How did January fly by so fast? There has been a lot going on here but nothing worthy of taking pictures of so I'll have to revisit December to even have pictures to show you - not much to show for in January. Last post was Gavin's Christmas program at school and after that it was non stop. Jon's family Christmas was the Saturday before Christmas and with Jon working and Mark, Tami and Allie only here for a little over a day it was here and gone before you could blink an eye. It's quite a different Christmas now - Allie is getting older and Gavin was being his usual boy self and Harper really wasn't into opening gifts. We had a nice dinner before diving into the mountain of gifts! I thought I had a picture of all of us from dinner, but I can't seem to find it. I obviously did a poor job of taking pictures as I don't have any of the family as a whole.
So after we left the J Christmas, we came home, put the kids to bed, unloaded the presents and loaded it back up with all the luggage and presents for the 10 hour drive to Michigan. We went to bed around midnight and had to get up to go first thing in the morning on Sunday...and by first thing, I mean somewhere around 9am. The kids did very well traveling as they always have - we are very lucky that they are pretty easy travelers. BUT the big news is that a few days before that Santa had made a very special delivery to our house via our Elf of the Shelf "Elfie"...
This is Elfie. He is the one who brought the mini cooper to Gavin and Harper as Santa knew we wouldn't be home for Christmas and wouldn't be able to get the mini home if he brought it to them on Christmas day. I have to post the video of Gavin's reaction to seeing the Mini Cooper...and then seeing Elfie sitting in it - it was priceless. Gavin loved Elfie and looking for him every day and DEFINITELY did not touch him as he didn't want him to lose his magic. SO when he say Elfie sitting in the Mini Cooper waiting for him, he PANICKED thinking he wouldn't be able to drive the car because we were not allowed to touch Elfie. He calmed down once we read the letter from Santa that said we could move Elfie just this once - good thing Santa knew to write a letter to explain! Gavin and Harper both love the car - Gavin drives and Harper gets whiplash when he takes off. Gavin has learned how to pop a wheelie too! Gavin's favorite car is the Mini Cooper (Smart cars too - loves little things) and blue is his favorite color, Harper's just happy to ride along. It's cute to see them drive together - I get my exercise trying to keep up with them around the block.
We had a nice Christmas in Michigan too - although it was a quick trip for Jon. Working retail sucks and he had to fly home the morning after Christmas to work. Luckily my Dad agreed to drive home with me so we could stay longer and then he flew home from here. He was definitely planes, trains and automobiles for a few days. It was a quiet Christmas Day as my Mom's family came for dinner instead of going to Aunt Lynn's for brunch like we normally do. It was nice to not have to get up and go and Jennifer wasn't coming in until the day after, so it was just us for the morning. My kids aren't really into getting up at the crack of dawn to see what Santa brings, so we got plenty of sleep before the big day of presents.
Christmas Eve lunch at the Coney Island - Fa Ra Ra Ra Ra Ra Ra Ra Rah!
Christmas Eve dinner before church
Sprinkling the reindeer food
I love this picture of Gavin
Before the presents begin - or should I say Round 1
Grandpa gets excited about his impact driver
Gavin gets a camera of his very own - mostly to stop him taking 4000 pictures on my camera that I later have to delete
Who's more excited about getting the Polar Express Train? It's actually Jon's present!
We remembered to take a family picture of us this year - it's a struggle but it didn't turn out too bad.
Kimmy, Uncle Richard and Aunt Lynn
Christmas Day dinner
Great Grandpa has a Merry Christmas compliments of his grandkids ;-)
Harper plays peek a boo and tries on bigger boots for size
So then the fun really begins! Jon gets up to go to the airport and a few hours later we head back to pick up Jennifer and Garrett for Round 2 (or Round 4, 6, 8....). It's definitely a challenge keeping up with the 3 little kids even with the adults outnumbering them. My Mom got sick so that was hard to keep her feeling well and trying to keep the chaos to a minimum (not sure we succeeded). Harper was also sick so we couldn't do a whole lot of outside activities with 2 sickies in the house. All I know is that when my van was packed up to head back home, her house looked A LOT less cluttered! Sorry Mom! We really only had 2 days all together before we had to drive home, but we had fun during those 2 days. We celebrated another Christmas with Jennifer and Garrett, Jennifer and I took Gavin and Garrett for an afternoon out for lunch and retail therapy, and we were able to see my best friend Kim, her husband Mike and her kids, Luke, Emma and Elise. We had yummy Chinese food and headed to Pump it Up for a little jumping action - I think the kids had a lot of fun. Plus it snowed while we were there - it was so pretty.
Well, you know how easy it is to get Harper to sit still for a picture? Now add 2 boys to the mix - here are the outtakes (because I think those are funnier than the end result)...
Bribed with an iphone and a tablet thing but at least they are all smiling and looking at the right camera!
My camera sucks at the live action shots, so bear with me for these pics, it's the best I could do!
So that was our Christmas over a month ago! We've had some challenges with Gavin and school since the New Year began but hopefully we can get those sorted out (I'm not ready to write about it yet) before I get back on here again. But to leave you on a funny note, I'm sure many of you received our Christmas card, but just in case you didn't, here is the million dollar picture. (And YES, I did mean to put that picture on my Christmas card - I actually paid extra to find the sarcastic Be Jolly script to go with it!). I mean, how often do you get your kids to have the same perfect scowl on their faces at Christmas time (more sarcasm)? Hope yours was happy and your New Year is starting out well. Talk soon!
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