Christmas and New Years, 2013 style

 Yes, it's been a while.  Here is a brief update from our holidays.  We spent Christmas in Michigan.  Kris went out to PA on the 21st to see his family and mostly work on the house his dad owns.  We met us in MI on the 23rd.  2 hours later he started throwing up.  Yay, Christmas!

I took the kids to my Aunt Dawn's house for our 1st celebrating.  It was wonderful seeing everyone there.  My kids - if you can believe this - were the calmest there when it was present time.  Could be because they didn't really know the other kids, but they were.

We went to Grandma's house that evening.  By then my kids were tired.  Kris tagged along, but slept at her house the whole night.  He was joined by Emma at some point.  We had a fun time and played some great games there.  My family from out of town was there (mostly) and it was so nice to be able to visit with everyone.

 Christmas Day brought a ton of gifts.  The kids got so much they didn't even know what to play with first.  They loved dressing up like the Avengers characters.  And they loved singing songs on their new karaoke machine.  Kris even sang a little, but wouldn't let up get a picture or video of that!   We stayed MI to celebrate my dad's birthday and go over the McCarthy's for a small get together.  Overall, a wonderful trip.

 When we returned home, we had more gifts to open.  New tablets for Emma and Nick and an electronic drum machine for Ryan.  All were thrilled!

For our anniversary, Kris took me to see The Nutcracker after I mentioned that I had never seen it.  We had a wonderful night.  He even arranged a babysitter!  We had dinner at a Brazilian steak house afterwards and were so full!!  It was so nice to spend some time together without the kids!

 We spent our 10th anniversary on New Years Eve going to the movies alone (kids were at a drop in day care center).  Then we did some last minute shopping for car seats and speakers.  Then had our own little party to celebrate.  This was the first year we let the kids stay up, or try to stay up until midnight.  Ryan made it with no problem.  He didn't even want to go to bed after the ball dropped - makes me wonder what he would do if we weren't here.  Emma didn't even celebrate with us, she was too busy on her tablet.  Nick made it until about 11:30, then curled up in a ball between Kris and I on the couch.  He looked like a little cat.  So cute!!  A great ending to another fabulous year!