We had quite the Christmas marathon. We left on Friday, the 23rd and headed to my parent's house in Ohio. We weren't quite sure what to expect on that long trip, since our last long trip home from Ohio this past summer didn't go to well. Norah actually did great on this trip. Kylah was a little whiney, but other than that, it was smooth sailing. We had snacks, movies, bottles and baby food, and only had to make quick stops for bathroom breaks.
The kids were so excited to get to Papa and Gramma's house!
Christmas Eve morning was filled with fun crafts and things to do for the kids. My mom had this fun idea for ornaments.
I was impressed with how well they all did, and not one poke with the pins!
Gotta love the concentration!
This was common to see...lots of relaxation!
We headed to a Christmas Eve service that afternoon. I failed to get a picture of our whole family dressed up on Christmas Eve, but here's Joe and me.
Joey sat by his Auntie Esther, who scratched his back and head during the sermon...she knows how to speak his love language! :)
Kylah sat by Papa and Gramma for most of the service. I love this picture of her and my dad!
When we got home, we all had some of my dad's yummy chili and cinnamon rolls (a Manes tradition on Christmas Eve!)
Then, we decorated the tree.
Joey was pretty excited to see his ornament from his first Christmas with the year he was born.
Kylah hung up her own ornament too, with a little help from Uncle Andy.
Alright, who decorated Norah instead of the tree?! (But she looks pretty cute decorated in those lights!)
Meet Husker...this is Tony and Gina's dog. He is really a cute dog and good too.
Another Manes tradition is Santa making an appearance on Christmas Eve. Of course, Kylah was not a fan, which is saying it lightly. She screamed bloody murder. My dad pulled his beard off and showed her that it was him, and then she calmed down. We even got a picture of all the kiddos with Santa! (Side note: this is the exact same costume that my dad used to wear when I was little!)
Stockings were hung, Christmas jammies were put on, and then the kids were put to bed. I think the adults then played a rousing game of Pictionary. It was girls against boys all weekend in games, and the girls just did not fare very well. :(
Anyway, Joey and Michael were so patiently waiting on Christmas morning and staring at the pile of wrapped presents.
All of the kids were blessed with so many fun new toys. I love watching their reactions as they open the gifts.
I think Norah may have been more interested in the wrapping paper than the actual presents...
Joey may have the best reactions of all when he opens gifts. He is so excited about each one!
Aaron and Esther enjoying watching the kids open all their presents (maybe?!) :)
I had my dad's name this year, so I made him a Husker blanket. I think he liked it! :)
My mom got a picture that spells GRAMMA from Joey, Kylah and Norah.
Joey and Michael had a lot of fun playing together with their Transformer masks.
Not sure why they were hugging, but I caught a picture of it and thought it was cute!
I surprised Joe this year by getting him a Big Green Egg. He has been wanting one of these for quite some time, but since they are fairly pricey, he thought he would have to wait a few more years. It just so happened that I made a little extra money a few weeks ago, so I decided it was time for him to have one.
Needless to say, he was a little surprised when he read the card I put in his stocking. :)
Sweet Kylah in her new robe.
Do you see the remote control helicopter that Joey got? He had been asking for one, and I found one for really cheap (on sale and I had a coupon), so I decided to get him one. It lasted about 10 minutes and then took a rough landing and broke. Well, it was fun while it lasted!
We had a nice Christmas day...
The kids had fun playing games with Gramma.
Dad and I cooked Christmas dinner. Dad made an awesome prime rib! So yummy!
Gramma played with Norah and Luca too.
The big boys played football outside for quite a while.
Norah hung out with her Auntie G for a while.
I had to get a picture of Joey in his Transformer mask. He always had to have his new neck pillow around his neck anytime he had the mask on. So funny.
We restarted our Bingo tradition this year. We always used to play Bingo when we would have Christmas at my grandparents growing up. We decided it was time to bring it back. We always get silly gifts for whoever gets Bingo. I think we had about 100 gifts stacked on the table this year just for Bingo!!
Kylah enjoyed this disguise.
Joey convinced Uncle T to dress up as a Transformer (notice that he also gave him the neck pillow to wear!)
Papa had a little wrestling time with Joey and Michael.
The guys went out to shoot some clay rocks. Joey was able to go out and watch. I'm pretty sure he was amazed. I think as they were going out I asked Joe to make sure to have some gun-safety talks with Joey while he was out there!
Auntie Esther is a good sport and let Kylah do her hair. Kylah was gentle (most of the time...)
We played a lot of games while at my parents: Speed Scrabble, Pitch, Pictionary, Catch Phrase, Scene It. We always have fun playing games together (even if we do get a little competitive!) :)
I did have to include this picture of one of our Speed Scrabble games. It's probably not as funny as if you were there, but during one round, all of a sudden my mom stops and asks, "does beautiful have an A in it?" We all look over and this is what she had spelled...(you can see the A just waiting to be used if needed!) :) It must have been late... We all had a good laugh at that. :)
We had such a nice Christmas at my parent's with everyone. We felt like we had enough time to relax and just enjoy being there.
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On the 28th, we loaded up and headed to Kansas to Joe's parents for a few days. We decided that since we still had some time off, that we would stop there and have "Christmas" there too!
The kids gave Nana her gift (pictures that spelled NANA).
Norah got to spend some time with her favorite twin cousin, Naomi.
We had a hard time getting them both to look at the camera at the same time.
They were very interested in trying to take each other's bows off!
Naomi took her first few steps while we were there (yep, she's only 10 months). Norah...not so much. She's not even crawling, although we have seen the beginnings of a scoot. But who needs to learn to crawl, when you have a cousing who can walk and push you on the scooter?! :)
Kylah got some fun gifts from Nana and Grandpa!
See what I mean about the great expressions when Joey opens gifts? :)
And then my camera battery died, so I don't have any more pictures of our time at Joe's parents house. We had some more great relaxing time. Grammy and Aunt Kris brought over some fun gifts for the kids, which they loved!
Joe's mom offered to watch all of our kiddos for us so we could go out for our anniversary (which was on the 28th...9 years!!) We headed to a matinee movie and then dinner at a nice steakhouse. It was nice to be out alone.
The next day we got to see Jake and Katie and Naomi some more, eat some yummy chili, play Nerts, and eat some yummy snacks. Later that night we got to see Grandma and Grandpa Manthe, Aunt Susan, and Grammy and Kris again. It was fun!
We headed back home Saturday morning to give ourselves a few days at home before we had to head back to work. We are mostly unpacked, although trying to find room for all these new toys has been challenging! :)
The Adair's came over for New Year's Eve. Joe cooked his first meal on his Green Egg...steaks!
The kids enjoyed playing with all the new toys. Joey loves this army game that my parents got him!
We put the kids to bed on New Year's Eve, and kept ourselves awake until midnight by playing Spades. We must be getting old, since it is hard for us to stay awake until midnight now! :)
Joe has been having fun with his Egg. He's cooked something on it every night since he's had it. We had steak that first night, grilled chicken last night, and then he made some amazing ribs tonight that the Matchell's enjoyed with us! Looks like maybe this Green Egg was good for me too! :)
