Christmas and New Years

Since I'm trying very hard to be a couch potato today in order to give my knee some rest, I figured I could probably get the Christmas post on here.

So much happened, I'll just leave it to the basics and let the pictures flow. I've also linked an online photo album to the title of this post, so to see many more pictures, just click on the title.

We spent Christmas morning at home - just opening presents, playing with toys, and eating cinnamon rolls.

Aiden got a Playdoh burger maker and all three boys had fun playing with it! :^)

Nathan got his very own tricycle! His legs are still a little short for the pedals, but he's very happy to finally have his own bike. And Aiden is happy he no longer has to fight with Nathan over his.

Later in the day, we headed over to great-grandma's for more gifts and lots of food.

Nathan got a snuggly little Elmo and he enjoyed it very much. It has a permanent home in his bed, along with the Build-A-Bear monkey that Grandpa Major bought him.

The next afternoon, we went to John's parents house for stockings (Uncle Brady was finally there to join us!), dinner, and games.

The Minthorne clan (minus me, since I took the picture).

Nathan got lots of snuggle time in with Aunt Carrie.

We spent so much time at grandma and grandpa's house, we all ended up staying the night. Anything to cram as much family time in as possible, I guess!

Sunday was a break from festivities, which was probably a good thing since John and I were both exhausted. But on Monday, we went back over to great-grandma and great-grandpa's for pizza and more games.

Aiden was a Professor of Locomotives for the evening, during which he treated everyone to a Q and A session on the mechanics of trains.

The next day, some snowflakes began to fall and while Aiden bundled himself up at the first sign of a snowflake, I assumed it wouldn't come down for very long. Boy, was I wrong! We ended up with 4-5 inches in just a few hours. John's 10 minute commute home turned into an hour long commute and I had to call out of work.

But the boys had a great time!

As you can tell, Aiden didn't want to stand still for very long!

New Year's Eve was pretty darn boring for us. We went grocery shopping, put the kids in bed, made 6 layer dip and watched TV until midnight.

Even though we both looked pretty worn down, we had to get a photo right at midnight. Happy New Year to us!

On New Year's Day we drove down to Newberg to spend the day with the Minthorne great-grands and various cousins, aunts, and uncles. It was the first time we'd been able to see the newest addition to the cousins - baby Claire. Once I finally got my hands on her, she fell asleep and I got some enjoyable baby snuggle time. I'm not sure if Nathan was entirely pleased with the situation since he started to act out a little while into it.

After the boys started showing signs of being done for the day, we headed home. We were all fairly tired, so we had a grand dinner of hot dogs and string cheese. Once the boys were in bed, John went out to Best Buy and bought us a brand new Wii! We've really been enjoying it.

My dad came into town the very next day and we had a fun (and sickness) filled weekend. But that's another post.