Saturday, December 31, 2016

Out With a BANG

As I mentioned in November's post, the kids have been having fun pretending to be bankers lately.  They even created their own bank and requested a meeting with me urging me to deposit some money into their bank.




My contract: "I will not take your money, This bank is the best."


After careful consideration, I finally decided on the perfect place to erect the Christmas tree in our new house.


We had a great time christmas caroling with other AHG families in a nearby neighborhood.




We also celebrated two birthdays in December (three, if you count the birthday of Jesus).  The first of which was Uncle Mark's birthday.






Remember that photo I took of the boys watching football in our empty living room before we had officially moved in?  When I saw this I knew I had to take another photo.


Same here.  The sight of my girls snuggling in Taylor's room sent me running for my camera.


Whenever Grandpa comes a card game is soon to follow.


She's definitely a Williams.




My little bakers:


My little monkey:


Just a little dance party in the room we've dubbed "the music room".








The second birthday to celebrate was my niece, Grace.  I'm still in disbelief that she's twelve years old already.  Even more unbelievable is that she has surpassed me in height!


Grandmama came over so we could celebrate Christmas with her and Uncle David and Kristin.










Uncle David helped the girls make a gingerbread house (although, they are getting so good at it that they honestly didn't need much help).






More holiday crafts.


We kept this countdown all month until the kids were finally off school!!












On Christmas Eve morning, we went to Grandma's house with the Wells and the Gervers for a family celebration.












It is easy to see she's a very well-loved grandma.


Later that day, we celebrated some more at Grandpa's house.






Finally Christmas morning arrived.














We decided to christen in our home with our first major celebration by hosting the Christmas day celebration.  I snuck a quick shot of all the cousins before the rest of our guests arrived.




These two were kings in the kitchen.




We were so happy to have Kristin's mom visiting from California.










It was definitely not a small gathering.




Aunt Tina and Uncle Jack won the prize for staying the latest.


The day after Christmas is my favorite day of the entire year.  It's the day we stay in our PJs and hunker down with all our new toys.  Each person gets to choose one thing for the entire family to do. This year we began by making a movie.




We also played a new game, Ticket To Ride.


Followed by some family karaoke.




One of our gifts from Grandpa this year was tickets to see A Christmas Carol at Playhouse in the Park.  We went on Dec 28th and had a wonderful time.


Grandma held her annual New Year's Eve Party with all of the cousins.






Reportedly, they played games, watched the ball drop, banged on pots and pans outside, and enjoyed a toast of a sparkling juice of some sort.




Happy New Year to all!!