the gathering place: Holidays

Showing posts with label Holidays. Show all posts

Thursday, January 26, 2012

new years eve & new years day.

I can't believe it's already almost February and I still haven't blogged about new years eve and our new years day dessert party. Life is too busy...

New Years Eve

We had a lot of fun with Andres' parents and Grandma! We enjoyed good food and treats throughout the night and laughed with his parents as they played Just Dance 3! The kids kept up with their tradition of going to Classic Skating Fun Center with our neighbors to play and party the night away til the clock ticked 12!!! Then we exchanged hugs and kisses & poured some sparkling cider, (we like to call it bubbly) and toasted to a happy new year!!!

New Years Day

Dessert Party

Grandpa playin' {gonna get your arm} with Kynlee!

New Years day we had planned to have a dessert party with my parents and my brother and all of his kids and their kids... They had just gotten over having Becca's wedding and quite a few of them ended up being sick, so what was going to be our little dessert party suddenly shrunk even smaller and it was just us and my parents! We still had a really nice time though. We pulled out all the left over candies and nuts from the holidays and had key lime and pecan pie with various kinds of {non alcoholic} bubblies! We talked and played and watched movies together. It was fun! I love just hangin' out and spending time with family!!!

Friday, January 13, 2012

~home for the holidays via instagram...

Puttin' his stocking goodies to use.

Kisses & funny faces.

Lots of Just Dance 3.

Christmas @ my parents house.

Wearin' her new winter hat.

Washin' the dishes..

or more like

playin' in the water.

Decorating cookies with friends.

{note: halloween shirt on at Christmas}

Kylee's wall of Christmas art.

Alflfa hair-do.

Tic tac toe @ Wingers with Tanner.

Late nights. Sleepin' in.

and wakin' up with crazy hair.

Midnight treats..

and date nights too.

christmas morning @ the gathering place

Christmas morning started early!! I'd say "bright & early" but really it was "dark & early!" I think the kids got us to roll out of bed around 5:45-6:00. I was so tired! But I always think back to when I was little and the magic & excitement that fills the air and it overcomes my tiredness {almost} instantly. Next thing, I'm up on my feet and we're all gathering around the tree to see what kind of goodies Santa surprised us with and the family gifts we picked out for each other!!!

We have a tradition for exchanging family gifts! I take each of the kids out shopping one-by-one and they get to pick something for everyone in the family for just $5. each. Sometimes they're worried that they won't be able to find anything for that amount but every time we start looking we usually have the best of luck with stumbling across the perfect little gift for each person in the family! It's a lot of fun! Then Mr. Yummy usually takes them all out to pick their $5. gift for me!!

Tanner loves Pez & that's what Marcus got for him!

Chandler thought Marcus gave him a roll of wrapping paper...

until he looked closer and saw something falling out of inside the roll...

once he realized it was really a cool poster he could hardly wait to open it!

Sydnee had just finished reading

"Because of Winn-Dixie"

and that's what Marcus found for her!

Chandler thinks he's starting to get a six pack

& Tanner found the perfect T-shirt fo him!!!

Tanner saw Sydnee making some of these paper covered cans for other people as gifts and he wanted one really bad, so that what she made for him and stuffed it with a mini lego set and...