Christmas

We had a great Christmas.  Christmas with kids is the greatest thing there is. They love every little thing about it which makes it so much fun for us.  Leading up to the big day we did a few fun activities.  We built gingerbread houses, saw Santa, made Christmas cookies and listened to our fair share of Christmas music. Building gingerbread houses was hilarious.  As you can see in the pictures, Jack mostly just dipped his candy in frosting and then ate it.  His house broke within 5 minutes, but he was perfectly content to just eat. I loved how seriously Livi took it.  

Jason arrived Christmas Eve afternoon and Phil's parents drove down from Boston.  Christmas Eve about 6pm, they called and said their car started smoking about 30 minutes away from us and they had to pull over and stop the car.  Phil and Jason went to pick them up and wait for the tow truck.  So, I'll admit, Christmas Eve I put the kids to bed and was all alone feeling pretty sorry for myself.  Knowing that my family was all together eating a delicious feast and having a rip roaring good time.  I finished wrapping presents and was about to go to bed when they all got back.  Nano and Zeus brought a car FULL of toys.  So we stayed up pretty late helping them wrap and assembling the kids big presents.  Once everyone got there it was great and I stopped feeling sorry for myself.  We gave Livi and Jack a few presents, but I'm pretty sure Nano and Zeus gave them 20.   

Livi's excitement Christmas morning was priceless. She couldn't believe how many presents there were and that Santa had actually come!  After opening presents we cleaned up and while the kids played/napped, Phil Jason and I watched the most recent Batman.  Not a very good Christmas movie, but I loved it. Alexis, Jason's girlfriend then, now fiance, flew in Christmas afternoon.  We got to meet her for the first time and couldn't be happier for Jason.  We loved her and I'm SO excited to have her as a sister in law.  We had a traditional Hofer Christmas meal based around funeral potatoes, ham, and rolls with a no bake cherry cheesecake for dessert. 

 Even though this is way too bright, I love this picture.

 I love what's happening in the back ground

 Let it be known, that I, ME-most horrible crafter/sewer ever, made that tree skirt.

 first glimpse of the loot

 Livi clinging to her Dream lite, the one thing she really really wanted.

 such a good dad

 since Alexis got in in the afternoon, we had two sessions of opening presents.

For New Years we met up with a bunch of friends at Chuy's then went back to Troy and Marielle's and had a dance off on the Wii.  So fun.  We popped open the sparking cider at 9 so we could get home and put the kids to bed.  Then we watched movies until 1:30.  Jason thought we were really lame for barely acknowledging midnight. Happy New Year!!!!

P.S. My brother got engaged to Brighton right after Christmas and Jason got engaged right after also.  They are both getting married in May and we couldn't be happier for them!

Here is a little article about Jason's proposal:
http://hoh.rollcall.com/flake%E2%80%99s-big-week/

November Recap

We had a wonderful event filled November.  Most importantly we celebrated Thanksgiving with awesome family and friends.  Phil's parents came into town and we also had several friends over.  We had 13 adults and 9 kids (although two of those were babies). I love celebrating holidays with lots of people.  Probably a product of growing up with 7 brothers and sisters.  The kids had their own tables. Instead of trying to figure out chairs for all of them, we decided to let them stand since they get up all the time anyway.  Jenni made adorable little turkey name cards for everyone.  The food was delicious and it was a fabulous holiday.

 Julie, Doug, Pablo, (Jordan's friend from Argentina,) Jordan, Emily, Jenni, Ryan, Lisa and Phil's parents. we're missing: Phil, Eric and me

 Livi and her BFF Julia.  I love the way these two play together.

 Eric was a good sport and played with kids.  He was trying to distract them because the boys kept taking lemons off the tree and throwing them into the pond.

 One Sunday morning Phil went outside and spotted a huge heron hanging out on our roof.

he was trying to see if he ate any fish.

 we walked around market street with Phil's parents.  The kids loved the splash pad all lit up.  They were drenched to the bone by the time we left.

 the square had a beautiful Christmas tree with a light show.

 Livi and Jack helped Phil wash the car.  And again ended up soaked.

trying to use our abundance of lemons.  Making lemon popsicles!