'Twas the Night Before Christmas (and a few days before)!

Mimi was my hero and got up with the boys Monday morning...at 4:45am!  Ouch!  It was a combo of the one-hour time change (always causes our boys more of a problem than it seems it should) and them sleeping in the same room.  The Buerstattes coming over to hang out was the first order of business!!!  We played at the house for a while and then headed over to Big Herms for lunch :)  In the afternoon we headed out to Cary to see Auntie Abbey and Uncle Dan's new house!!!  Auntie Dale, Auntie Kelly, Ryleigh and Brooklyn came too, so we had a great time visiting and eating dinner (as always!)!

We knew the weather was only going to get colder while we were in town, so we took advantage of the sunny morning yesterday to do a little geocaching.  It was chilly, but nice to get some fresh air!  For dinner we went to Hackneys to hear the carolers--high school singers dress in traditional wassail clothing and travel throughout the restaurant singing Christmas songs.  They are SO fun to watch, especially for the boys!

 Bampa and Jackson enjoying some treats  :)

 This was taken at lunch.  Graham barely ate yesterday or today, and he was running a fever by bedtime.  Poor little guy :(

 "Helping..."

 Christmas Eve dinner for Jackson and Graham while watching "How the Grinch Stole Christmas!"  I made egg nog last night, so we could leave some for Santa, and the boys helped me make Choc-Oat Chip Cookies to go with it this morning :)  After the boys went to bed, we grown-ups had delicious turkey, salami, mac-n-cheese, cinnamon jell-o, sweet potato casserole, homemade biscuits and green beans.  Lemon bars and Oreo Truffle Brownies for dessert :)

 Graham perked up after a bath and in time for presents :)

 It's been a tradition to open the presents from Karol and Brad on Christmas Eve, so that's what we have continued doing!  The boys also opened their presents from our cousins in California on Dad's side :)

 This was such a cool Lego set!  The back of the truck opens to hold a Lego race car, and there are a few minifigs to make up a pit crew, complete with tools!

 Our personal entertainer :)

 New racers!

 A pro at unwrapping!

 More Legos!

 A gift from Amazon!

Trying out his brother's 3-D glasses!

We had a fun evening opening a few presents ourselves and getting ready for the morning...!

Penny's First Road Trip, Hanging out with Conners, Meeting Olivia, and Evanston FINALLY!

I was SO proud of myself for getting everything packed and loaded in the car so we could leave on time: 3am Saturday morning!!!  The boys slept some more in the car, and then we started a pretty good travel day of snacking, movies, books and toys.  We had a fun stop at a Chick fil a in Ohio for lunch and powered through the last few hours before arriving at the Conners!!!

We were SOOO happy to arrive for lots of reasons, but this sweet face was #1!  Miss Olivia May :)

Everyone was excited to hold her :)

Graham LOVED the "bay-bee" and holding her!

I put myself on baby-holding duty while all of the kids played together and Josh was able to finally relax after a ridiculous work schedule AND driving us part-way overnight all the way to Indy--everyone wins!  ;)

I suppose this is what life would look like if we had one more...  Good thing we aren't finding out!

There was some fun game playing!

More baby holding

And, Christmas cookie baking!

Katie was a brave woman, and she gave each of the kids a little mound of dough to "roll out" to then use a cookie cutter with.  It was pretty funny!

CHEESE!

All of the kids were asleep, and I happily continued my baby-holding duties :)

Right back at it in the morning!

This was the cutest!

We bribed the kids with present-opening and ice cream at lunch to get a nice picture :)

Caleb (3 1/2), Lexi (5), Graham (2 1/2), Paige (7 1/2), Jackson (6), Olivia (1 month)

So excited it was his turn :)

Ice cream faces!

Quite pleased with his own cone!

LOVE baby faces!

Pretty tree at Mom and Dad's!

 Vacation in Chicago officially commences: Lou Malanti's while wearing bacon pants :)

Hanukkah, Oh Hanukkah!

We celebrated Hanukkah a bit early, so we could enjoy all eight nights before our trip.  Jackson learned the entire prayer this year and loved lighting the candles!  

Night #1: Slippers!

Graham loves his actual slippers, but does not enjoy wearing them...yet.  I bet once it gets colder, I will convince him...

On the first night of (our) Hanukkah, we also opened the presents Jackson chose for us at the Holiday Shoppe at school!  He chose a football keychain for Josh, a pretty "gold" ring with a pink stone for me, and a basketball squishy ball for Graham.  Such thoughtful choices--I was really proud of his shopping!  He was really proud of his choices and so excited for us to open them!

Our 8th night of Hanukkah!

Cute brothers :)

Fitting it All In!

 After Mimi and Bampa left, we got to work on the trees!  Josh and I have a tradition that just started itself, and we love it: we put up the trees (yes, we have two--this house is fabulous for Christmas decorations!) and decorate with lights while listening to Christmas music after the kids are in bed!  Then, I let Jackson help decorate the tree with all of our special ornaments--I love showing them to him and telling their stories.  Maybe next year Graham will get to help...  Graham was fascinated by the train Josh set up around the tree in our front room!

 Doing some hard-core coloring!

We hit up ZooLights and had a gorgeous evening for it!  We also ended up going with the Carrillos, who we always have a great time with!

 Jackson was all about taking pictures with all animal statues--I have trained him well ;)

 Three "hood"lums after dinner at Noodles and Company :)

 Bedtime cuteness :)

 A totally unprompted and adorable letter to Santa: Dear Santa, Please can I have a walkie talkie for Christmas?  Love, Jackson  The picture is of a tree and for Santa and Sal (our elf).

 We celebrated Josh's birthday a few days early with a date night with the Yanceys to Flight Trampoline Park and dinner at Yard House!  The guys tried three different beers each, and Susie liked one so much she ordered her own!

 Happy 34th to my bearded mountain man of a hubby :)

 Jackson was THRILLED to visit Santa!  Graham, not so much :(

 Graham WAS thrilled with his special reindeer cookie from Mrs. K. at library storytime!  She is THE BEST, and we love our Wednesday storytimes :)

Jackson's Gingerbread House from school!

It's just about time to hit the road for the rest of the holiday celebration fun in Evanston!!!