2016

2016

Our Story

My photo
Ben and I met in 1996, began dating in 1999 and married in 2001. Now 20 years and 2 children later, we have returned to where our life together began. Ben works for the Federal Reserve and I have the privilege of staying home with our two precious boys.

Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Hosting Christmas

This year Ben and I hosted my family for our Christmas celebration. We had a wonderful weekend and it ended all too soon! Mimi was able to come early and spend the week before everyone arrived with us so that she could go to the boys' Christmas program and parties at school. Somehow during the course of the week, I also conned her into cleaning my oven...she had no idea what she was in for when she agreed to that one ;-) Maw-Maw and Doc brought their RV to Atlanta on Thursday and Chad, Ashley, & sweet Collier came in Friday night. Collier was definitely well tended to throughout the course of the weekend. Everyone absolutely adores her but Ben is completely smitten with this precious baby girl...the only girl. On Saturday we all gathered for lunch and cameras were handy. Before sitting down, we snapped a few impromptu pics.
Maw-Maw and Doc
Ashley getting settled with Collier who was happily sitting in a bouncer in the corner across from the dessert table
 
 Ethan and Caden had their own table that backed up to the dining room table
 After lunch, we moved to the living room for presents
 
  Before opening presents, the boys opened Christmas crackers with Doc and received some little trinkets
 Then it was time for presents
 Perfect addition to the Lego table
 Caden's newest favorite character...Blade Ranger!
 And we've had so much snow the past couple of years, Uncle Chad and Aunt Ashley helped get the boys prepared with new sleds!
 And Mimi helped them get ready with snow suits and snow suits. LOVE this picture of Caden attempting to trek across the floor in his boots!
 
 Oh My! Mighty Machines DVD's!
  One of Chad and Ashley's gifts from Mom was a personalized book in which Collier was the main character. Truly, a most memorable gift!
 
 The boys were excited to get started watching Mighty Machines...
 And test out their sleds indoors
 
 Mimi also got the boys new ornaments for the Christmas tree in a Star Wars theme this year and Maw-Maw got them some Christmas pajamas (to be seen soon in a separate post :-) And then there was lots of Collier time!
 
 I placed about 20 Christmas books up and down the lower stairs and I walked by once to see Ashley reading to Collier. Such a precious Mommy-Daughter moment! Of course, Ethan wanted to be in the thick of it, too. He completely adores his little cousin!
 
 This year we decided for forgo the big family picture and settled for individual pics.
The Allen's
 The Cannon's
 The Forrester's
 The cousins :-)
 Mimi with the grands
 And Mimi with our family favorite...Love that girl!
 
 That night, we decided to head to see the lights at Lake Lanier. It was a spectacle seeing all of us fit into Mimi's car. The car was LOADED and this picture doesn't even halfway do it justice ;-)
 Although I had hoped we would all go to church on Sunday morning, we decided that a relaxing morning at home would be better. That afternoon while Chad and Ashley were packing up, Mimi showed off her multi-tasking skills. I thought this was awesome!
 After everyone went their separate ways and I was sorting through all of the pictures from the weekend, I found about 20 of these on the camera...
 followed by 15 of these. What a turkey! I think he has a new favorite toy.

No comments: