it.  It was quite a while until he realized that there were toys in the other packages too.  After gifts we hung out and watched movies.  For dinner, mom made another amazing meal, our traditional crab and prime rib.  It was to die for.  It was a perfect ending to a perfect day.

Twas the night before Christmas...

We hosted our annual Christmas Eve party this year.  It was smaller than normal, as 3 of the normal couples couldn't make it, but was still a great party.  The kids were spoiled with gifts, and so were the parents!  We have such generous friends.

Mandy and Jon surprised us by bringing a karaoke machine... so much fun!  Carson had a blast hogging the microphone, and as usual Rylee took over the dance floor (aka living room floor).

Of course we had to leave cookies and milk for Santa, and carrots for the Reindeer.  Hopefully everyone has been good!

Christmas boats

 

 We had another wonderful weekend at the beach house.  Every year during the holidays the Shelton Yacht Club puts on a Christmas lighted boat parade.  It's not very big or fancy, but still super cool to watch.  We've made a tradition out of it the last few years.  Really, it's just another excuse to get out to the beach house again.

We also helped Kathy celebrate her birthday.  Rylee had a blast playing with her!  Below is a picture of Rylee trying out her spa set that Kathy gave her for Christmas.

Snow day!

We woke up to snow this morning so of course we had to get outside and enjoy it!  The kids had so much fun sledding, throwing snowballs and building a snowman. 

After the snow we came inside to warm up with hot cocoa!  Yum!