The day after my side of the family's Christmas, Thursday December 27th, we kept it pretty chill. Literally. Nathan pulled all the little kids around the back yard since it was finally snowing (two days after Christmas).
Up and down the stairs he went.
That's one packed sled.
Nathan worked really hard out there entertaining those littles.
Meanwhile the rest of us were inside, warm and cuddly...
...or wishing they were inside.
When Nathan wore out he proceeded to lead the kids in shoveling the snow off the deck. Good job Theo.
I like how you can see Elin licking her melting buggers and Samuel's hat on sideways.
Good little workers.
Screamin Elin.
Atta boy Ezra.
Terry and Noah were attempting to defeat the Wii game of Tanks like he had years ago. They tried again and again but just couldn't make it happen.
There now, Luna was finally warm and happy.
Nathan was still outside with Theo and Ezra. He had shoveled the entire back yard to make a pile of snow for the boys to play in.
Pretty big pile too! However, a month and a half later, it's currently a huge pile of ice and it probably won't melt until April. 😂 Not to mention all of the hundreds of pine needles that we neglected to rake up last fall...
I thought all of the adult's mugs pushed into the middle of the island was funny.
Nathan finally came inside and then laid down to play with Elin and her new magnatiles.
Cute Quinnie eating lunch.
The boys were closeted in Evie's room with the cardboard table so they could put their Legos together safely without little Elin hands messing it all up.
Samuel loved his Ninjago castle thing.
That night we had Steph and Steve over for dinner (Ana made beef stroganoff!) and to just hang out.
The next day, Friday the 28th, Terry and I left the house for a bit to take Samuel and Ezra to their best buddy, Zach's, birthday party at the Nerf Zone in the mall.
I got to give Quinn her bottle later that afternoon. That evening the girls, Steve, and my mom went to Fantastic Beasts The Crimes of Grindewald while Nathan (who'd seen it) and Terry stayed home with the kids. It was so nice to get out of the house.
Nathan and Ana had to leave after a week on Saturday the 29th. Noah loves the babies!
Samuel cornering Theo for a hug.
Got a pretty good photo of them right before they walked out the door.
Right away after they left, the tree came down. After a week of chaos, though it was fun, I was ready for clean.
And the kitty was ready for some fun! He went outside and caught himself a pretty little bird to keep himself entertained.
The day after this it was snowing again and Trouncer was out there playing with his bird again. I thought he had eaten it by then but no. It's probably still under all the ice from Nathan's snow pile.
Next up was putting together the gift that had to wait until there was no cousins present to rip it apart or choke on the pieces. Ha!
The kids got the mother of all marble machines from my side of the family.
Steph and Steve went to church with us on Sunday and then she and I went to wander around Target because what else is there to do when it's frozen outside.
We had done the same thing when she was last here in 2015.
We were pretty tempted to buy fun underwear for our husbands. 😂😆
The day after, New Year's Eve, Steph and Steve were supposed to fly out but had their flight cancelled due to a snow storm. Terry also cancelled his NYE party he had planned at the church. We didn't even get to see Steph and Steve that day despite them still being there because the weather was so bad. But I'm super thankful we got to see them both for Christmas. So since we couldn't leave the house, the kids and Terry played outside and Trouncer and I snuggled.
Terry helped the littles make the snow pile into a four way tunnel! And that was the end of 2018 and our family Christmas.
