Thursday, January 24, 2013

Happy new year!

We had some bubbly with the kiddos and then went to a friends house for a new years party and played games and had lots of yummy food :) Making new memories without family super close! It was a fun evening and all 3 were still awake at 1230 when we got home :) Tristan was even still kind of happy! It was great fun!

Grams

 We packed up and headed to Grandma Gayle's house. We were lucky enough to also be able to see my parents, my 2 sisters and their families and my brother. It was so nice to see everyone. It was great to spend time with aunts and uncles and our cousins :) It was a beautiful couple of days full of family, food, and games.  We loved spending time with Gram. One night we stayed up late with her after bowling with uncle Keith and she told us all about her growing up and meeting Grandpa. It was great time spent. I love seeing my kids with her, she is doing fabulously well for 90.
 Learned and became addicted to a new game called cash flow!
 slap jack :)
 giggles :)
 playing with cousin pey :)
 Uncle Daniel whipped out his blue suit, which we took him bowling in... scary right.
 This is close to my favorite picture of the whole weekend. For me this photo is a look into my future. This is Meili, she can be pleasant, but this is her mood most of the time. Interesting that she shares the photo with my niece Lauren... They are one in the same :)
 We did some sledding in the backyard. Cohen and Tristan aren't really fans of sledding, but they did enjoy the snow for a bit. It was sure fun for Kai, Mei, and the adults though!
 Ms Mei got some pampering from uncle jerry and aunt becky :)
 Loved bowling with my siblings and uncle Kieth. The 'blue man' got 4 strikes in a row. It was amazing! It was kind of surreal for me to bowl at the same place that my Grandpa died of a stroke 46 years prior... We did have a great evening together though :)
 Love Grandma Gayle and can't wait to see her again soon :)

I love Christmas morning :)

 I seriously spend all year looking forward to christmas morning. There is nothing like it. I love the astonished faces and the gasps and the intensity of it all. It is so fun to relive things through your kids' eyes. Everything is different and amplified. I wish I was one that slept on the couch so I could video their reactions as they come out, but alas I am not. I have a hard enough time leaping out of bed at the first screams of the morning at 7am. This year did not disapoint. It was full of, 'this is the best day ever!'s and truly such a magical morning. I  did manage to catch some fantastic facial expressions, but I really tried to just enjoy the moment, which is hard during picture taking... enjoy.
 Tristan was just thrilled to be eating santa's left over cookies...
 The aftermath...
 We spent the rest of the day just enjoying our new things :)
 They each got a DS, new bedspreads, movies, some legos, and Tristan was thrilled with all his cars and trucks. It was fabulous.