Christmas Eve

We had a wonderful Christmas Eve with the Schmid side of the family. 

The Friday before Christmas was the annual Schmid Christmas dinner which is hosted by Aunt Betty and often includes lots of extended family.  

Here Will and I are right before leaving.  Our little bun in the oven is growing, growing.

Christmas Eve morning we arrived at Miss E and Boot's house.  We kicked off the day with Ben's big gift from Miss E and Boots. Benjamin LOVED his new train table! It looks great in our game room and has already logged many hours.

Benjamin thought Will's hat was just hilarious.  

He loved exploring Miss E's house and looking at all her decorations. 

We ate lunch at the club.  I love this sweet picture of my guys.

I was trying to get a shot of Ben solo and stood him on the table. He fell mid picture taking... pretty funny. Flying reindeer. 

Ben loved all the Christmas touches the club had to offer. 

Note: He may have stole a souvenir from the tree - see his hand. :)

The lunch ended with some yummy eggnog.  Benjamin and I enjoyed the non-adult version. Ben was in heaven and couldn't resist licking his cup clean.

Getting sleepy.

So sweet. 

After a nice nap, Benjamin opened a few more gifts from the family.  Uncle Matt's Thomas the Train was a huge hit!

After presents we headed over to Aunt Lindy and Uncle Bill's house for their annual Christmas Eve dinner. Benjamin is the only kid so he got LOTS of attention.  Miss E loved showing him off.

By the end of the day my little elf was pretty sleepy. We headed home and went to bed.  

Stay tuned for Christmas with the Gibson's.

Tula's 1st Annual Christmas Cousin Breakfast

Tula decided to start a new tradition this year and had all her grand kids over for breakfast for a Christmas celebration.  We had eggs, bacon, yummy donuts and "cold coco".  The kids got to open some fun treat, including these snow hats in the pictures, and then we all watched a Christmas movie.  Benjamin woke up on the wrong side of the bed and was a little disagreeable but the rest of us had a blast! It was a ton of fun, and something we will look forward to yearly.  Thanks Tula!

So sweet.

We are so happy Uncle Grant is home from school! He is fantastic with all the kids and always a great entertainer.

Hopefully next year our little Grinch will a little happier at the 2nd annual party. :)

Benjamin was a lot happier for the actual Christmas celebrations... stay tuned for more holiday post.

School Christmas Program

Benjamin was super excited about his school Christmas program!

He will be 2 in a month... where the heck are your teeth kid!?

Here we are right before leaving for the big show. 

(I need a better camera. Sigh.  Please excuse the blurry photos.)

Benjamin was a lamb in the program and did great.  He sucked his fingers, looked around, and played with the ear next to him... I would call that a success!

After the program we had a party in his classroom with the parents.

We love Tula living so close!

Benjamin opening his book during the book exchange. 

Overall the program/party was fun... I look forward to him getting a little older and getting into holiday fun more.

That night Will and I went to Denbury's annual Christmas party. (Thanks Tula and Pop for a kids free night!)  Will and I enjoyed getting our cartoon pictures drawn.

Hmmm... good thing we have pretty good self-esteems. :)

They had a professional taking pictures of couples as they left.  Will was reluctant to get a prom picture done but I was pleased to have it for a keepsake. Baby #2 is starting to show a little...

We had lots of fun at the party but were excited to get home and play with this adorable little man the next day!

Tis The Season!

I LOVE LOVE this time of year! 

Everything about it makes me happy... the Christmas lights, the excuse to bake fun holiday treats, the gathering of family, the old Christmas movies that replay everyday, the fun holiday traditions, getting cards in the mail, the decorations you put in your house, going to my parents house and feeling like a kid again.

Here we are doing some of our favorite Christmas time things.

Ha! All the jolly talk and I had to include this picture.  This time of year also brings lots of colds for little ones.  See below...

Cousin holiday love on a warm December day.

Last weekend was very eventful...

Friday we went and saw Santa.  It is SO nice with Will having half days every Friday.  We beat all the mall traffic and there wasn't a line. Here is Benjamin checking out the big man before his turn.  

It was looking slightly promising... 

I was so wrong!

Ho, Ho, Ho!

He had a hard time afterwards recovering... our mall trip ended earlier than planned.

 Saturday we had a full day filled with Gaylord Christmas fun with the family.

(Note: Benjamin is wearing the same outfit but he literally wore it for an hour with Santa.  Don't judge.)

We went and saw the ICE! display in celebration for Amanda's 30th birthday! This was Will and I's third time to go and it felt very full circle.  The first time we were newly dating, the second I was very pregnant with Benjamin, and now the third pregnant with our second kid.  Lots of fun memories at the Gaylord.

 Here is Audrey and Pop waiting in line.

Benjamin loved soaking in all the colors and lights.

Leave it up to Pop to play like a kid! 

Ashley and Rett 

My family of three!

Cousin photo.

After ICE! we ate a Mexican food restaurant and while we waited for our table the kids enjoyed listening to Tula sing some carols.

Taking pictures with small children is rarely successful.

The ice adventure would have been enough fun for anyone, but we decided to squeeze in a little more.  Since Amanda and I used the same realtor, they were kind enough to gift us with vouchers to The Great Wolf Lodge.  We decided to use them this weekend, since it is just across the street from the Gaylord.  I have heard wonderful things about this place, and it did not disappoint!  There was a huge water park, characters, a magic hunt (too old for us at this point, but when they get older, would be great), a bedtime story, and snow falling in the lobby.  We were in kid heaven!  I highly recommend this as a family vacation, but next time would try and go on a week day, when it wasn't so crowded. (We didn't get any water park pics, because we were too busy having fun!)

I managed to squeeze in a nap with Audrey and Benjamin while the rest of the gang was at the water park.  Audrey woke up before Ben and enjoyed some snuggle time with Aunt Ali.

The bedtime story was precious!  They read a story in the lobby and all the kids wore their PJs.  At the end of the story it snowed in the lobby!

Getting ready for bed...

Maybe not the best idea right now...

The rooms were super nice but the night was longer than expected. 

(See below - I was somehow puzzled into the picture.)

What a great weekend! We are so blessed to live near such fun family outings!