We returned home on the Sunday after Christmas and prepared for the arrival of the Averill family on Monday. The kids were super excited to be home and to spend time with Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Christy and Aunt Joanna. We were all sad that Uncle Brandon, Aunt Annie and baby Nate couldn't join us (but we hope to post about a fun trip to see them in a couple of weeks!).
The fam arrived before lunch so we spent the afternoon running an errand and hanging out and waiting for Mike to get home from work. After dinner we got to open Christmas presents - and Joanna got her birthday presents from us!! Mom A. made a beautiful lap quilt and matching pillow for Katey and enclosed a note so Katey knows what each of the blocks are called. I am sure she loves the quilt as she has slept with it every night since!
We had so much fun with the family. The highlights include:
Playing lots of games - including Balderdash (though we missed Brandon's whining about that one...love you, Brandon!)
Watching the Muppet Christmas Carol
Naps!
Family dinners
Mom's trip to her favorite quilting shop
Target!
Mike and Dad making several trips to Lowe's and putting up crown molding in the den...the only room in the house that will ever have molding, I am pretty sure
Laser Tag!!!
Secret Christmas gifts
Ringing in the New Year
We did introduce the kids to the fun and exciting game of Laser Tag. They loved it!! We had fun and found out that Jen is a great shot (high scorer on the team), but that Dad is a little better. Out of the 18 people playing, Dad held the highest score, followed by Jen. Next time...I'm coming after you, Dad!! :-)
But, the most fun of all were the secret gifts under the tree each morning. The kids would receive gifts with the tag saying they were from "Heart". While this thrilled Katey and Seth to no end, the mystery was making Katey crazy! The kids set up traps (of whoopie cushions under blankets) and had elaborate schemes to try and catch "The Culprit" as they liked to call him or her. They left notes and received notes in return. Katey even set up a ballot to see who we all thought "The Culprit" was. Much to her dismay, the highest vote-getter was Katey herself. :-)
Who left all the mystery gifts? We'll never tell!
We rang in 2010 at midnight with the kids. This was their first year to stay up for the big moment. Seth seemed to be a bit disappointed that the ball dropped on the TV, not in our yard, but Katey thought it was great to stay up so late and drink an orange juice toast from fancy glasses! I'm sure this is one New Year that she won't soon forget!
It was sad to see the Averill's leave on Friday afternoon, but I think the kids were a little relieved to be sleeping in their own beds. We did have a couple of rough days with "family detox" - getting used to not having so many people around to play with. And I know that Katey missed Aunt Jo a lot!
Aunt Joanna with the kiddos before Laser Tag
Grandma with the kids
Grandpa with the Crazies!
Aunt Christy, Seth, Aunt Joanna and Katey
1 comments:
Sounds like you had a great time with family. It is always so hard to get back into a routine after having family around. I know that it takes a few days for the kids to adjust to not getting everything they want and/or doing anything they want....
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