The Last Week of 2011

What a week it has been! This last week of the year has been a nice way to end the year. It was very low key. Very relaxing after the craziness of the holidays. Natalie was out of school so we had a lot of play time. I let the girls play on their new bikes in the driveway while I took down Christmas decorations. Usually I am good with Christmas being up till after New Years. I grew up in a house where Christmas decorations were up in October and didn't come down till February at the earliest! But for me the day after New Years I get the urge to take it all down and get my house back to normal. This year I had to get it all down before this weekend so that Shane could put it all in the attic for me. He has been SO busy working and getting his Masters that there really is no extra time. He got this week off of class so I have to use my extra time wisely! Everything is down and in boxes in the garage. Now hopefully tomorrow he will stick it all in the attic! 

 First time riding her new big girl bike

 Heidi on her "Scoot" bike. It has no pedals, she just scoots with her feet. It's supposed to teach her balance so that she can pick up riding a bike faster. We heard about it from some friends and thought it was perfect for her little legs. :)

  

 Playing under the Christmas tree while I was taking decorations down. They thought it was their little fort!

After they got some practice on the driveway I took them to the park. They had so much fun! We walked the whole loop and when we got to a big paved area they just went around in circles. It was so cute. Here is a video if you feel like watching it. :)

The girls just being cute and coloring pictures. I just love these little faces! :)

  

Christmas Night

After our crazy morning we all went home and took naps. No one wanted to wake up!! We headed over to Shane's parents house for a Christmas with them. I set my camera down next to me and didn't pick it back up till we left! So terrible. I'll have to get pictures from Rose Marie and Sabrina cause they were the only ones who took pictures! Here is the one picture I took of Kingston, Sabrina and Jayden and it happen to be a good one. :)

We had a fun filled night with lots of gift exchanging. From there we went back to my parents house for Christmas dinner. We usually don't squeeze both families into one day but that is the only thing that worked for everyone! We had an amazing dinner....Nan's lasagna. Our traditional Christmas dinner. :) The kids had fun playing with their toys and Mammy's new puppy. It was a nice ending to a great day. When we came home and put the kids to bed, they were out in seconds!  

 Colie and Gracie were trying to get a picture together. Natalie kept hopping in so she could get her picture taken too. :)

  

 Me and Colie and Me and Gracie 

 Pictures with Nan 

  Heidi and her new best friend :)

Christmas Morning

I just love Christmas! This year was another great day. Super busy but still really great. Dana came in and woke everyone up at 5 am. FIVE O'CLOCK in the MORNING!!! She is so insane! The girls were so excited. After getting everyone awake we all ran into Mom and Dad's room to wake them up. All the kids jumped on their bed and told them it was time to wake up. Dad got up and went to get everything ready...the fire in the fireplace and the christmas music. The kids and Mammy were jumping on the bed cause they were so excited.

 Then they all got in line...youngest to oldest...and came running out to see what Santa left them. My girls both got bikes. Natalie got a pink princess bike with training wheels and Heidi got a Scoot bike. It's a bike with no peddles and it's really low to the ground. It helps them learn balance while they just push off with their feet. Bub and Lindsey drove out in the middle of the night and were sleeping on the couch. Bub got some kinda nasty bug and was throwing up all night and most of the morning. We stayed away from him! He didn't know how long he was going to last so they gave Mom her gift first.   

 The box started moving...that's what the scared face is about. :) 

 Inside was the cutest puppy ever! A boxer lab mix only 6 weeks old. Her name is Francis Coppola Claret...named after my mom's favorite wine. Coppola for short. :)

The rest of the morning we spent going around the room, opening one gift at a time. There were so many people it ended up lasting all morning. The girls were really great. They were patient and thankful when they got a gift. We were all really spoiled this year. I think though...the best part about the whole day...besides all being together as a family was having cute little Coppola on our laps all morning. :)

 

 Gracie got a guitar from Santa and Luke got a stereo for his car 

 Poor Bub didn't feel good at all. He managed to stay awake for the first half of the morning. He got up really quick once and ran to the bathroom. We all started singing Jingle Bells so we wouldn't have to hear what he was doing. So gross!

 Natalie is showing me the watch she got in her stocking.  

 Dad reading the letter from Santa. It used to be that Santa left us a note on a napkin every year. The letter has gotten so long that now it is printed off the computer. This year it was 5 pages long!

 Shane got Heidi a Columbia jacket that was aqua...her favorite color! 

 Gracie and Natalie. Natalie has a flower in her hair that Gracie bought her from Hawaii. She really loved it! 

 Opening gifts from Great Uncle Kim and Great Aunt Katie. 

 We bought Nokie a purple puff vest for Christmas. It looks so cute on her!

 Me opening my gift from the girls. I was so surprised...it was a Northface puff vest that I saw at Costco. I really really love it!

  

  

 So cute!

 A cute shot of Natalie and Luke wearing 3D glasses. Colie got both the boys 3D boxers. :) 

 A princess piggy bank for Natalie. Dad opening a gift from Luke and Matthew that was wrapped by Matthew. :)

 Colie opening the gift we got her...a shirt from Buckle...her favorite store in the whole world. :) A great shot of Matthew and Colie

 Natalie made this angel ornament for Mammy at Preschool

 Colie bought this funny book for Matthew. Shane started reading a little bit of it for everyone and we were all laughing.  

 Then Shane opened this gift from Luke and started crying because he was laughing so hard. He actually couldn't even tell anyone what it was. Then when he could talk he said he didn't want anyone to see it. 

 But we made him anyway :)

 This is where Bub ended up for the 2nd half of the morning

  

 Heidi really loves Coppola!

  

 Natalie trying out her new bike! Santa forgot to bring helmets...we made a run to Target today. :)