Happy New Year!

Happy 2010 to everyone! We celebrated in Denver with my parents and brother et al. The cousins had fun together and of course enjoyed making lots of noise. Our countdown began somewhere around 9 pm and then it was off to bed for the kids. They did not seem to even realize they did not get to stay up until midnight. They just had a great time playing with the tatoos, glow necklaces, poppers and more!

Making noise with Uncle B!

Such a pretty hat.
Hanging out with Boppa!
Two cool cousins!

Did Santa come?

Christmas morning and the kids were instructed not to leave their bedrooms before 7 am. A was up about 5am and so full of excitement he could hardly stand it. But, he waited patiently in his room and around 7 it was time to see if Santa came! The kids headed downstairs and sure enough, the room was full of presents galore. Santa brought everything the kids wanted and they had a great time opening up presents. After presents we all enjoyed a big breakfast and then played with all our new toys for the rest of the day (mom and dad included!) Favorite Christmas presents this year included Rock Band for the Wii, a Baby Alive (she really pees!), a new kitchen for the little girls complete with pretend slice and bake cookies, an i-touch for mom and a slingbox for dad (to keep up with American tv while we are in Australia).

Then, later in the day we all enjoyed Christmas dinner complete with Christmas crackers. For those of you that don't know, you don't eat crackers. You pop them open and inside there is a little treat and a funny paper crown. This is a fun little Christmas tradition we picked up in England. Merry Christmas!

Happy Christmas Eve!

Christmas Eve and the kids could not be more excited! We started our festivities by attending a Christmas service at Christ the Rock. It was a wonderful service and the kids were completely mesmerized by all the cool lights and effects. After that it was home for our Italian Christmas Eve. This is a tradition from J's family. His grandpa was Italian and used to cook for Christmas Eve. I am not Italian but I think I make a good lasagna so that is how we have carried on the Italian Christmas Eve tradition. After that, it was time for dessert of course. Being Christmas Eve, the only logical dessert is "Happy Birthday Jesus" cupcakes. The kids enjoyed frosting and decorating them just the way they wanted and then of course, eating them. Our last Christmas tradition, adopted from my side of the family, is opening one present on Christmas Eve. The big kids are getting smart though and have realized the present they get always seems to be new Christmas pj's. Perfect to keep the kids all snug in their beds while visions of sugarplums dance in their heads! Finally, off to bed in hopes that Santa will come soon!

Happy Birthday Jesus cupcakes!

Santa is coming soon! AHHHHH!

All ready for bed in their new pj's. Sleep tight!

It's beginning to look like Christmas

This past week the kids had their Christmas concert at school. M was so excited to be a part of it this year. She has watched her brother perform the last few years and finally she is old enough to take part in it. They both did wonderfully and the show was enjoyable - not just our kids but the whole show. Here is a little sampling for you all!

Unstoppable!

Look who is moving now!

Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, Zip-a-dee-ay

My, oh my, what a wonderful day! Plenty of sunshine headed our way - zip-a-dee-doo-dah, zip-a-dee-ay! What a magical time we at had this past week at Disney World. We were lucky to be able to spend almost a week just playing down in Florida. While we were there, we also got to visit with J's sister. Nana and Gipa came down for the week too. It was wonderful.



This trip, we spent three days at Disney. One day at Magic Kingdom, one day at Disney Studios, and one day at Animal Kingdom. We did have some cold weather and rain but overall it was great. The kids all enjoyed our time there and loved just about everything. I think in the end, the favorite was still Magic Kingdom. Our kids are still young enough to be just giddy about the Disney Magic. The princesses were a huge hit, as were the rides. What a fun time!

At Disney Studios...
The big kids loved The Tower of Terror and the Rockin' Rollercoaster

Playing in front of Cinderella's Castle

Dumbo! Little C just kept saying "my turn again!" She loved it!

More fun rides!


Our little parade magnet. Once we took the baby out of the stroller, we got a lot of action!

After a rainy morning at Animal Kingdom

Cinderella! Need I say more?

Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree

One of my favorite times of year is when we put up the Christmas tree. I just can't get enough of all that Christmas cheer - especially when the family is full of cheer too. We crank up the music and go to town turning our house into a Christmas wonderland. This year was a little bittersweet for me though. Knowing that we have the movers coming on the 28th of December caused me to think twice about all my decorations. In the end, I decided to forgo the garland on the stairs and some other of those extras, knowing that I did not want to take it all down the day after Christmas to get ready for the movers. But, even without it, we still had a great time getting our tree up and starting the Christmas season off right!

Dressing up or dressing the tree????

Christmas Joy!

The beauty in our tree comes from its mismatched imperfection. All of our ornaments were made by someone in the family(mostly at a young age), or are souvenirs and gifts. There is no rhyme or reason to our hodge podge Christmas Tree and I just love it that way! We get a new ornament on every family vacation. This makes putting the ornaments up a very fun event - it is a trip down memory lane every year.

Enjoying all our family ornaments.