Christmas vacation!

How blessed we were to be surrounded by family and be healthy over the holiday break.  Dad was still recovering from his Spontaneous Pneumothorax (popped his lung from falling on the snow shovel), but was very lucky to be in such good shape-he could have easily broken a few ribs.  I think he’ll be a little more careful next time and make sure he’s not wearing slippers in the snow! 
Happy to be alive (maybe he's holding up the victory sign because he is so excited Obama won?)

 Christmas approached quickly after we arrived and we went to Peggy’s for Christmas Eve and had a nice brunch and visit.  Reggie got his big Lego set, so he was building for about 4 hours straight.  He was so excited to get the 4 headed dragon from Ninjago-It had over 1000 pieces.  Ainsley got her American Girl, along with the American Girl gymnastics movie, so they were happy and occupied!  It was good to see Dustin and Anthony :o).  Later that day, we went to Aunt Kim’s and had some great food and visited some more.  I’m really glad we get to see everyone at least once a year!  You can really see how fast time goes when you look at how much the kids have grown.

 Uncle Anthony watching Reggie hard at work.

Christmas morning was nice.  We had to wait for K to wake up, so we got to sleep in a little too.  Ryan made waffles with strawberries and whip cream and everyone enjoyed that.  Later, the Rinehardt gang showed up and all the kids got Razor’s, so they were out in the freezing cold riding them!  After lunch, the extended family arrived and we had a nice taco bar meal and a great time visiting.  The kids all played nicely together and were happy to participate in their gift exchange.  We had a little white elephant excitement when Ryan stole Lacey’s gift, but he was kind enough to give it to her afterward.  Who knew garden gnomes would be so popular!
Excited about Christmas morning:

 Sporting his new cougar gear:

 Wii played lots of Wii dance!

The weather was mid-30’s almost everyday, but we still got the kids outside for some fresh air, walking in the woods or riding their razors.  We even went sledding a couple of times!  The snow was more like ice, but that made it easy to go fast on a very small incline.  It is good the other side of the lake doesn’t get much sun or we wouldn’t have been able to go.  Mom and Dad’s snow was pretty much melted after the first few days.

 What is it with boys and sticks??!!

Reggie and Ainsley had a sleepover with Grandma Peggy and they were spoiled as usual.  Made cookies and cupcakes, shopped for toys, watched movies, stayed up late and had a blast.  We paid for it the next day as Reggie was a mess.  Ainsley will take a nap when she is tired, but he won’t.  The stinkers won’t ever sleep in when they are up late, which is a real bummer because we really can’t stretch bedtime :o(.  While they were gone, Ryan took K to Chuck E. Cheese while I had lunch with my college friend, Jill.  It was so great to catch up and hang out.  It is nice to have friends that even when you haven’t seen them for awhile, you can pick up right where you left off :o).  I also saw Rebecca, another college friend at the Children’s Museum, but we didn’t get to chat much because the kids were all in different places. 
Besides the Children’s Museum, we went to Jungle Playland and we celebrated Maggie’s birthday at Chuck E Cheese and Red Robin.  The girls got to go to the American Girl store so Maggie could pick out a doll for her birthday.  That was quite an experience.  They really do have everything!!!  We had lunch at their cafe and the dolls got special chairs and teacups.  It would be really easy to spend  a lot of money there (glad we found Ainsley’s girl on Craigslist!).   

Making cookies:

Spencer and K boxing on the Wii:

 First snow for K:

 Making a gingerbread house:

 Enjoying rootbeer floats :o)

That's it!!  The adults had a lot of fun over the break playing dominos and a new game called Phase 10.  Ryan, the anti-game player even wanted to play!  The last night he finally had redemption and beat us all :o).  Thanks to dad, we also watched some interesting movies!
Our trip was really relaxing and the kids got along very well.  All of K’s behavioral issues seemed to melt away.  It actually felt like a vacation (probably not for my parents!!) and I’m really thankful that we have that time with our families!!!  Thank you mom and dad for hosting us for 2 weeks :o).