More Family Fun

Daylen and Ashley came into town for a quick weekend visit, and it was so good to see them and their two cute kids. We were able to have them and Ryan and Linda over for Sunday dinner before they headed back to Mesquite.

After dinner games

And I just had to get a shot of the brothers being such great dads taking care of their cute kids.

Story Time

My sister Melinda spent a few days with us while her husband was out of town. We stopped by story time for a little fun.

Bela was VERY pleased to be wearing her ballerina outfit.

While they were here, Melinda made us delicious smoothies, we took the kids swimming, made play dough, and just had a great time. We had so much fun with Melinda and Henry and can't wait for them to come visit again.

Chocolate Donut

One of Johnny's favorite treats is a chocolate donut. He does not get them very often, and has learned to savor every bite. Except for the fact that he only ever really eats the top and frosting off them.

Oh well, I guess it's better than eating the whole thing?

Happy New Year

This little girl was all partied out from staying up late last night. Well, not really, the kids didn't go to bed at midnight, but we did travel back from Colorado yesterday and she's apparently recovering still. Brad and I decided to stay up. I of course, fell asleep during the movie we were watching and woke up to Brad saying "It's midnight!" and went straight to bed. We are excited to see what new changes this year will bring!

Feliz Navidad

This was the first Christmas since we've been married that we spent as just our immediate family at home together. Even though we missed being with our extended family, I can honestly say it was so very special spending Christmas Eve and Christmas morning together with Brad and the kids.

Johnny and Bela were so excited to see the presents under the tree when they woke up. I'd wanted to wait until after breakfast to open gifts, but I was outvoted.

Johnny was very excited it was finally time to unwrap the packages and was thrilled with all of his presents.

I was honestly shocked by how into the whole present-opening experience Bela was considering she didn't have much interest when we celebrated her birthday in September. She didn't want any help opening her gifts and squealed with delight when she saw what was inside. I laughed so hard because she'd pick each one up after she'd unwrapped them and walk around hugging her present.

Unfortunately we couldn't find our regular camera in all of the excitement Christmas morning, so I just have these few shots from my phone, but we did get some pretty cute home video so I feel a little better about it. I also wanted to give a special thanks again to Brad for the wonderful waffle iron he got me. I love waffles, and it's already been put to good use several times.

The week between Christmas and New Year's we spent visiting my grandma in Colorado, which was of course filled with family and good food. I really wish we'd brought back those delicious tamales with us. It was so wonderful being able to spend a week together as a family where Brad didn't have any school or work responsibilities. We also miraculously did not get sick at all on our vacation, and no luggage was lost, which was a vast improvement from last year.

Celebration

Brad had an EXTREMELY busy schedule this last semester. I admire him for all of his hard work, but towards the end I was really missing my man. He would leave early in the morning, come home for dinner, and head back out after we put the kids to bed almost every day for the last month of the semester. We definitely needed some family time together, so Brad took us out for a fun dinner at a Japanese steakhouse to celebrate once his semester was finally over.

The only time Johnny was ever facing forward. For whatever reason he was deathly terrified of the flames and the grill this time, even though he loved it the last time we came. It did make eating his dinner difficult since he would only face backwards, but he was going to stay as far away from that grill as possible.

I love this picture the most because all 3 of my sweethearts are totally looking any direction but mine. I think they get a little tired of me pulling out the camera. Despite Johnny's slight terror, we had a great night and are so happy to have Brad home more now!

Gingerbread House

I bought a gingerbread house last year after Christmas for 90% off, figuring this year Johnny and Bela would love to put it together. I think I definitely underestimated the amount of excitement so much frosting and candy can have on these little kids.

I handled the frosting for about a minute before I let Brad take over.

Bela was not going to miss out on any of the action

Probably the best shot I got before Johnny started trying to eat all the candy before he'd even finished decorating it. We kept it on display (someplace high) for about a week before I tossed it when the kids weren't looking. Johnny still asks me where his gingerbread house went, and if we can make another one.