On Christmas afternoon we hopped in the car and headed up to my parent's house to make it in time for dinner. My mom made an amazing roast with all the delicious sides and even had a table complete with fancy folded napkins (thanks to Kelsey and Jocelyn). The next day I met up with several old friends which was a blast!! It was so fun to have a mini groupie lunch reunion for those of us who were in town. It was crazy to think how time flies and how old our kids are getting. It was fun to watch all the kids interact (at least those who were able to make it). Jessica and her family came earlier in the day and our kids had fun catching up and making perler bead creations. I got to meet her new baby and, as always, wish we had more time to talk.
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| Christmas Dinner |
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| Jessica and Cait |
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| Groupie Reunion |
Unfortunately, I had timed everything poorly and ended up planning the reunion right during the time my Dad had tickets to a King's game so he generously took my older three children with him. They had a blast getting all the junk food and cheering for the home team.
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| Kids at the King's Game |
One of my favorite parts of the trip was seeing Emma pal around with her cousin Florin who is only a few weeks younger than she. In past trips they would parallel play, interacting only occasionally,
but this time they were like two peas in a pod. Eating snacks together, playing with toys and getting bedtime stories. Nate & Tausha adopted Emma a couple different nights while I was getting my older three to bed. She would do pajamas and reading with them. It was such a blast to be able to see them and we are so excited that Tausha is expecting a baby! Two new cousins coming our way so soon with Greg and Maren due next month!
We all went to play tennis one morning, did puzzles and ate well. We went to see Big Hero 6 at the theaters and played "pinchy, fisty, flatty, cutty cow", went to church and pedrick produce. It was great to be able to catch up! We enjoyed having Kelsey hang out with us more this time and even my aunt and uncle joined us for a night on their way to go skiing. We all went out to breakfast at a cute restaurant/pub house in Sacramento for my Mom's birthday and then we headed home.
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| Snack time! |
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| Testing out Aunt Kelsey's New Hammock |
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| Out to Breakfast for Mom's bday |
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| Wrestling with Uncle Nate |
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| Kelsey and Emma before church |
After returning home Jared set to work to try to file some cases before the end of the quarter and I let the kids lose an amazing amount of brain cells watching netflix. During a regular school week they rarely even have time to watch any shows, so I didn't feel too guilty letting them veg a little during Christmas vacation. I think they sufficiently overdosed while I was able to clean up Christmas decorations and gear up the house for starting back into school. We were able to fit in a family bike, clear out the garden, I compiled and ordered our family "yearbook" for 2014, and the girls did a couple "sewing projects." One morning there was even a little frost on the lawn so the kids ran out to make "frost angels."
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| Jocelyn with her sewing project |
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| Jonas Bundled up for "frost angels" |
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| Making frost angels |
We celebrated New Years Eve by going to a restaurant called "pieology" (because I had a coupon that was going to expire that day) that we had never been to. It is essentially a pizza version of subway and we were all sold! It was a fun and delicious and pretty affordable. We celebrated by Eastern Standard time so we "watched the ball drop" on youtube from a previous year, had some sparkling cider and loud horns and poppers, then put kids to bed so Jared and I could watch a movie and still fall asleep before midnight. I guess we are getting to be old.
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