Dad's Christmas party

 We started a new Christmas tradition this year.  Instead of picking names and exchanging gifts with cousins, we decided to do a service project and put together "blessing bags" for the homeless.  Tera got all the supplies at the Dollar Store and we had each kid assigned to an item.  Then we simply passed bags around and they put one item in each bag.  Easy-peasy and fun!  I was so impressed with how fast we put together 20+ bags and kept the kids' attention.  They seemed to actually enjoy it.

 12 boy cousins + 1 girl (Taryn)

 Dad, Denise (my dad's fiance'), Corby, and Taryn

Dad and Denise got each family a tube of (70+) matchbox cars...the boys were so excited!

They immediately went to the basement and set up the tube and tracks to send all the cars down. :)

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve is probably my favorite day of the year.  The anticipation for Christmas day is almost better than actual Christmas for me.  We have a couple traditions and we're trying to figure out which ones will end up sticking.  In the morning, we always have the kids open a joint gift that is always a board game.  Then we spend a couple hours playing games.  They got Guess Who this year.  Sadly, I think Reed is just barely too young for this game (and Taryn has no clue), so we only played a couple times.  Plus I got the game at D.I. and didn't notice that a few pieces of the game were missing.  Whoops.  Luckily, we had 2 new games that we got from other family to play that were super fun.  We are trying to figure out our dinner tradition.  Growing up, we always ordered pizza.  But since my dad loved that, we got pizza for my dad's Christmas.  We decided to make calzones, which was fun.  The kids aren't too adventurous when it comes to toppings, so "just sauce" for Reed and only pepperoni for Taryn wasn't super exciting.  

 A special Christmas Eve breakfast.  I can't believe how excited they got about this.  Apparently I need to do this more often = new tradition!

 We read the story of Jesus' birth in Luke 2 and had the kids dress up.  A real "baby Jesus" isn't as cooperative as a doll.....

 Sadly, Taryn got a pretty high fever and ended up falling asleep on Kevin...which he didn't mind.

 So Reed and I went sledding/slipping on the driveway that had iced over.

 After Taryn got drugged up, she was much happier and ready to pick out cookies for Santa.

 Christmas PJs (hasn't been a tradition, but they do look pretty dang cute!)

 (I always dress up as an elf on Christmas Eve, but I think I need to tweek this tradition and wear it another day....)

Reading 'Twas the Night Before Christmas

 (We also drove around and looked at lights-my mom joined us.  *Always have treat bags for each kid.  Makes the experience so much more enjoyable when they are not begging to go home after 5 minutes).

Mom's Christmas Party

The Sunday before Christmas, we celebrated Christmas with my mom.  Now that she has her own home, she is able to host.  She learned a few important things this year, however.  Like the fact that all her grandsons would rather be rowdy and play together rather than bake cookies with grandma; and kids will sit and eat at a table for about 30 seconds before running off to play with cousins; and kids just want to play even more than eating treats.  It has gotten almost too easy now that the kids are getting older.  They would almost rather be away from the adults playing...which means the adults get to just hang out!  It's fanastic!

*We hosted a Christmas party with my dad the Saturday before Christmas, but I guess I didn't take any pictures??

Wynnie

On our drive back home, we were able to stop and see one of my best friends, Wynnie, and her cute family.  I've missed her and it was so good to see each other again!

Return to the beach

On our last afternoon in San Diego, we took the kids back to the beach.  It was supposed to be bad (for San Diego) weather and the group couldn't decide what to do.  We took our little family to Coronado Beach and they loved it all over again.  It was a little cool, but the kids didn't seem to care.  The beach is my favorite!!!

Zoo Safari

 Reed measuring up

 Creepy, no?

 A sweet moment

 On the safari tour.  Can you tell I'm kind of tired of seeing animals?

 I did take several pictures of animals, but the gorillas were the only ones that turned out decent.  I think gorillas are cool, and a little scary.  They seem way too smart.

 Siblings wrestling

Tide pools

We went to look at tide pools on 2 separate occasions.  The first time ended up being too dark, but the second time was quite a success!  We saw a ton of crabs, sea anemones, and even the tiniest starfish I've ever seen!  The kids loved it!