And We're Done

Christmas break is over and it's time to get back into the swing of things.  Lauryn is super excited to go back to school as she missed her friends and her teacher.  I think she missed the hustle and bustle of it all too.  She only goes for two and half hours, Monday through Thursday, but they go non-stop and she has the energy for it.  When she was home, we tried to keep her as busy as we could but between having the flu, Lucas getting an ear infection and teething, and the every day stuff that needs to get done around the house, it was hard to keep her busy all of the time.  We had a great time with all of our Christmas parties and I'm going to share some of the pictures I took.

Our first Christmas party, with Lloyd's mom's side of the family:







Baking yummy treats for friends:

 



Christmas with Lloyd's parents and brother:













Christmas morning:

 

 

 









Christmas with my Mom:







The kids and I missed Christmas with Lloyd's dad's side of the family due to my having the flu and Lauryn not feeling so well.  :( 

On New Year's Eve, my mom and I took the kids to Grand Rapids to see the lights at 5/3 Ballpark.  Although I took tons of pictures, I'm only going to post one.  I can't remember what the Santa was supposed to be doing here, as they bowl, kick field goals, etc., but this one looks like he's peeing!  I realized later that to the side of him is a light tunnel that you drive through but at this angle, it looks like Santa is relieving himself!  :)



Now the tree is down and so are the rest of the Christmas decorations.  All things snowman are staying up through the rest of winter though :)  The house sure looks bare without all of our pretty decorations!  One of these days I will actually figure out what I want to put on the walls and get this place looking nice and decorated so I won' t have to wait until Christmas time to see it!  :)

One More Christmas Party

Tomorrow is our final Christmas party and I'm really looking forward to it.  It's the one with my family and we're having it here at out house.  Even though there will only be seven of us, I think we're going to have enough to feed an army :)  I'm making meatballs in my new crock pot :), bean dip and chips, ham dip wraps, a pickle tray, a chili cheese and bacon dip and some of my seasoned pretzels.  My mom is bringing a pasta salad, peanut butter fudge, cheese and this year instead of making eggnog she's trying a new recipe with cider and ice cream.  I think it sounds good!  Shane and Trisha are bringing deviled eggs, a cheese ball and maybe some cookies.  I think we will definitely get our fill :)

I am so loving the camera Lloyd got me for Christmas.  I know I have yet to post any pics but I am taking them like crazy!  I love that I won't have to wait for him to bring his home from work and I won't have to miss a single adorable Lauryn moment :)  I'm checking into a micro sd for it.  Here are a couple pics of Lauryn that I do have downloaded :)

*She walked around with her new movie for quite a while*



*With the personalized jewelry box from Mama :) *



*She was running around the island in her grandma's kitchen and I surprised her on the other side*