Gingerbread House

In hitting the after Christmas sales there were gingerbread houses to decorate at 75% off which gave a great acitivity for some kiddos to do at New Years!

Waiting for the New Year

Gabie was so sweet the way she fell asleep on New Year's Eve all perched up over the side of the bunk (yes we moved her after taking this picture).

New Year's Eve

trying to do a group pic with kids and animals proves harder then one would think

These holidays are exhausting!

Eliya and Belle snuggling

Elijah and Lydia loved our kitties!

Enjoying the wii

Piggy-Back

Rachel and Travis became good buddies while they were here - she kept asking for him after they left! We also spent the evening enjoying the Nebraska game tonight - Go Huskers!!!! It was a fun night to wind down our week with the family.

Hanging Out

On Monday the guys headed to Wausaw to pick up our car that had been towed there last week. The girls stayed in Stevens Point to see The Princess and the Frog. Although I enjoyed the movie I wouldnt' recommend it for young children - too much dark voodoo stuff in it (I was a bit disappointed with that part of it). On Tuesday nana and papa stayed home to babysit and Travis, Stephanie, Mark and I went out to supper and went bowling - so much fun! The rest of the day was spent just hanging out.

Nana and Papa came too

Gabie wii-ing
Eliya and Travis wii-ing

Rachel checking out her new dolls

The twins with their stroller (gracie and mikenna)

presents!

Eliya opening some doll clothes

Gabie showing off her matching jammies with Jenna (the doll)

It was nice having some extra hands in church this morning! We then enjoyed some more wii while waiting to go to the airport again to pick up Nana and Papa. Even thought their flights were delayed the girls insisted we stay up and open presents that night (surprise! - ha!). So we enjoyed another present opening time and the girls got all kinds of American Girl doll stuff - mostly matching outfits for them and their dolls. And Rachel got the Bitty Baby twins including stroller! She was SO excited! Let's hope her love for playing with babies carries over when Dot arrives.

WII!!!

When it's too cold to play outside these are the days we are so thankful for our wii! We had a lot of fun playing all kinds of games and laughing at (and with) each other.

Christmas with the Pittocks

waiting to open presents
Stephanie and Travis

Mark passing out the goods

opening up the goods

"daddy, please help me."

Yay for My Little Ponies!

We had a late Christmas dinner, opened some presents and watched the new Star Trek movie(after the kids went to bed) to celebrate Christmas with Stephanie and Travis after they got in. It's nice to have an airport so close to pick them up at. They did get delayed in Detroit however due to their flight crew being held up in customs...

http://www.myfoxdetroit.com/dpp/news/local/airline-bomb-attack-foiled-over-detroit-metro-airport

But thankfully this had nothing to do with their flights just delayed them a bit. We were happy that they made it safely and that the temp stayed warm enough for the ice to hold off after raining all day long.

Nap Time

Christmas Day is a great day to sneak in a nap!

Santa Came!

All Rachel asked Santa for was a Dora - she wouldn't sit on his lap, but yelled to him from where I was holding her that, "I want Dora!" I guess he got the message - ha!

Gabie is into My Little Ponies this year, which cracks Stephanie and I up since we were into the same thing at her age - what a come back they made this year!

Eliya asked Santa for "a Mermaid Barbie just like Kirstie's" glad he knew what she was talking about! :)

Christmas Eve

passing out presents

Where's my presents???? (actually Max did get some dog bone/treats - which he loved so much it was gone before we were done opening presents.

The 3 Musketeers dolls that we finally found (yay!)

helping mom open presents

Eliya opening a present

Eliya LOVED her new jewelry box (complete with makeup!) from her sisters

Gabie and Elie exchanging hugs for their gifts to each other (new jewelry boxes)

Tinker enoyed her new toy from the Andrews

Rachel got a new Dora book from Grandma and Grandpa Moldenhauer

opening the dishes

Here are the girls styling with their presents from both great grandparents - the adorable outfits are from great Grandma and Grandpa Gruhn and the new plates and bowls are from great Grandma and Grandpa Haase - thanks!!!

The girls opening their 'kid' board games Candy Land and Chutes and Ladders

Gabie helping mom open her wii fit - thanks Mark!!!

Eliya with her doll wardrobe from aunt Pat.

Gabie really wanted Barbie the 3 Musketeers movie and then each of them wanted (a specific color!) doll w/pony from the movie. I'm sure you're all surprised that Gabie wanted the purple one. Here she is watching the movie with her new friends from the movie.

Sitting and taking it all in.

Our tradition on Christmas Eve has been to sleep out in the living room all together as a family. So after church we had a nice evening of watching a movie and snuggling together. The girls FINALLY fell asleep so Santa could come. Merry Christmas to all - and to all a good night!

Weird Sleeping Places Continued....

Although you can't really see it with all the blakets around her she is sitting inside a little plasic book tub - I have no idea how she even fit in there!