Happy New Year!

2013 was a year of exciting firsts and lots of changes!  The boys continue to keep us on our toes and their energy is still seemingly endless!  I cannot believe all of the fabulous things we got to experience with our boys!  First visits from the Tooth Fairy, the end of preschool and moving on to Kindergarten, swimming lessons, their first team sports, Mommy going to work, and so many more things.  As always, I am in awe of how fast it all goes by.  It seems that I can barely keep up, but somehow I do. Our boys are our biggest joy and we had such a wonderful year experiencing all their accomplishments with them!  I chose one picture from each month (not easy!) to share and remind myself of what a great year 2013 was for us!

I am a very lucky woman to be able to spend my life with an amazing husband, two children that I love beyond all words, and a wonderful and supportive family.  We are looking forward to a happy and healthy 2014 and wish the same to all of you!  Happy New Year!!!

More Christmas!

On Saturday, we traveled to Nick's parents' house to celebrate Christmas!  The boys had a great time with their cousins and were very excited to be having another Christmas celebration complete with grandparents, food, and more presents!

On Sunday, the kids all organized their new tackle boxes and played with some of their new toys.  We enjoyed a full morning of watching the kids play and taking pictures.

Thank you to Mama and Papa for a wonderful Christmas!

Slurpees...

Among the many things the kids have received for Christmas is a slurpee machine that they have insisted on using since they set their eyes on it!  I don't know what the appeal is, but it was definitely on their list of things to do today (along with several other things... busy day!)  I would consider our first attempt successful since the boys both got to enjoy a cherry slurpee!

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Morning!!! Their excitement could barely be contained!

We are all spoiled and got tons of great gifts! Nana prepared a fabulous Christmas meal for all of us and we spent the rest of the day trying to relax, but basically playing with everything that the kids got!  The day goes by so fast, but it was wonderful.  Thanks to Nana and Gramps for another great Christmas at home!  We are beyond blessed!

Christmas Eve...

On Christmas Eve we traveled to Bettendorf to spend some time at Nana and Gramps' house!  As always, we all had a fabulous time!  We got to see my sister's family and my brother's family including our new nephew!  Very exciting!  We got a little surprise at church when the kids were included in a little nativity story.  The boys were absolutely thrilled that they got to be sheep! And Conner and Ben loved wearing their dress up clothes today!!! So handsome...

After the kids set out some cookies and milk for Santa, they headed to bed and the adults stayed up way too late! We had such a wonderful Christmas Eve! Can't wait for Christmas morning...

Our Christmas...

We celebrated our Christmas together on the 23rd, as we always do.  Daddy thought that making reindeer food would be a good activity to add to our festivities, so we started with that!  We will take it to Nana and Gramps' house for Christmas Eve.  The boys actually loved making the food!  Then it was time to move on to stockings from Santa and presents from Mom and Dad!

After we had all opened all of our presents, there was one left for Ben and Conner.  We wrapped up a picture of an air hockey table and when the boys opened it up, they were a little confused!  We told them to go down to the basement and see what was waiting for them... a new air hockey table!  The boys loved it, and their squeals of delight and constant giggles as they played made a wonderful end to our Christmas night!