New Year's Eve games

Nana and Popsie joined us for New Year's Eve.  We played a lot of games, but somehow only got pictures of our adventures with Staxis - which requires a lot of concentration!

 

Dog snuggles

Charlie is not a snuggler.  She knows that James is the alpha dog, so is very hesitant to jump in our bed, even when called.  If he's not in the room, I can usually get her to jump up for a quick pet, but she gets pretty antsy as soon as he walks in the room.  Ocasionally, in the mornings, she'll consent to come up to visit.  

Nana and Popsie

We love having Nana and Popsie in town in the summers.  We all miss them in the winters, so it's nice when they can squeeze in a visit with us!

Jelly beans

Played Beanboozled with the kids.  It was almost worth eating a dog food and a baby wipes jelly beans to watch their expressions.  Almost, but maybe not quite.  

 

 

Christmas day

Brian and Rebecca and the kids came over for brunch.  We had a lot of presents to open and a lot of playing to do!  It was still crazy hot, so the kids were thrilled to get to play with some of their new toys outside.

Once it got dark, we brought the party inside for some games.  First up was Pieface, with much hilarity.  The kids weren't interested in winning; they just wanted to get smacked in the face with the whipped cream so they could eat it.

We rounded out the evening with some Disney Wii dance party.  It was pretty funny to watch!

Christmas morning

For years, I was the first person up on Christmas morning.  I'd have to wait an hour (or more) before I could start crashing around and making noise to wake up the kids.  We had told them that they couldn't wake anyone up until 7:00 am on Christmas morning, and that if they woke up early they had to stay in bed.  I woke up at 4:00 am and 5:00 am and finally gave up at 6.  I found the boys in Rudy's bed, not-so-patiently waiting for time to tick by. 

Between the three of us, we were able to get everyone else moving, ever so slowly. The boys waited, not-so-patiently, at the top of the stairs for all of the adults to get up and get ready for the day...

The big Santa gift this year was an Xbox One, which really blew their minds.  It never even made it onto their Christmas lists, because they assumed it was out of the question.  Also received:  ornaments with their school logo on them, colored pencils, Flamin' Hot Cheetos (a special request on Brady's list), battle spider bots, and new games.  The socks were Rudy's gift to Brady (and he bought a pair for himself).

Reindeer games

The reindeer were up to their usual antics this year.  

We didn't get pictures of a few of their tricks:  when Oma and Papa were here, the reindeer pulled Brady's drawers into the hallway and stuffed Rudy's underwear into his socks; they also found some face stickers and put eyes, noses, and mouths on things all over the house (stuffed animals, lunch boxes, Christmas decorations, and so much more!); they built a fort...

They spelled HO HO HO out in Rudy's socks:

They built snowmen out of doughnuts...

They built a merry-go-round out of the cardboard tube that came in the new rug, a drill, and some clamps:

 

They got together a game of "pass left, pass right" with the other stuffed animals.

They tried to measure themselves on the new growth charts.

One of my favorites, they wore mustaches and stuck some on the sleeping boys.  James and I discovered this one when we had to leave really early for the airport.

 

Fishing for goldfish in the bathroom sink.

 

Reenacting a spiderman scene

And, the best one, texting each other from the boys' computers.  Reiny told Sven that "your bref smelz lik karots," to which Sven responded, "u have smal antlerz."  Still makes me giggle to read it!

 

Reiny and Sven, all ready to go back to the North Pole on Christmas Eve:

Christmas Eve antics

We're developing a something like every other year Christmas Eve at Brian and Rebecca's house tradition.  We went to mass and then headed over to their house for dinner and play time. 

We busted out Twister, and this guy decided it was simply too hot to play in pants.  He was probably right!

When the kids started getting too wound up, we popped in a movie. 

Before we left, Lila took everyone outside to spread some reindeer food.

Poor Rebecca was appalled at Shep's attire.  He was hot, so had been running around in his onesie.  When I took him to the garage to get shoes, he insisted on wearing his new boots.   Rebecca admitted that by child number 3, these things mattered less to her!

Story time with Papa and Brady