New Years Day

Well, I might as well write about the first day of the month on the last day of the month!!

I've been biting my tongue to not talk about love for January, but aghhh....
okay,


Max was just in heaven after Christmas. Ross was sick so we didn't really go anyhwere, so he got to stay home most days, all day, and play!

here is one of the games he got. I think it is called Qbitz... its fun


Here is Leo with the bone that got sent back to us from my parent's house. He loved that bone. But, he ate through it all so now it's dead.



are you tired of picture of our dog? I figured our kids will appreciate them one day... If you lay on the ground, he will come to say hi!




more of Max playing. Here he is mixing the stacking cups with Minion figurines. He made up so game scenario to go along with it.


still in PJs- I think its around noon.



up close...those minions make me smile.


Another Leo pic. Here he is conked out by his favorite ball. It is an old lacrosse ball of Ross's. He loves it.



An early dinner with greens, black eyed peas and ham - hooray for New Years food.


and Max, still sportin' the PJs. I think he said it was the best day ever.


and Zoey


wishing you a Happy New Year - Don't be mean, in 2014.

max doing work

Max received some more snap circuits and a case that holds all of them. It looks like a giant tool box. When he was playing with it all, he said he was doing work, serious work. And that work required a hard hat. He borrowed Ross's for the job. (we are not surprised that Ross has his own hard hat, are we?)



Serious (and safe) work going on...

cousin visit

On Christmas Day, we headed to Ross's parents house for brunch and met up with his brother and family... Here is a our nephew marc,



And then they came to our house to play. Zoey is sweet with her young cousins and young kids in general

Christmas Eve, part 2

after taking pictures, we headed off to church, which was insane.

I try and just be thankful that these people are going to church and hearing about Jesus and the reason for the season, but the madness just gets to me. Next year, I think we are going to go to Midnight Mass.

The service was nice, besides the craziness and we headed home to our 9 dish dinner (tradition courtesy of my Grandma)... Although, half of my dishes were thai take-out, which I am sure is so far away from what she did! Still, we had 9 dishes, no meat, and Max tried lots of new stuff and liked it (fried tofu anyone?) and there wasn't a ton to cook and clean up! That makes it even more enjoyable.


Leo smells some yummy thai food.


Max reading from the Bible. he was so good about this the whole month of December. He just needs a calendar, and he goes with it!



just enjoying dinner


him too...


realizing he isn't getting any food...




The tradition continues that the kiddos have to clean everything up (and they did). and then it is present time! But first, Ross got to do what he was happily waiting to do, since he heard what my dad used to do, and that is to take the dog for a VERY LONG WALK!!! TORTURE! The kids brought down comfy pillows and arranged everything and then just waited. Max was so anxious, he even called for a status update on the walk!

Max wearing the present passer-outer bracelet!


Finally, Ross and Leo came home.



let the presents begin...





this was one from Zoey to Max... she came up with the idea and made it all herself.


She made him action figures on the rainbow loom.... based sort of off of minecraft characters. They were so good!



the dog happily chewing on a bone. Actually we left a bone at my parents house over Thanksgiving and they sent it back with their Christmas packages. Leo was so happy to see that bone, it was hilarious.



Here are some of the characters.


the octopus guy, which was my fav.



more presents, and yes, Zoey lives in a different climate than the rest of us.



the kids helping Leo with his present. He loved it, but at the moment, he really loved the paper!











minion figures!


happy kid


happy other kid. This is some tool thingy from my parents. Ross is always so excited for gifts, as long as they are just exactly what he wanted! he's specific, so the wishlist is a good thing for him, but means no surprises.


the awesome aftermath...




hope you had a great Christmas!

Christmas Eve, part 1

Our plan for Christmas Eve was to go to church fairly early, have dinner (9 dishes), and then clean up and open presents!!

The kids were filled with anticipation, which was fun and funny. You would think that would make getting cooperative kids for pictures, telling them that there would be no presents otherwise, but Max was overly cheesy half the time and Zoey was, well, Zoey... you will see...


This is her, and I love it.



Self-timer, family photo, (Leo had to be included) and the kids totally think they are doing what I want... grabbing Leo to face the camera and super smiling! OH well, its funny. So is Leo's tongue about to go into Zoey's nose.



Another. Not horrible, by any means, but I don't know why they feel they need to be snuggling with the dog. Nevermind, that was silly of me, they totally love snuggling with the dog for pictures.





Moment captured between pics.



and the black and white version.






So, I took this one



And Ross says, just have a natural smile... and then says, wait, whatever you do, DON'T SMILE!

Zoey, the stoic, can do it; Max falls for it, he can't help himself...



Ross keeps commenting...he's gonna break her...



Got her! And this one of Max just kills me... it captures his personality so well. We see that face a lot









Close ups- Max (who always needs chapstick)


Zoey- serious


and smiling