New Year's Eve

We hosted the annual New Year's Eve party again this year.  

A big hit of laughs was the white elephant gift exchange.  

Dad got his turn early on.  Rebecca steered him to choose a specific gift.  Now remember, this is a true white elephant gift exchange.  I'm not sure why you would actually pick the gift someone was steering you towards, especially if that someone was Rebecca.  She chose this gift specifically for him.

If you know my Dad, you know how much he dislikes (that's a nice word) Obama.

Miriam managed to get a box full of her cousin's old stuffed animals.  Thanks cousins.

Rebecca got Jared's special 40th birthday gift of depends.

 Our good friends, the Riches, braved the family fun with us.

 We played games and ate food and partied all the way to midnight, even Eliza and Gemma made it.

Here's to a Happy 2016!

Post-Christmas

As tradition follows, many of the local family went to my Dad's favorite restaurant, Lambert's Cafe, for his birthday.  

  

  

Lambert's is close to Branson, so we had also planned to make our last visit to Silver Dollar City and see the Christmas lights. 

Remember how I talked about the beautiful warm weather?  Unfortunately it left for a few days.  And got really cold.  It was so cold almost all the rides were all closed (even the small kiddie rides).  We didn't quite make it to dark to see the lights, but we managed to have a little fun in the freezing cold. 

A family photo, we're all there!

  

Later in the week we went to the Amazeum with Jody's family and my sister, Sara.  I think we may have overwhelmed Sara with the crowds of crazy kids.

Christmas Day

And the most anticipated part of the holidays, Christmas morning.

I have to admit, I have a lot of fun on Christmas with my kids.  I may get more excited than them (though I do not portray it in the same crazy manner).  It is so much fun to watch their excitement.   Miriam's wide eyes when she comes in our room exclaiming "there's a car in our living room!!"

Dallin may be a little sleepy-eyed, but he was super excited about the train table. 

Miriam has to pose for her pictures.  The Lego sets she asked for from Santa.

Eliza loved her new kid sister doll.  I made the mistake of telling the girls, "see look, your doll is a birthday doll and yours is a ballet doll."  That stuck with them, and even though I have tried to persuade them otherwise, they have named their dolls, "Birthday" and "Ballet."  I worry for their future children and what their names might be...

The much anticipated and hoped-for Kindle.  Miriam's teacher at school allows them to bring their own device to school for certain activities.  She hasn't stopped asking for one since.

Yay!  I managed to surprise Stan. Janet, Rebecca, Anne, Jody and I surprised our hubbies with an all-day fishing trip on Beaver Lake with a professional crew.

Stan's other exciting new toy was his flying toy thing.  

The weather was warm and beautiful and the kids took their new ride for a spin.  Eliza did take a turn driving, and unfortunately Stan and I turned away for a moment and she ran into the hollow-aluminum post on our new patio.  Oops.  Now there is a lovely dent to remind us of this memorable day.

I got a robotic vacuum (which I LOVE) and a new lens for my camera.  The rest of these shots are with the new lens.  Pretty sharp.

Stan and Braden went outside to race their remote control vehicles.  Stan's flying thing against Braden's car, not really a fair fight.

A fun-filled day with the family.  

And here's what a real attempt looks like to take a picture of all three of my kids at once.