The Crazy's and a Happy New Year!

So Tatum got a camera for Christmas and she wanted to take a few family pictures in the field behind Grandma's house.  Just before this, we were playing Hide Grandma's Wooden Cat Outside, hence why I'm posing with this beautiful cat. :)

Grandma and Ty

 

Grandma and I and yes, the cat.

 

These crazy parents. :)

The girls.

Us and yes, the cat.

Awww, Grandma and Garrett.  We'll call them the Gs. :)

And then Ty got to take a picture and he did a pretty good job!

 

Our crazy family. :)

We did lots of fun things over our Christmas break but too bad I barely pulled out the camera.  But we had a football party one Sunday and our friends brought their son August.  Ty was ecstatic!  The two got along great and here August is showing Ty videos on his dad's phone.  Too cute.

And then it was New Year's Eve.  Earlier in the day, we went to check out the mall, take some stuff back and enjoy Pick a mix at Sweet Factory, my favorite!  Then we headed home and we were about to start making pizzas when are sweet neighbor came by and invited us over for a cocktail.  We ended up enjoying their fire pit and making these amazing desserts.  Dina has these skewers, like you would roast marshmallows on, but instead of a fork at the end, its a solid metal cup.  You wrap crescent roll around the cup and roast it over the fire.  When it browns and cooks through, you pull it off and amazingly, you have a pastry cup that you now can fill with anything your heart desires!  She had chocolate pudding and whip cream, yum!  We totally need to get those for camping!  Anyway, two hours later, we made it back to the house, through the pizzas together and then after dinner, decided to keep ourselves awake by having a dress up dance party.  :)

 

We also decided to make a bed on the floor by the couch so we all slept in the family room together and watched the music acts as we waited for the count down.  You can see our bed behind us.

 

The boys got the couch and the girls took the floor and by almost 11, both kids were out. :)

I tried to wake Tatum when the ball dropped but there was no waking her.  There's always next year!  Happy 2013!!!

Christmas is here!!!

Christmas day has arrived!  We came out to the family room and Santa had arrived too!  So exciting!

Look at these smiles.  Merry Christmas!!

 

Everyone enjoyed opening up their stockings and Santa gifts, even Harley!

And then it was time to dig into our traditional Monkey Bread, thanks to Garrett's mom's recipe.  Yum!

Then after a delicious breakfast and some clean up time in the family room, we moved to the living room where Tatum and Ty passed out all the gifts.  Look at these piles!

Before they passed out all the presents, I was able to grab this photo.  Look how lucky and blessed we are with presents! 

And Harley didn't have his own pile so he kept trying to sneak into everyone's pictures. :)

We all took turns opening gifts.  Such a fun morning!

And then the champagne came out!

I think we milked the gift opening till almost noon!

And hung out in our PJs for most of the day!  We did have to clean up and get ready for Christmas dinner.  We had Jacquie and Nick over to join us for our feast of roast, Aunt Pat's famous hash brown potato dish, and green bean casserole.  Yum!  Then we ended the night with drinking too much wine and staying up till after midnight!  A wonderful Christmas day with the ones we love!

It's almost time!!!

Burrrr, Baby it's Cold Outside!  On day 23, we drove back to Poway and bundled up to go down to one of our favorite neighborhoods down the street from us, to check out the lights.  Some of these houses are just beautiful!

The kids enjoyed candy canes as we pulled them along. 

And good thing we bundled them up, it was cold!  Ok, for those of you that live in IL, it was not THAT cold. :)  But cold for us, I think it was in the mid 50s!

Candy canes!

Look at this house!  I can't even begin to imagine what their electric bill would be for the month of December.!!

Cute family!

And Tatum took this picture of us from the wagon.  Great shot Tatum!

In all these pictures, it looks like we're the only ones walking these streets but it was packed!  So many people in their cars, driving by, and so many on the streets.  There were places selling food, hot cocoa,...

and you can see the house next to this one even had a karaoke machine set up with a huge screen where you could come up and sing Christmas carols!  I tried to talk Tatum into doing it but she wouldn't have it. :)

I tried to capture us all here, I guess I got us but Tatum laughed because she said she stuck out her tongue. :)  What a fun night!

When we got home, we let the kids pick one present to open and they said they wanted to open Aunt Diane's gift, since she always gives the best gifts. :)  Here's Tatum in her new pjs with matching dolly pjs, and her light up lady bug!  Great way to end the night!

Christmas Eve!  Day 24 was a bustle of excitement!  Everyone had gifts to still wrap and stores to run to. :)  But by 3:00, it was time to get ready for mass.  Ty and Daddy sacrificed their church time to stay home and do the cooking.  But the girls got dressed up and made it to church, saying a prayer for everyone.

After a delicious dinner of lobster tail, jalapeno creamed corn and a rice dish, we all opened one gift (a new pair of pjs) that we quickly jumped into.  Garrett was nice enough to model the new pair of pj pants I bought. :)

Of course he's pulled them up over his belly button and we all we're laughing up a storm! :)

But here we are, even Cali and Harley got in the picture.  Merry Christmas Eve!!!

And then it was time to get Santa's cookies and milk set out and head to bed.  We also got some reindeer food mix from a neighbor to sprinkle on our lawn that attracts the reindeer.  So exciting!  And off to bed and soon to be Christmas morning!