Tycen and Shaylie opened Christmas presents shortly after we arrived to Grandma Jan's house. Shaylie was SO excited to get these gorgeous matching dresses for her and her doll, Tanna.
After opening presents, we all headed over to the condo that Ulrich, Katrina, Garrett and Marisa were staying at for a very yummy and several course dinner:
I love these pictures of Scott and the kids:
Love my little Z-man!
Tycen and Shaylie get SO excited to play with Aralia:
Opening some more Christmas gifts:
After dinner, my mom read us all a book and had us play a game where we pass gifts to the right and left whenever she said certain words. At the end, we got to play a little white elephant game with the gifts we had in hand. I thought it was such a clever and fun idea! I ended up with a Nordstrom gift card and Scott got a Starbucks gift card :)
This was the first trip to Grandma Jan's where we didn't put the kids in pack n' plays, but thought they'd enjoy sleeping on the floor in their sleeping bags (which they absolutely love to play with). The first night we tried to put them both in the same room so that Scott and I could sleep in the other room...ha! wishful thinking. I ended up having to stay in their room after about 45 mins of them being silly and not wanting to fall asleep (10:30-11 pm!). I knew if one of them woke up early or in the middle of the night, we very well may all be up. The rest of the time, Scott and I each stayed in separate rooms with one child sleeping in their sleeping bags on the floor with us.
We all went over to Roni's house one night for a get-together. Roni has such a fun house (I posted pictures from the summertime when the kids were playing on her farm) and the kiddos really enjoyed playing with these dress-up costumes:
Shaylie and Tanna were inseparable:
We took the kids ice skating for the first time! They were a little nervous at first and we didn't think it'd last long, but then we were able to get a hold of some "walkers" and it made things much more fun (and safe :).
After ice skating, we all went to sushi for lunch:
Playing at Kolleen and Cory's house:
I love this man :)
"Auntie Gita" loves to french braid the girls' hair. I have so many memories of my aunts braiding mine and my cousins hair and I actually learned to braid by watching them braid my cousins' hair. It's fun for me to be the "auntie" who braids now. Although, you'd think by the sound of it that I was completely torturing these girls...I'm hoping their scalps toughen up some before the next time!
Having fun in Renaissance Rose (a store on the Ashland plaza that's been around since I lived there).
We dropped Tycen and Shaylie off at the condo one afternoon while Scott and I had a little 'date' of pedicures and coffee :) Aunt Mar and Garrett made these awesome poster boards with the kids (with some help from Uncle Ulrich, too). The kids got to pick out which order to put the crayons in and then they glued them to the poster board and melted them with a hair dryer. I love them so much, they are both hanging on our wall at home!
Aunt Mar crocheted these adorable snowmen for Tycen and Shaylie for Christmas:
All of Grandma Jan's grandkids:
Katrina, Ulrich, Marisa, Garrett, Scott and I all got to go wine tasting one afternoon. It was so much fun! I have never been wine tasting before and I didn't realize that there were several vineyards so close to my moms house. One of the wineries we went to is within walking distance to her house.
We had to drive to the second winery we went to and since we couldn't all quite fit in the car, Ulrich graciously volunteered to ride in the trunk. He is too funny! I can't believe he didn't get claustrophobic folded into thirds. I know, not the safest, but Ulrich is a bit of a daredevil ;)
We had so much fun, I definitely want to do this again!
We all went to Kolleen and Cory's house for New Year's Eve again. We had a fun time with all the kids until they started to get tired, then we brought them back to Grandma Jan's for bed. After Grandma Jan came home, Scott and I went back over to Kolleen and Cory's to ring in the New Year.
I love these pictures, they were taken when Scott and I went to Grandma Jan's house to put the kids to bed:
Hanging out before the bell drops:
These pictures crack me up:
And of course it wouldn't be New Year's without our traditional family photos:
Head shot with little Z-man:
And my favorite of all, makes me laugh every time I look at it :) ...
Thanks for letting us take over your house for several days, mom! We always have such a great time with all of my family and I often wish we lived closer to one another. I'm so grateful for the times we are all able to get together and spend time with one another. It's such a great way to ring in the new year! :)
