Kacin's 8th

It was a lego-filled

fancy birthday cake (ha ha ha)

kind of a day.

Kyler put together a game for Kacin to open his presents.

He put slips of paper inside a bunch of ballooons.

On some the slips,

he wrote "open a present".

But on the others, Kacin had to do something silly for us.

Like, sing a song in the bathroom. 

Happy 8th Birthday, my Kacin!
You bring so much energy and fun into our family
and we love you for that.

Christmas Day

What a Merry Christmas!
A very busy Christmas, too.
Santa was entirely too good to us.
Kacin, like always, was the first one up on Christmas morning.
He climbed into bed with us
and we eventually convinced E it was time to wake up
then L joined us
and when Kyler climbed out of bed
it was finally time.
E was first down the stairs to turn on the lights on the tree
while the rest of us anxiously waited at the top.
As is becoming tradition,
E told us Santa missed us this year,
but the boys know better and called his bluff.
After racing down the stairs,
our eyes beheld
all the wonderful gifts Santa brought us.
Legos, skateboards, bikes, a camera
everyone's wishes fulfilled.

After looking through stockings and admiring gifts,
I got started on breakfast
while the boys got started on Legos.

We got D up for breakfast
and showed him that Santa came.

The sleepy head was much more interested in L's bike.
(In turn, she always had her eye on his red bike.)

Then it was time for more presents.
We opened the gifts from each other
and from some extended family.

We didn't have too much time to sit around.
The afternoon consisted of a drive, a visit,
and four of us at the movies.
By evening time
we were all pretty tired.

I do feel like we were all so spoiled this year.
And looking at what I snapped pictures of
it seems our Christmas day was focused on those gifts.
I wish I could've captured more from our day--
the pleasant conversations, the reminders of the real meaning of Christmas,
all the joy and excitement the day holds, talking with some extended family,
the food, the playing together, and the helping each other.
Christmas day was about family, fun, and making happy memories.

Lights and More Lights

Someone in our family
said to me last night
that we haven't gone to see Christmas lights this year.
Say what??!
Maybe we haven't made a special trip
to drive around in the car to see them,
but we have definitely laid eyes
on some beautiful lights this season.
We started with those zoo lights,

and just this week
we have strolled through the Botanical Gardens
and Warm Beach.
At the Botanical Gardens we met up with our good friends the Caltons
(who I miss dearly since they have moved).

 

Our trip to Warm Beach was our mini-vacation.

On the first day of Winter Break we all spent the morning cleaning

and going through shelves and closets.

By the afternoon we were ready for some fun.

We drove north, not too far at all,

and checked in at a hotel.

We spent the evening at Warm Beach

and the next morning swimming.

Making our own wooden yo-yo's at the Toy Shop

 

Bruce the Spruce: The Talking Tree

Train ride!

 

 

I am now a big fan of the mini-vacation--

all the perks of a vacation

(eating out, hotel with pool, relaxing, and getting out)

minus the long travel.

 

There you have the proof

that we have seen

many, many beautiful Christmas lights this season.