Update on Christmas and the Smith visit

Christmas was a lot of fun for our family. We enjoyed the added space in the basement for a beautiful Christmas tree that Kaylee and Eric cut down themselves. We just took it down yesterday. The kids opened gifts faster than last year and could keep up more. There were a lot of family get-togethers. Thanks the Aunt B for hosting a lovely Christmas Eve party at her new apartment (which is so nice) and to Mom and Dad for hosting a wonderful Christmas meal (mmmm – lasagna my fav!) at their house Christmas day. It was good to see the extended family and to catch up with everybody.

I think Kaylee’s favorite gift the little mermaids she takes in the bth and I think Levi’s is a pirate ship that he got and plays with a lot. He also chased around his sister with a toy chain saw my parents got him that I picked out. It was really loud and he put on quite a show with it Christmas day. Kaylee’s enjoying her new dressup outfits too and I got Levi some boy dress up stuff so he can be a Viking, a knight, a pirate…boy stuff instead of dressing up in his princess stuff. He loves it! She makes dress up look really fun and cool and now he can do it too (not that he wasn’t going around dressed as a princess before he got them – which I don’t have any issue with of course at his age J)

You know somebody at work looked at my photos of K and L today and asked me if they are twins. I realized just how small Kaylee is for her age and how big Levi is for his age! Hehe! I never got that question before! She wouldn’t ask it if she saw them in person though. The height difference is very obvious, and Levi’s immaturity compared to Kaylee is very clear. He’s still appropriately toddler-ish.

We had a lot of fun during the Smith visit. Kaylee and Levi’s grandparents came to visit right after Christmas and until our anniversary, bringing along my niece and nephew. It was so fun to see them again.

We did a lot of fun things:

-          We had a Christmas celebration and Eric’s aunts and saw his cousin and her 2 children. It was so good to see everybody again. All the kids had fun pouncing and roughhousing with Eric.

-          We also had my sister and her hubby over on New Year’s Eve and the kids performed at a dance party. They all dressed up in costumes – they were adorable! We had lots of fun treat and retreated to bed at a late hour of (drumroll) 9:30.
-     We went to a holiday lights show that E and F insisted that their Grandma take photos of each to show their Mom/Dad. I think they liked it!  They each told us which was their favorite. They are so cute - too cute for words!

-          B and I took the kids to Chuck-E-Cheese one day and it was really nice to go to during the workday. It’s so vacant – and was fun to not have to worry about crowds. The kids had a great time there.

-          We celebrated a great year for Eric and I at work one night with pizza at our house.

-          And Eric and I got to go out for a nice meal together to celebrate our 11th annivesary, a slow meal with multiple courses. J Meanwhile kids watched a movie and did another dance party. I feel lucky to have such a handsome, funny, beautiful person and great father for a husband. Thanks for all you do and for being my best friend Eric! Kids demand lots of time, and it was good to take some time out with you, honey.

-          We went to the zoo and had a great time – the polar bears were actually very entertaining this time. Most other times, they were incognito.

-          We went bowling – and I got the worst score of my life but it was a really fun game. And we had a nice lunch at Noodles beforehand where the kids were very good.

-          We also had a failed attempt to go bowling (leagues) and had to go out for ice cream instead (twist my arm J)

-          And then, what the kids considered the highlight – we went to the indoor playground and the pool at the community center. It was some work  (albeit fun work) to chaperone for us adults but was a real fun trip.

-          I had fun a few days doing Zumba with my mother-in-law, nephew and niece and Levi (sort of) on the Wii. Thanks B for the nice Christmas present – we enjoyed! It’s a good and fun workout!

 

Now I resolve to not eat so much as I did during the holidays. I’ll let you know how that goes (as we speak there are brownies in the lunch room calling my name at work…I’m going to be going down to work-out in the few minutes they’ll probably be gone by the time I get back upstairs I hope) Hope you all had a great New Years and holiday celebration! May 2013 bring you and yours much happiness, health and may the world be more peaceful than 2012.