My brother and his family flew from CO to be with the MN family for a week. They have 3 boys, a 3 1/2 year old and 1 1/2 year old twins. Yes, we had 7 young boys living in our house for a week! It was crazy at times, messy at times (or most of the time!), loud and obnoxious at times, but there were also plenty of moments of cousins playing and laughing together and aunts and uncles playing with a niece and nephews who they don't get to see often enough. When my sister and her family and my parents came over, we were a cozy group of 17. Not to miss out on any of the action, my oldest sister, Heather, surprised all of us and showed up the day after Christmas and spent 4 days in MN with everyone. It's always special to have the original Smith clan together.
We had zero snow on the ground for Christmas this year which was disappointing in some aspects, but kept my mudroom dry and clutter free. We were able to get outside on some milder days and play on the swingset and trampoline, took a night walk to the park, and enjoyed a Christmas day walk to the school playground.
Christmas Eve:
*Candlelight church service together
*Chicken Wild Rice Soup, salad and bread at Holly's, followed by a delicious plate of various Christmas goodies and opening of stocking stuffers
Christmas Day:
*Individual families had their own Christmas time before everyone met at our house for brunch. Some highlights include an early morning solo run for me, Brian spilling a gallon of milk and the boys sleeping in until 8:30!
How we spent our days:
*Trip to Mall of America and the Aquarium - it was spendy, but very cool! My brother, myself and Ben did the ropes course at the theme park, and Luke and I made it to the very top gangplank!
*Trip to The Blast - indoor play area. Overall this was better than expected...not too crowded and very inexpensive! All the kids could run, run, run!
*Lots of "Just Dance" on the Wii. Even Nana and Papa got in on the action.
*The dads and Ben did a lot of basketball shooting on Ben's birthday basketball gift.
*The dads and papa hit Lifetime to burn off some calories
*The moms did lots of outdoor running together, and we even introduced Katy to Tabata.
*Shopping
*Lots and lots of good food!
After everyone left, my parents spent their 44th anniversary helping us clean, take down Christmas decorations, making beds and vacuuming. We really appreciated the help and you wouldn't even know we had had a houseful of guests.
Today, New Year's Eve, has been a slow and nice family day. We spent time playing with the boys and some of their new gifts. It's calm and mild here today, and we got outside to get the lights off the house, jumped on the tramp, played basketball and catch and went on a walk together. We've ordered pizza for supper and we'll enjoy a night at home with games and a movie. We'll see if anyone makes it until midnight or not.
We have been abundantly blessed in 2011 and we are so thankful for our family and friends.
Happy New Year to you !
**I'm embarrassed to admit it, but I did not take even ONE picture this past week. : (
