The Last Ride

They're coming to work on the floor tomorrow, so it's the last day to ride around on hoverboards.  Mike and I are prepping ourselves for all the times we say "don't do that on our new floor!" for all the things.  Allie and Nathan have been living it up all day.  I don't know why I don't have pictures of him.

  

Family in O Town

Between Thanksgiving and Christmas, we were able to see everyone in my family.  Warren and Steve and their families were here at Thanksgiving and Jenny came with her family at Christmas.  Lori was there both occasions and it was so fun to see all my siblings. 

My kids had fun catching up with cousins that they hadn't seen in a long time.
We went to the Scera Theater and watched the new Star Wars movie.  Allie didn't really want to see it, but I think she and I were both surprised at how much we liked it.
The movie theater was awesome.  They had unlimited refills of the popcorn.  You've never seen a family eat so much popcorn.  It was insane.
We didn't stay too long.  We had to get back home and get the house ready for the counter top people to come.
So, at Mom's request, we posed for a bunch of pictures...

Jake was embarrassed to be the one old kid in this boy cousin picture, but we forced him into the picture and I was grateful that he gave such a nice smile.  It won't be long before these boys will all be too big for their britches.  Time flies.

 Uncle Jim hooked Jason up with some military patches and berets.  He wears them all the time and thinks they are treasures.

See you later Jenny and family!  We'll miss you guys!

Christmas Day

We had a great Christmas.  

 The kids all slept downstairs this year and were up and texting us early.  They wanted to go see what Santa had brought.

I think they were all happy with their loot.

Nathan's favorite was his packers helmet.

Jason ended up with some Steelers gear.
Mike also got the kids an arcade game.  It has thousands of games on it, but his favorite is Bubble Bobble and he's teaching the kids some mad skills.  I've played a game (or 50) of Ms. Pac-man.  I've got the high score...for now.

I don't have pictures of the older kids.  Allie got some clothes and was surprised to get an apple watch.  It was on her list, but I had led her to believe it wasn't going to happen, so she was really excited.
Jake knew all of his gifts before he opened them.  I guess that's what you get when you shop amazon and your kid snoops the previous orders.  I thought I'd be able to surprise him with the used snowboard I found right before Christmas day, but he had accidentally seen that in the back of the car.  So there were no surprised for him.  Maybe next year.

We had a nice time hanging out with the kids and relaxing a bit.
Yay for Christmas.  It's been a crazy year.  I vow to make next year a little less crazy.

Christmas Eve!

It's Christmas Eve!  These kids were so excited for Christmas to come.  We went to Bonnie's for a feast and forgot to take pictures.  The kids got to open a few gifts and hang with cousins.  Before too long, it was time to come home and hang the stockings.

Last year, they all slept in the little's room.  They didn't want to do that again.  So, the olders decided to host buddies in their rooms for the night.
Jacob and Jason shared...

Allie and Nathan shared...

As soon as they were asleep, Mike hauled in the arcade game he bought them and then took a long walk down memory lane as he played Bubble Bobble and Ms. PacMan until it was time to go to bed.  It's going to be a great Christmas!

Gingerbread

With all the chaos of the remodel, we didn't do some of the things we wanted to do this year.  We found some time on Christmas Eve though and I had two boxes of gingerbread things that I bought on clearance last year, so we did them.

Allie took her ugly sweater decorating very seriously.

Jake helped put the house together so the littles could decorate it.

Jason always wants random pictures when I have the camera out.

Things turned out quite lovely.

Roaring Their Engines

Mike took these guys out to roar their engines.  One of the snowmobiles wasn't running well, but they still had a great time!

Scooty, Scoot, Scoot

Jake combined birthday money and money that he earned working for us over the summer, and bought an electric scooter.  He spent over a year researching and wanting, researching and looking.  It finally came in the mail.

He's already ridden it to Lee's to stock up on gummy bears and OJ.  He loves the independence.

Sunday Best And Grinch Dinner

A lot of our Christmas time traditions have gone by the wayside this year, but I decided today that we could do our Grinch dinner.

We used the Instant Pot for the rare Who roast beast. 

 We had Grinch punch and everyone was happily fed.  We forgot to listen to the Grinch as we ate, but I don't know that anyone noticed but me, as I write this post.  :)

I love my little family.