Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!
December 30-January 2

We are usually back at home by the time New Year's comes around, so we were pretty excited with the way the holidays fell this year, that we could spend it at Mike and Alison's house.  With Grandma's new house, and quiet neighborhood, there was a lot of quieting and calming the girls over the holiday.  It was nice to "let the chicks run wild" as Emilyn would say!  They were so sad to leave Grandma's, so it was nice to be able to tell them we weren't going home yet, we were going to see friends.  Matisyn especially couldn't wait to see Jens, and Sylvie and Emilyn are old enough now to play together too.  Our time there didn't disappoint, even with our big expectations!  We got there on Friday evening and left just before 5:00 in the morning on Monday, so we had two full days with them.  We weren't super exciting, but none of us seem to care about that.  We always have fun together, and I love that we all have a friend when we visit them!  Alison and I got to take some time both days to get out, to the farmer's market, go to lunch, shopping, and a walk.  The dads also got a lunch away.  The kids weren't even interested in going to the park, they were just content to play with each other.  We celebrated the New Year with the kids early with a festive dinner, poppers, ribbons, horns (those were a hit with the kids, and got old for us really quick!), and sparkling cider.  We were planning to go into the city and watch the fire works, but decided against it since the kids were tired and it would have been so late.  After they were in bed, given that we are such a crazy bunch!, we watched some of the performances on T.V., played more Super Mario Brothers (they got a Wii for Christmas and we ended up logging some late hours on that thing!), and watched the ball drop.  Thanks so much for letting us stay, and for bringing in the New Year with us!  Here we come 2012!

 Matt and Mike working on a puzzle.  There was a lot of plain blue left when we got there, just all the same color blue, so it was a challenge, but they finished it.

 The i-pad was a hit with all four kids, we had to limit screen time with it, or they would have played together with it all day!

 New Year's Eve game before bed

 Happy New Year!

 Emilyn loved the Nerf guns, and was deadly with them if you weren't paying attention.  I love her in this picture all decked out with her glasses and gun!

 Sylvie got a new bike, and Emilyn had a blast riding around the house with her.

 Alison is a great cook, and we had some delicious meals there.

The first night I found them all dressed up within minutes of arriving!