Last Christmas of 2016....boo!

Saved the best for last! Especially since we could celebrate Grandpa's birthday as well.

 

Morning started bright and early...breakfast and gifts galore! Of course the kids couldn't wait to tear things open. I didn't get a picture of each of our envelopes...but this year Grandma didn't put names on any of the gifts, we all had our own wrapping paper distinguishing each gift. Very cool idea; but she said she might not do it again. Made for many rolls of paper and more work.

 

And then once the fun was opened they couldn't wait to play. So we played many games before they day grew old. New fishing poles and gear were high on their like lists too.

Me and my sista!

At 3:30pm; we headed to the 5 O'clock club to have a happy hour in celebration of Grandpa Kris and Uncle Kurt's 60th birthdays! We had shirts made...in their younger years they had shirts made for their parties, so we updated them and made them for our immediate families. So fun.

Got to see my bestie, Casey. Short but sweet.

Our group for the evening!  

So fun! We got this awesome cake from Cakes While you Wait in Pewaukee. Pretty fitting for Father! After happy hour we had dinner and then headed back to Grandma and Grandpa's for some games. And sadly, even though it was New Years Eve, we were in bed by about 10pm. That's what happens when you start with day drinking. Aunt Amanda even bought party hats and such, and the box didn't get opened. Oh well. We enjoyed and all had fun.

And we played Speak Out which was the funniest thing ever. I was horrible at it because I couldn't stop laughing to even get a word out.

on the road again...

So relieved to have a peaceful drive to WI without any weather disturbances tonight! We headed back to have Christmas and celebrate Grandpa Kris's 60th birthday this weekend. We swung through Karen and Doug's house to drop Gizmo off for the weekend and then to Grandpa Kris and Grandma Julie's house!

Friday night was a low key evening complete with some stockings. Because heaven forbid we wait until tomorrow morning to open gifts. We did not stay up late as we had a full day tomorrow planned.

Girls outdoor St. Paul

The girls played outside tonight in downtown St. Paul! Very cool experience...weather wise too. We did survive the cold as well, but they had fun too. Dress for success!

Warming up!

Game on!  

Fun team picture with the girls and coaches.

And our little family too!

Mite 2 tourney time

Today at Vadnais Sports Center, all of the WBL Mite 2 teams got together to do a bunch of scrimmages! The boys got lots of play time in and had a blast.

Some of the action...

All of the Mite 2 teams for 2016-17 and coaches!

And when your dad finds a floor scrubber that his company makes in the arena...you take a picture with it....

Merry Christmas!

Once again, we were patiently waiting for the kids to wake up this morning...and Eddie was up before Rowan; so he patiently snooped through the presents waiting for her to get up. (See top left picture below) Grabbed a quick picture of our kiddos this morning in front of the tree! Love them so!

Everyone was spoiled once again...

And everyone found something fun to do with our glorious day home on Christmas!

Rowan got a school kit...all things needed to play school.

And Eddie got a new nerf gun... 

Ed and Eddie made this gingerbread house at school last week for his holiday party. Almost forgot to get a picture! Sounds like Eddie ate more of the candy than they used.

Christmas Eve 2016

And we are at home! So glorious!

Rowan started her morning putting the second to last thing on the wreath!

Eddie tried out Santa's hat...in his football jammies. Pretty fitting for the Packer game today.

Then it was time for our annual gingerbread house contest. This year we switched up the teams...they didn't want boys against girls again! This year...Eddie and I won by a landslide. Last year I remember the results being much closer....interesting.

The Winners! 

We were lucky to have cookies sent home with us last weekend by Karen and Doug; so had planned to use those for Santa! But the cookie monsters in the house didn't support that plan, so we had to make some cookies this afternoon for the SC. They were delicious. They were sour cream cookies. Yum Yum.

 

Can't forget us cheering for the Packers today either. Gizmo even got in on the action...even if he did have to wear Rowan's fleece to fit in!

And Eddie brought this home for the reindeer...so couldn't forget to share it.

All ready for SC...

Maybe Santa is working on a new tree for this family as well?

lazy day before xmas eve

Sort of hard to tell in this picture, but Nana made this for Rowan for Xmas! It's a mermaid blanket...she has one for her doll as well. So perfect and cute.

After a busy day of work and knowing of plans to make food at home the next couple days because of the holiday; we lazily had Mexican dinner out tonight! It was so delicious. Generally we take pictures and send to our neighbor friends to make them jealous. But too good not to share.

Can't forget about my margarita problem either...

After dinner it was game time...a little adult chocolate milk and some shut the box.

And Ed introduced Eddie to old school Nintendo games. Our friend Brian 'built' Ed his very own system complete with way too many old school video games. You can see some of the other gifts from the weekend in the background! Eddie's super loop! Ugh.