We went to Nana and Papa's house to be with lots of family for New Year's Eve. We ate lots of food, played lots of games, watched a movie and spent a lot of time together. The kids were excited because we all spent the night so they got even more time with everyone. We played some more games the next day and Nana made a nice lunch for all of us!
The S'mores kit was a big hit with the kids!
Bentley made quite the s'more, haha!!
She used to cry every time she looked at Coby, and this time she wouldn't leave him alone!!
Making them be nice to one another, hoping for good luck in the year to come with these two. So far it hasn't worked...
Getting my pictures for the calendar, and these girls are never too far from Brock when he's around.
The same is true for Kacy and Coby. Our kids sure have been blessed with some amazing Aunts and Uncles!
Nana helping Bentley learn to play Wackee 6
Trying to get a good picture with Papa and...
Damon of course had to ruin the best picture by photobombing with his foot!!
One of the games we played had a space on the board that had the person landing on it to do service for anyone that wanted something. Kenney landed on it, and I asked for a small piece of cake. Well, in true Kenney fashion, I got a small piece of cake, haha!!
Doing anything with cousins makes it so much better!
The kids were ready to go with the presents all divided from under the tree at 7am! They aren't allowed to wake us up til then. Damon had been up for a while, and eventually they woke up the girls. We woke up to Mackenzie pushing her new stroller around and then Kyler riding into our dark room on Radley's new hooverboard and a blue light shining everywhere. It was a little weird! They were all super excited! I also realized later that I'm a horrible mom and didn't get pictures or videos of Bentley, ugh! I tried to be more present rather than just taking pictures or videos and it backfired on me. I'll try harder next year. I didn't even take pictures at dinner or playing the saranwrap game later. We had a nice dinner with Oma, Papa Dude, Zadi, and the Barlow family. However, we're pretty sure the Barlows passed COVID along to Papa Dude, who then gave it to Oma, oops!! No one took a COVID test, but it's pretty likely! We had a great day with lots of fun and time together.
Kyler and I both got some headphones!
I think this is the only picture I took of anyone opening presents.
She wanted to make sure you could see her new panties!!
This smelled so so good!
Kenney did a great job of making our outside decorations look really nice. We are slowly adding more to make it better!
Such a fun morning to wake up to!
Damon always has the biggest grin as he opens presents!
When the present opening 'season' for Mackenzie started she got so excited even to see a box! She learned very quickly that there are fun things inside those boxes!
I love it when they all start slowly putting on or using the presents they open!
Kyler was pretty excited about his Bluetooth headphones!
Mackenzie decided to make opening presents more interesting by opening this one behind her back, lol! I'm not sure where that idea came from, but it was pretty funny!
This was after only one or two attempts of riding it outside, but by the end of the day he was able to ride super smoothly. Kenney and I wanted to try, but it has a 130lb weight limit so we can't. He can even ride backwards now!
Christmas Eve was full of things to do! I was making muffins and other things for Christmas day and trying to get the house in order so I wouldn't have to do as much the next day. Kenney and I were already tired because the night before Keyan & Kelli and Kacy & Coby came over and stayed super super late. We thought we would be able to get a nap before going to Nanny & Papa's party, but there was never any time. The kids made another trap for Santa, and it continued to be unseasonably warm, in the 80s. We delivered some cookies to people in the community and opened the sibling gifts. Kenney and I had most of the wrapping done so we were able to get to bed at a reasonable hour.
After getting a few things done in the morning, we went as a family to make cookie deliveries to some people around town, mostly patients of Kenney's and people I've met through Meals on Wheels. It was nice to make these people smile on Christmas Eve when a lot of them didn't have any family around.
Bentley dressed for this occasion too!!
Driving to Nanny & Papa's Christmas party this year and it was 81 outside!! UGH!
One of my favorite Christmas traditions is watching the kids give presents to one another. They almost always get more excited to give a present than to open one.
She must have really wanted that bag of goodies because I did not think she would walk up to Santa and sit on his lap, especially with all the other kids there. Then she told Santa she wanted a robot for Christmas, say what?? I'm pretty sure she just heard one of the other kids ask for that because probably doesn't even know what a robot is. Based on what each of the kids asked for on Christmas Eve, it was amazing we didn't have any sad kids on Christmas morning because none of them got what they asked for.
I hate decorating cookies, but Oma & Papa Dude like it, so I suggested they make them with the kids. They took turn having them over, which was really smart and not really a possibility for me, and it worked out great! They all had a great time.
Making the cookie dough with Oma
Yep, Mackenzie spilled the finest grain sprinkles on the table and they were EVERYWHERE!!
Ta-Da!!
While the boys were with their cousins, Papa watched the girls so I could go to Amarillo with Oma & Zadi. We made Zadi work for her clothes, haha!!
Christmas Sunday we had a program at church and then lunch, CFM, and gingerbread house decorating at Kerry's house. The Payne family joined the fun, so it was a great day for the kids. We all pitched in to add candy and supplies for the houses, and I was shocked that we used pretty much everything! It was crazy how much candy and frosting was used!
Christmas Sunday! Damon and I were asked to do a speaking part, and he did great even though he didn't have much of a voice. I love Christmas Sunday. It's one of my favorites!
After building her house and putting frosting on it, she didn't need any help. She was completely independent decorating!
Cousins make everything better!
She just climbed around to get what she needed.
Ta-Da!!
Radley's house was complete with a hot tub/pool and a diving board! I thought that was pretty creative!
There were a lot of gingerbread houses being made!! So many people!
