Family, family and more family

The first of our family rolled in on Dec. 17th and the last chunk didn't head home until Jan. 7th. Having family visit for that long did indeed keep us really busy, but we loved it! Sadly, pretty much everyone but Ava and Reid came down with a cold. So the first week was pretty low key, but once everyone got feeling better we got to do more activities. I think everyone will agree that getting sick during vacation completely sucks!

Here are all the cousins after reenacting the nativity story. This was a full on cousin production. The two oldest cousins read the entire story (super impressive) and the younger ones were the actors. Sadly Reid and McKay wouldn't stay still enough to be pictured.


Poor Anna was fighting a double ear infection, a viral and bacterial infection. So she wasn't able to be Mary this year, but Ava happily agreed to be her stand in.


After a fun night of festivities at the in-laws we headed home to open the kids new jammies and get all the preparations ready for Santa. Now before you start thinking what a horrible mother I am to let my son not wear any socks in the dead of winter, know that he did get slippers too but would not fathom the idea of letting me put them on. Luckily, he has since changed his mind and loves putting them on now.


Ava made sure to pick out the most perfect and yummy cookies on the tray for Santa. Only the best for the jolly old man.




I just love Max's expression in response to the younger cousins trying to participate in a game of Stratego. Actually, all of the cousins got along pretty well. It's really a shame that we live so far away from each other.


Much playing was had while everyone was visiting. We played lots of games, played lots of princesses, fit in a few games on the Wii, went to the Dinosaur Museum, and made a stop by Kangaroo Zoo.


Happily, my sister made a stop by too after Christmas. So my kids got to see all of their cousins during the break! Here is cute little Colely.


Reid saw Cole sitting at the table and wanted to join him. We had to keep a close eye on my little boy because he kept stealing Cole's food from off of his tray. I can't wait till the weather warms up and we can make trips back up to Idaho to see this little guy.


Excitedly we got to have everyone over at our house sometime while they were visiting. Yay! Here are the girls making good use of our barren living room. The girl cousins took great time and effort preparing their very fancy tea party. Saskia was the lucky one who got chosen to join the tea party while Kassie and I were in charge of making sure the little boys didn't ruin the party.


There you have it. A little snap shot of the fun that we had during Christmas. It has been nice being able to get back into a normal schedule again, but the kids sure miss their cousins. Reid still believes that his cousin McKay is still at Nana's house. It will be a little sad when we head back over to Nana and Grandpa's and find that all the cousins are gone. We sure did love getting to spend time with everyone. Hopefully the next time you come we'll have furniture in our living room!