Christmas

Christmas Eve and the traditional family picture in front of the tree. Oops. Forgot to set the timer.

Yep, still pushed the wrong button.

There we go. Let's take one with and one without flash just in case.

After church we went to our (new) tradition of having the Feast of the Seven Fishes with friends.

Christmas morning the kids were excited by their stockings.

And then the present opening began.

My son knows me well...maybe.

Each of the kids got an electronic device and everything stopped for a while...

On the 27th we headed to PA for the Andes Christmas.
First we ate, then before presents we took a kid picture.  The first one turned out the best...

Then, of course, they all wanted to do silly pictures...

The present opening seemed much calmer and more relaxed than in the past. After presents we had dessert and then the game playing began.

Some played Wits and Wagers.

Some Sneaky Squirrel.

And some Connect Four.

Christmas Tree and a Recital

Last weekend we put up our Christmas tree and decorated it.

Then this weekend Rudy has his piano recital. We weren't sure how he was going to do because his practices hadn't been great, but he pulled it off.

Birthdays

This past week has been the week of birthdays. Rudy's was Nov. 27, Jada's Dec. 1 and Niko's Dec. 4. So each birthday needed a dessert, and a snack to bring to school. I slacked and didn't get any pictures of their individual birthday celebrations but each kid requested a store bought treat for their birthday. Rudy wanted a big chocolate chip cookie, Jada wanted a Frozen cake ("just like Paige's"), and Niko floundered on what he wanted but he wanted a  store bought cake, so I choose a Mario Bros cake for him.

After getting through each individual birthday, today we had a celebration with family and close friends. I got a few pictures of them opening presents.

And then blowing out their candles. Paul and I decided on an ice cream cake for them all to share and no one complained. So we put a number candle for each on it and the blew them out together.

Well, it took Jada a little longer than the boys to blow hers out.

All were happy and now we can finally move on from the birthdays!

Santa in the Park

Friday was our town's Santa in the Park. It was a little rainy, but since Saturday, the rain date, was supposed to be even worse, the night went on in the rain.

You can barely see the tree and fountain on the lake.

None of the kids were very interested in standing in line to see Santa, so we enjoyed the other activities instead.
Niko and Jada were entranced by the bonfire.

Popcorn and hot chocolate were among the treats available.

Crazy boy.

There were 'snow' machines that sent out bubbles for snow.

And a train ride.

Triple Birthdays Take One

All 3 kids' birthdays are within 8 days, right around Thanksgiving. So instead of doing individual parties for them, this weekend we spent that day at Sahara Sam's, an indoor water park, to celebrate their birthdays.
The kids had so much fun and it was just the perfect size place where Rudy and Niko could go off together to go on certain slides by themselves.

This ride was called the FlowRider. You had to be 8 to ride it, so Rudy was very excited about the fact that he'd be the only allowed to go on it.
One ride was all it took for him to decide he wasn't riding it again. It was not anything like body surfing in the ocean!

Rudy, in the multi-colored bathing suit, waiting for the bucket to drop water.

Rudy and Niko coming down on the tube ride.

Crazy, tired kids.