I'm still trying to figure out how and where the Holidays disappeared to! Seems like you prepare and anticipate for so long and then it's all over in a flash! I'm partly sad to see the Holiday festivities have to come to an end, and yet... partly glad to get the house and daily life back to normal. =)
Either way, our Holiday season was wonderful! There were some FUN parties, delicious dinners, and everyone thoroughly enjoyed all their gifts. Kaleb's sister was able to come for Christmas and it was so fun to see her and play and be silly with her. I miss having her around, and so do the kids. She has such a fun personality and infectious laugh... She's just plain awesome! =) It was really great to see her. We love you KiKi!
Also, a good childhood friend of Kaleb's (who has turned into a good family friend for all of us) was able to come visit for New Year's. That was a lot of fun too! It was nice to hang out with him. We went to dinner, a movie, and spent a few fun late nights playing games. =D He's such a good guy and we wish he could get up here to visit more often.
Here we are enjoying the yearly tradition of gingerbread house making! The kids loved it!!
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| *Mommy was the froster, Justin was the decorator* |
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| *There was quite a bit of taste-testing going on!* |
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| *Such a beautiful girl!* |
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| *Justin had to try his hand at frosting* |
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| *More taste-testing caught in action!* |
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| *Justin and his favorite person, Cousin Richard* |
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| *Taking pictures of Gma Bessie taking pictures* |
Here is the annual family Christmas Party (Knobel side)...
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| *Angie with her gift from the exchange* |
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| *Justin with his gift* |
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| *Cute kids and cute gifts!* |
We took the kids to visit Santa at the store. Call me lame, but I have NO desire to go to the mall and stand in an ENORMOUS line to pay for HIGHLY overpriced pictures of my kids being shy on Santa's lap... lol! So we caught the man in red at the grocery store. It was free, un-crowded, and they even printed us free copies of our kids' pictures. Angela climbed into Santa's lap with only minor hesitations and told Santa she wanted a Karaoke machine and a Taylor Swift CD. Justin was dragged onto his lap, held hostage for a quick picture (which documents him trying desperately to escape), and then, from about 20 feet away, whispered that he'd like a "Buzz Lightyear Shooter Gun". Hee hee hee! It was pretty humorous. =)
Christmas Eve we always spend time with family, read (as well as re-enact!) the REAL Christmas story, and get to open ONE gift from each side of the family. It's tradition for the Knobel side to always get pajamas to wear on Christmas Eve. So here are some pictures of us in our PJs opening our one gift each at Grandma and Grandpa Christesen's...
Finally! It's Christmas Day! ...
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| *Justin absolutely LOVES his Santa gift! A motorized motorcycle... he thinks it has to go everywhere with us * |
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| *Angela was excited to get LOADS of 'Squinkies'* |
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| *The Aftermath* |
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| *Some of Justin's favorites* |
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| *Stick 'em up!* |
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| *Another favorite from Santa... "Buzz Lightyear Shooter Gun" as Justin calls it* |
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| *A good portion of Angie's stash* |
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| *A big hit with Angela -- Fishies!!* |
Opening gifts Christmas Day at Grandma and Grandpa Christesen's ... Not sure why we didn't get any of Kaleb...
Presents time at Grandma and Grandpa Knobel's... We all got bikes!
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| *I haven't been on a bike in years! Crazy!* |
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*Grandkids discovering their bikes*
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Later that night...
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*Big Sister reading some books she got for Christmas to her little shadow =) She's such a GOOD reader!*
New Year's Eve we partied the night away at a party hosted by Kaleb's parents. It was a good turnout! We played lots of fun games and stuffed our faces with goodies. We cheered and toasted with sparkling cider at midnight. The kids even made it past midnight without being totally grouchy! We all had tons of fun! By the end of the night we were all ready to pass out though. So we didn't party much longer after the stroke of midnight. We headed home and crashed. We slept in that morning and spent the majority of the day just being lazy together. |
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| *Gma, Angie, Pam, and Gpa - Playing "Just Dance" on the Wii* |
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| *Nice action shot of the 'dancing'* |
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| *Justin playing games* |
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| *Being silly pretending to sleep* |
Hope everyone's Holidays were as fantastic as ours! Here's to a fabulous NEW YEAR! =D
