Travelling At New Year's

On New Year's Eve, we travelled to my parents' house near Kansas City.  My sister and her family from Texas were also staying there, so we got to spend time with them, too. 

Grandma taught Catherine and my nephew, Andrew, how to play Yahtzee, while Dominic was building with Legos.

Yay.  New clothes.  Just what I wanted. (Boys!)

Two cuties:  Anthony and his cousin, Matthew.

The boys played basketball.  And no, no one got hit with the ball!

Grandpa was ready to block the shot. 

I don't think anyone in the house stayed up until midnight.  :)  The next day, after Mass, we all went over to my other sister's house for a New Year's Day party.  So we got to see everyone except my brother and his family who live in Iowa.

Is Grandpa reading or dozing off?

Patrick, my godson, is 10.

The little kids' table, clockwise from bottom left, Joseph, Isabella, Anne, and Matthew.

Another Christmas Party!

A few days after Christmas, Dan's brother and his family came over for a little Christmas party.

Of course there were a few presents.

Anne and Catherine loved their stick horses. 

Anthony was thrilled because this box had penguins on it.  For some reason, he gets really excited when he sees penguins.

After pizza and presents, Dan's brother and his wife snuck off for a little impromptu date.   We loaded up the two babies in the double stroller and took all the kids outside. 

The kids amused themselves by throwing hedge balls into the pond.

Here's the line-up of ages: 10, 8, 6, 6, 6, 5, 4, 3, 22 mo, and 15 mo.  And Dan doesn't even look frazzled!

Silly faces!

I'm coming to get you, baby!

Why does he keep kissing me?

Christmas Day

After giving up on the idea of getting a nice picture for our Christmas cards, we were able to get a rather nice one on Christmas morning after Mass at our church.  Hooray for spontaneous pictures!

The kids went to say hello to Baby Jesus. 

Our Christmas ham dinner.

Dessert was a lemon pound cake.

In the afternoon it was time to try out all the new Christmas toys. 

Daddy helped Anne get her balance on her new roller skates.

There was some of this as well!

Catherine is already pretty good on her skates.

Anthony figured out how to blow some bubbles.

Dominic tried out the scooter.

Joseph took his zoom copter for some test flights outside.

Anthony had a talk with St. Joseph.

Hey, Mom, he's about my size!

Christmas Eve Again

So, we left off waiting for Christmas presents.

Anthony, being the youngest, got to go first.  He was thrilled with his new puzzles and spent the next 15 minutes or so oblivious to anything else.

Which left the other kids to open some presents in peace!

Anne loves My Little Ponies.

The twins both got roller skates.

Anthony finally realized that everybody else was opening presents and his inner present-opening monster was revealed.  We had to keep throwing presents at him to open, so the other kids could open theirs. 

Catherine was very excited to get a new watch.

Sit 'n Spin, a blast from the past. 

Our Superhero-loving boy got a Superhero cartoon DVD.  Hooray!

Joseph shows off our family gift:  a microscope set for school.

I actually got to open this one.  It was in a bag, that's why.

Anne and Dominic play with their new toys.

Joseph and his Zoom Copter.

Christmas Eve

The packages silently waited under the tree.

On Christmas Eve morning, the children were allowed to look in their stockings.  Anthony was at first more interested in jumping and leaping.

Then he discovered there were things in his stocking!

Oh, wait, we have to pause to whack something!

Once Anthony realized there was chocolate, the game was over.

Our Christmas Eve dinner:  Beef and Vegetable Soup with Homemade Bread.  We ate by candlelight and Daddy read the Christmas story from the Bible.

These were dessert.  Yum!

After dinner, it was time for more fun.

Anthony on Christmas Eve.

Catherine, Dominic, Anne, and Joseph eagerly await the opening of presents!