More Christmas and New Years

Our little Santa baby!

We flew back from Florida the day after Christmas.  The next day (Tues) Zach also had off from work, so we spent that morning picking up the new minivan and the afternoon unpacking from our trip.  Wed Zach was back to work, and that evening we celebrated Christmas with his parents, his sister Kelsey and her new husband Adam, and DeDe his old nanny.  Unfortunately his sister Erin and her family could not join us due to a new baby and a husband that was deploying with the Navy.

One last present from Mommy and Daddy.  The kids are obsessed with Yo Gabba Gabba since the concert

Zach's mom made a nice dinner of ham, turkey, and brisket.  Dinner was yummy, and then we quickly moved on to presents before the kids got too tired.  Charlie and Anna got lots of great stuff to play with, and Zach was really happy to get the Kinect for his XBox.  It was a nice evening with the Collins' family.

Anna opening the most fought after toy between the two, a minivan.  Aunt Kelsey and Uncle Adam did good!

Charlie with Aunt Kelsey

We had Thurs night to relax a little and start packing for our next trip!  We decided to spend New Years at the lake.  Todd, Zach's best friend from college, lives next door and was down there with his wife Ali, his son Ryan, and friend Kelli with her son Henry.  Also, our friends the Riggins stay across the lake (30 sec by boat or 20 min by car) and came down too.

Charlie down by the water

We drove the almost 3 hours down to the lake Friday when Zach got off work Friday night.  The kids played for a bit then went down for a late bed time.  Saturday morning we got a few things done, and then spent the afternoon with all our friends.  There were 6 kids aged 5 and under, and it was so much fun to see them playing.  We lucked out with beautiful weather, so the kids got to spend a lot of time running around outside. 

All the guys in the Jeep!  We are on a private road where no one lives

Ali helping all the kids run down the road

We brought them in for dinner, and then Kelli had the fun idea of letting them celebrate New Years early.  They loved putting on the hats and yelling "Happy New Year" even though they didn't totally get what was going on.  The adults had a great steak dinner (courtesy of Todd and Ali) a little later while the kids all quietly (a miracle!) watched a movie.

Kid dinner

An early celebration!

Movies during adult dinner

Afterward, we had a bonfire out back while the kids drifted off watching cartoons.  By 11:30 everyone was at their own places watching the countdown.  We are getting old!  Sun morning we spent a little more time outside with the Abplanalps and then headed back to KC.  It was a great New Years, and we plan to spend it that way in the future.  

Happy New Years!  Took this screen capture and promptly fell asleep

Tickling the kids.  Zach needs a few more arms I think

We try to get a picture of the kids on the couch each year to see them growing