Christmas!!! Yay!! It was virtually non-stop action and celebrations from 12/20-1/4, and felt like such a whirlwind. We had an awesome time at every one of our events and the kids (not to mention Matt & I) were crazy spoiled again and again. We are so lucky in so many ways! All you can say is - yay! A Happy Christmas it sure was.
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| Started the festivities with two days at Mom & Dad's, all of us with our own handmade by Mom stocking to dig into upon arrival. |
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| Stickies! Candy! Ornaments! Oh my! |
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| What a treat to have all TEN of us together for the first time! |
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| PJ & Luke were dying to see each other and were immediately inseparable |
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| It was Matt & the kids' first time meeting baby Sebastian! Look at that cutie! |
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| "Baby! Baby!" says Claire |
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| petting and running after the little dogs is a favorite pastime for Claire |
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| Breakfast time - loving the special breakfast bar seating for Kool Kids only |
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| Ready for our Mackus Christmas celebration in her Mrs. Klaus outfit |
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| Three bugs in a rug |
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| Pre-present opening - being patient |
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| Best we could of the 4 of them together:) |
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| Minnie's Dollhouse - first dollhouse! Total hit! |
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| Present opening mania!! |
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| Seb taking it all in via tummy time |
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| Minnie Mouse car from Kristin + co:) Minnie Mouse was definitely a theme this year for Claire since she LOOOOVES her. |
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| New bib! |
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| Spumoni's gift was in that box and he seems to be laying claim to it. |
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| New dress up closet for Claire from M&D, so cute. |
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| Claire seems to like it more as a hiding place than a closet! |
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| Luke trying out his new Handy Manny flashlight in the closet |
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| Grandma and Seb chilling before dinner |
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| Mom and Dad made a scrumptious crab leg and lamb chops dinner - super yummy! |
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| Wrangling the kids at Grandma Della's for Christmas party #2! |
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| Santa Baby |
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| Grandma & me:) |
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| Claire loves PJ - this is the funny thing she does where she sticks her face right into yours and makes this funny face and laughs |
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| What a picturesque scene |
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| Red and green |
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| Family Pic Time |
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| PJ lost her front tooth and looks so cute! |
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| Seesters! |
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| Full family picture - our first one! |
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| Aunt Susan's Family |
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| Uncle Dan's family (with a photo bomb by Luke). Uncle Dan had shoulder surgery a couple weeks before Christmas. |
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| All the Grandchildren & Great Grandchildren |
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| All the children |
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| Dougal looked very festive |
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| Playing puzzle games with Grandpa on the iPad |
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| Mel-dawg sitting pretty |
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| Present time |
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| A train set from newly engaged cousin Jessica & fiancee Jeff was a huge hit! |
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| The first Grandma Della party where we've gone to three tables! An actual kid table! Melissa fit right in. |
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| Cheers! |
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| The traditional Chinese food was served and was delish. |
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| cuties |
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| Cousin Bryson was as big a hit as ever with the kids |
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| Claire decided her gorgeous Christmas dress was much too formal for her and spent most of the evening in this get up. |
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| opening presents |
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| showing the audience some of her ballet class tricks |
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| Jeff played Legos with Luke for a long time, so sweet of him |
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| Ian and Sara |
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| Doctor's kit from Aunt Susan was so cute |
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| We got home late Christmas Eve just in time to prepare for Santa's arrival. Santa brought blocks, a bowling set and an indoor bounce house. |
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| The bounce house took a bit of maneuvering for Santa to fit into the living room. |
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| Stockings hung with care, milk and cookies remnants |
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| Christmas morning!! The bowling set may have been a bigger hit than any other toy if I had to rank. |
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| The kids LOVED going wild in the bounce house, too. |
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| Our hallway is like a bowling alley anyway, so was perfect. |
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| Playing with the new suction cup toy. |
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| Christmas celebration #3 at Donna & Emil's house with the Eichinger side |
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| Christmas Dress #3 too. This is the benefit of having so many wonderful hand-me-downs from PJ & Isabelle. This was an Isabelle one and I love it. |
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| Lite Brite |
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| It was pretty warm out so the kids went outside to play. This picture was taken just before Spumoni knocked Luke into the creek and he was up to his waist in water, coat and all. It was really cold and he was not a happy camper! I had Claire with me so had to grab her (protesting and being interrupted from playing) and coax Luke into walking himself up the back hill and back into the house soaking wet. |
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| All cozy in warm clothes. Hanging with Jenae, Jeremy and the boys was really fun. |
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| Lennon & River love the Broncos, these outfits they had received just that morning and they couldn't wait to wear them. |
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| Ice cream sundae bar at work for dessert |
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| I cannot tell you how cute Lennon and River were with Claire, it was sooo adorable. She loves them! |
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| The morning of the 26th it was super warm so we went to the park. |
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| This is the ice skating rink they make in the local park, but of course it was all melted due to the 55 degree and sunny temps! It was just as warm in IL as it was in AZ! It was peaceful watching the sun on the water and enjoying the ducks, but it didn't feel like Christmas! |
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| Christmas celebration #4 with Donna & Emil. Ben & Linda didn't make it back this year, we missed them so much, it just didn't feel the same without them there! This game they gave Luke became an instant favorite. |
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| A real fishing pole from G&G, and we all got custom made "Claire Mae" hats to wear out on the boat next year! |
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| Luke and his new castle from G&G |
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