The Winter House

Last night we had a great time spending the night with our family at the Winter House!

Everyone loved going skiing and relaxing!

Oliver had a blast reading Aunt Sara some books.

It is always so great to spend this time together.  We all enjoy visiting and relaxing.

The kids LOVE the winter house (click HERE to see our past visit to the winter house.  Oliver and I couldn't go last year because he was sick so there are no pictures of Mark and Claire from last year)!  They had a blast going in the hot tub.  Claire thought it was amazing to be outside in the snow "swimming".  Claire and Oliver got to sleep in the closet and they thought that was the greatest thing ever.  Aunt Irene set up a big air mattress for Claire and Oliver had his pack and play.  They were just thrilled to hang out in the closet and sleep in there.

We celebrated Grandpa's birthday and enjoyed three cakes!  After the kids went to bed (in the closet) the adults stayed up and played games.  We had a BLAST!  It was so nice to just be together and hang out.

Thank you Irene and Bryan for such a great night!  The kids had a blast and the adults did too!

On a sad note my camera is broke and I am a mess about it!  I was so sad that I didn't have a camera to take pictures of our great night but my mother let me borrow her camera so I did get some pictures.  I was going to send my camera out to fix it but it was going to take 4-8 WEEKS!  I cannot stand the thought of not having my camera for that long!!  So Mark ordered a new part for my camera and he is going to fix it soon, so say a prayer all goes well because I am DYING without my baby!!!

The Winter House

Last Saturday we packed up headed to the Winter House for our annual sleep over.

Uncle Bryan and Aunt Irene have us come up to their winter house (as Claire started calling it years ago) every year and spend the night.  We all bring food, the kids play, and we all play games. It is so much fun!!

Claire loved hanging out with Owen and playing on their Leap Pads.

And since Stella and Lucy were there, Claire was very busy with them.

The boys loved hanging out and watching the Olympics.

We also celebrated Joseph's birthday while we were there. I can't believe that he is 19!

We couldn't get enough of Baby Lily.  I can't believe how big she is already getting!

While the boys played some games together,

Claire snuggled up with Kayden.

After the kids were in bed, the grown ups had a great time chatting and playing some games.

The next morning the kids couldn't wait to get up and play with each other!

We all enjoyed a delicious breakfast!

Well, except Lily who just wanted some of Daddy's food instead of her bottle.  To prove her point she spit up on Daddy.

Claire was thrilled when Grandma gave her a sticker book to play with.

And Oliver loved his Thomas sticker book too.

Then Claire snuggled Baby Kayden some more.

I couldn't get enough of these two gorgeous babies!!! 

Kayden had a blast.  He is such a good baby!  He just liked to hang out and take it all in.

He also enjoyed practicing his tripod sitting.

Then we did our usual attempt for a picture of all the grandkids.  This one wasn't too bad, even though Oliver is on the phone :)

We really had a great time.  We love going up to the Winter House!  We can't wait until next year.
THANK YOU BRYAN AND IRENE FOR ANOTHER GREAT NIGHT AND SOME MORE WONDERFUL MEMORIES!

The Winter House

This weekend we were invited to spend the evening with Mark's family at his aunt and uncle's ski house.  This house is AMAZING!!  It is a gorgeous home set in a perfect spot in "ski country".  Claire refers to it as the "Winter House".  The whole family met up there to ski, relax, catch up, and spend the night.  Needless to say, we had a great time!!

This is the view from their family room.  Those are the "slopes".  It is absolutely gorgeous!

Besides the place being gorgeous, it was so great to get the family together.  The kids had a blast playing together.

But the "big kids" (apparently I am loving the quotes today) had the most fun being crazy :)

While the big kids did big kid stuff, Oliver hung out with Grandpa.

Could Oliver be any cuter?!

The girls had fun getting dinner ready.

And drinking some wine :)

Everyone brought a dish to pass and everything was DELICIOUS!

After dinner Erin and I decided to take advantage of those big jacuzzi tubs!  We threw on the kids bathing suits and let them GO TO TOWN!

 As you can see, they had a blast!

I kinda wish I was in there with them!

Two squeaky clean big kids.

After we got the kids nice and clean it was THEN decided to bring out the cake for Grandpa's birthday.

And some doritos.  Hey, anything goes at the winter house.

The rest of the night was spent playing games and chatting.  It was really a great time.  It would have been even better if Oliver did not wake up everytime anyone laughed.  I have a feeling he is NOT going to want to miss a trick.  Claire on the other hand, slept like an angel all night long.

Owen and Claire played so hard that Owen had to sneak in a quick morning nap after breakfast.

And Oliver was so beat from his multiple attempts to join the party the night before that we just put him in his carseat to nap while we packed everything up.

THANK YOU SO MUCH BRYAN AND IRENE!!  WE HAD A BLAST!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Merry Christmas!!

This year Christmas was perfect! Claire is the perfect age for the magic of Santa and Christmas.  And Oliver is the perfect age for ripping open presents and playing with toys!  

Claire was really into giving everyone gifts this year.  I took her to a holiday party at my school and they had a Santa's Secret Shop where Claire spent a lot of time picking out gifts for her Daddy and grandparents.  She loved wrapping their gifts all by herself and writing her own labels.  I love that she is really into the "giving" thing when it comes to Christmas and not just the "where are my gifts" thing. 

We had Christmas Eve dinner here and everyone had a great time.  We had a really nice dinner with family.  It is always so nice to get together and spend time as a family.  

Oliver definitely fits right in with is love of Christmas.  My mother bought this hat that shakes and plays Christmas songs.  Oliver thinks that this is the most hilarious thing in the world.  He loves to watch it!  And then he started wearing it!  His face was hilarious the whole time that he wore it!  He loves to make people  laugh.  I think we may have a little comedian on our hands.

Oliver with his godparents. 

Claire with  her buddy Uncle Johnny.

After a nice dinner and some visiting it was time for PRESENTS!!!  Oliver jumped right in!!  I am pretty sure he would have been perfectly happy with a bag of tissue paper.

Claire had fun taking everyone's pictures.

And then making everyone else take pictures.

Nana made Claire a scarf for Christmas and she carried it around with her for two days!  Here she is being silly with Andrea.

Then Santa stopped by for a visit!  Claire was in her glory!  Oliver chose to hang back a little and take in the big guy from a distance.

After a quick visit from Santa we put on our jammies and went to sprinkle our reindeer food on the front lawn so the reindeer would come.  Then Claire and Oliver headed to bed for a long winter's nap.

The next morning Claire woke up and couldn't wait to see if Santa came!  She loved that Santa came and ate all her cookies.  Also, she loved that the elves ate her candy and the reindeer loved their celery.

Here she is showing Oliver and explaining to him that Santa and the gang ate a our snack.

Then it was time for presents!!!!!!!!  

Notice she is still carrying her scarf around.

Oliver was amazed when he saw all the presents under the tree!!!

Here he is thinking about how they actually got there.

Claire loved her new purple silky from Santa.

Oliver loved opening his gifts too!  He didn't need any help ripping his gifts open this year!

The kids loved opening their gifts and playing with them together.

Our house pretty much looked like this for three days.  But the kids LOVED it!!

Claire's favorite gift this year was her pink Nintendo DS from Santa!

Oliver's favorite gift was his Chuck truck!  He has a touch of a love hate relationship with this truck.  He loves it because it talks, makes noises, and moves.  BUT Chuck drives away from him sometimes and that makes Oliver mad and then he chases him down!  It is hilarious!  He loves it though and can't get enough!

After a good nap we headed over to Nana and Papa's house for dinner and then to Grandma and Grandpa's for more presents!!!  Oliver got a firetruck and he was in heaven!

Uncle Tom and Grandpa had a great time putting together some toys.

Owen got a drumset for Christmas and the boys had a blast jamming away!!!  Oliver is finally old enough to play with Owen.  He is super excited to play with the big kids.  It is so fun to watch all the kids play together, they have so much fun together!

In a way I am sad that Christmas is over.  But it has been so nice to just relax for the last few days and enjoy all the great gifts that we were so blessed to receive.  Christmas is my favorite time of year and I am always sad to see it go but soon enough it will be this magical time again and we will build even more memories.  I already can't wait for next year!