Sunday, January 04, 2009

Christmas and New Years!!

Finally! I have GOBS of pictures (none very good - we all know I lack talent in the photography department!) and tons to get caught up on so I'm sorry if this post is a little long for you! I am so sad that the holidays are over but I have to admit it's going to be nice to have things slow down a little! This was our first year not traveling to see family for Christmas. I was prepared for a slow, kind of boring day and I was VERY pleasantly surprised! I absolutely LOVED just having it be us for Christmas morning. It was so fun and stress-free and relaxing!

For Christmas Eve we had some friends over and it was a blast! We ate, we played Rock Band (Nathan is dying to own it now!), and pulled together a last minute nativity. We had such a great time!

Janae, Amy, and David
Nathan and Rick
Our nativity was VERY original! We used what we could find in the girl's dress up bin so we ended up with a Pocahontas Mary (Keslie), a handsome little Joseph (Peter), a dragon donkey (Anika), a dog sheep (Abby) and an awfully cute shepherd (Wyatt). OH and Brenan acted out the part of "the little Lord Jesus" (Anika's words) perfectly! I think they look professional - what do you think?After everyone left we opened up our Christmas pj's!
Our chubby little man before he put on his pj'sAnd after! I know - my hair looks fabulous!They put out cookies for Santa!
And then spilled the cookies! At least it wasn't the egg nog!
CHRISTMAS DAY!!

I was awake and ready to start by 4 AM - like always! Much to my dismay the girls just kept SLEEPING and SLEEPING! Finally, at 7:45 AM, they woke up! They were absolutely thrilled to see that Santa had eaten his cookies and used the napkin they left out for him! I don't think they noticed the big doll house he left for them for a good 10 minutes! They got some pretty fun stuff! Here is smattering:

Aunt Kelyn sent them about 60 Littlest Pet Shop animals. HOLY COW! Between the ones Kelyn sent and the ones they already had they are at 111!! And they play with every one of them!
Keslie's present for her Daddy was "a house to put a picture on".
And this is Nathan's present from Anika. She wanted to give him a bug squisher so this is what we came up with!Here is Keslie opening up her new Cinderella dress from Nana West. Nana must have noticed how "loved" her Cinderella dress from last Christmas is!! You can kind of see the doll house in the background. I found this at Target last September on clearance for $24.99 - normally $125!!! Can you BELIEVE that?!! I was pretty excited!Anika got her Easy Bake Oven. She has been asking for this thing for MONTHS. She was SO happy!Brenan with a super cool toy from his cousin Taylor! He loves it!They got K'nex from Grandma and Grandpa Kivett!And this cool Leap pad computer from Nana and Papa West!Nathan with his new shoes! This was my other big score. Normally $75 and I got them for $20! SWEET DEAL!!In their new Christmas outfits and ready to go see the Tale of Despereaux! It was super cute by the way. =)

NEW YEARS EVE!!!

We had such a fun New Years!! The Vellingas flew in on New Years Eve morning to celebrate with us!! We invited them thinking it wouldn't really happen but it did!! It never hurts to ask!! Janae, Rick, and Wyatt also came over for part of the night. We were sad when they had to leave! We played some American Idol Karoeke on the Wii (my present from Nathan!) to start the night! I think we all have a musical future. It was awesome!
Here are the rock stars:
Nathan, Rick, Richard, Wyatt, Richard Scott and David
They've got their rock moves!

The girls! Sumer, Brittanie, Janae and Anika And Miss Keslie:And here is another one with Sumer and me - I had to put a smiling one of her on!!And the lovely Janae again!After Janae and Rick left we put the kids to bed and things just got wild. =) Haha!
We played the napkin nose game. Mandi - you know what I'm talking about! Here is Nathan with his napkin - still unused.

Richard tried to swallow a whole orange! We all about died laughing. Apparently, he has a big throat! =) It had been 10 years so it was attempted but in the end the orange didn't go down the throat. Here is some video footage for the Vellingas. It's pretty much just 3 minutes of us laughing! It's probably something that only we will think is funny. =) And for the record - he did not throw up. The video ends with me asking if he threw up. And the answer is no. =) Richard, Sumer - you guys are awesome.

Around 11:45 I was about ready to throw in the towel. My eyes were drooping!! But at 11:55 we turned on the TV to countdown to the New Year with NYC! We all woke up and partied (sat and talked) for another 2 hours!

The New Years kisses!

It's IBC ROOT BEER FOLKS!! And I, for one, like it much better than sparkling cider! We made a promise that every year - no matter where we are - we'd whip out the IBC root beer and think of the Vellingas and they'd think of us! It's tradition now.
The boys dancing to 'THAT'S NOT MY NAME' by the TING TINGS. It was the most retarded song I've ever heard but it made us laugh!

Anyway - HAPPY NEW YEARS!!

10 comments:

Jenny G said...

Oh my, you guys had a fun holiday season! That picture of Anika ready to go to the movie looks so much like you. Your little boy is so cute and I want to squish his little (I mean big) self! And, my heart is sad that we spent Christmas and New Years COMPLETELY alone, unless you count us babysitting our neighbors kids for New Years Eve. Wow, that was a party for us. The whole time I just kept saying that if we lived there we would be having a lively time. Looks like I was right :)

The Allen's said...

haha. your kids are so cute. i want to squeeze brenan's pudge. I can't wait to see you in March. Looks like you guys had some fun holiday times. I knew you would like Christmas Morning. Call me tomorrow or something. Love you.

Alyssa Ryann said...

Oh my goodness! It looks like you guys had so much fun!! I cant wait til we can see you all again, i dont know how soon it will be but hopefully sooner than later right?! Oh and Brenan is sooo big!! i cant believe it! Its crazy!! Well love you lots!

Sarah said...

Wow, looks like you had a blast for the holidays.
Serious fun.
IBC root beer totally rocks.

Kimberly said...

Wow, looks like you guys sure are the party animals!! Love the New Year's kisses! And those videos are great too. Glad you had fun!

Rick and Janae said...

Thanks for letting us spend the holidays with you.

Amber said...

K- I need tips. I never ever get deals like that. Way to go!!! I love all the pictures especially New Years Eve.

Alyssa Ryann said...

haha i will have to take credit for the bathroom idea!! hah it just came to me while i was cleaning it for the first time in my life!! hahahaha LOVE YOU!

Renae said...

Hi Sweetie Pie, looks like you had a fun Christmas and New year. We sure did miss you. give those babies a kiss for us.

GG & Old Papa

LJABC and D said...

what fun times. i'm glad you guys had a great christmas and new years and so glad you got to see the vellingas. you guys are Par-tay animals alright. I was in bed by 10. lame!!!