Christmas 2016: Southwest Adventures

We might not have a white Christmas here in our new state, but there are some serious perks to offset missing out on the snow.  A couple days after Christmas we all went hiking!  After eating all the delicious treats on Christmas Eve and Day, it was nice to get out and get moving.  We have a regional park nearby our house that has a nice little path we can take the stroller on.  (I have to admit we still use the term 'hiking' pretty liberally.  The path we take is a half mile loop.  Sometimes we just do the loop once and it takes almost an hour.  You can see the car pretty much the whole time, but Ben likes to talk about how we are in the wild.  Hiking with a double stroller and a three year old is really just a fancy walk.:P)

Ready to have fun!

Omi, Meo, and Uncle Jared on the trail!

Ben got all the guys to throw a couple of rocks.  He love to do that!

Ben  loved running around with Pat and showing off our hiking trail to Meo, Omi, and Uncle Jared.  Ali and Sammy were pretty happy to be out in the fresh air too.  It seems crazy to me that it was the end of December and the girls were going without socks.  It gets nice and warm in the sun!  With extra adults Pat and I were finally able to actually go up one of the mountains together!  Meo hung out with the girls, Omi walked around with Ben, and Uncle Jared, Pat and I went up!  The view was really beautiful.  I can't wait until the kids are bigger and we can go up even taller mountains!

Meo and Omi taking care of the kids :)

Heading up the mountain!  Uncle Jared kept the holiday spirit alive with is Christmas sweater. :)

Brother and sister at the top!!

These guys are great. :)

Up top with my love!

Sweet babies on the trail.

Gotta stay hydrated in the desert!

Ben was nice and tuckered out after all the running around.  The rest of us got enough activity to feel like we earned another good meal, even if we didn't break a sweat.  I miss the snow around the holidays, but I really do love getting to enjoy outdoor activities with our out of town visitors!

Me and Meo!

One last with my big bro.

-Kim

Christmas 2016: Christmas Day!

After our fun filled Christmas Eve, it was Christmas Day!!!

I had planned to let the kids get up a little early.  (Yes, BW moms are flexible enough to ignore the daily wake time for a good reason.;) ) Of course since I wanted to get the kids up early they actually slept in a bit.  Once they woke up I nursed the girls in their room while Pat kept Ben entertained in his room.  Then we let them out to see if Santa had been there.  And he had! ;)

Santa left a note!!

We spent the first part of the morning opening gifts.  Ben and the girls were so cute!  Ben loved handing out presents and of course opening his own.  He liked to help the girls open theirs, so we had a chance to teach him about letting his sisters' have their own things.  After gifts we did breakfast.  The girls had their first nap, Ben played with his new toys, and the grown ups got ready to head back to Aunt Gail and Uncle Dan's house!

So excited to see the presents!  My happy Christmas boy.

Gotta love the group gifts.  Something for all three!

The girls adored the zoo!  

Buzz and Woody!  Woot!

You have to get two light sabers to fight.  Ben always picks the red one.  Should I be worried?

Uncle Jared got Ben binoculars!  The same ones that were at our old library and Ben missed so much.  Thank you!

The big gift! A motorcycle big wheel!  Ben adores it!

We spent the rest of the day enjoying family and more good food.  Ben once again adored playing with his cousins.  We set up a toy zone in the office for them to play safely.  Ali and Sammy happily went from one set of arms to another.  They really ate up all the attention!  We were smart this time and brought the high chairs so everyone could eat at the same time.  Yes, they are bulky to bring.  But it was so nice to have a place for the girls to eat!  Ben was allowed to skip nap for the holiday.  He did really well with it!  We had a few minutes of being a bit emotional, which I know had to do with being tired and just all the excitement of the days.  But overall I was pleased with how he did and I am happy we know we can let him skip nap from time to time!  The girls were champs and fell asleep in their pack and plays with no problem.  Yes, it was also a bit bulky to bring two pack and plays.  The girls need their own space though.  I am so happy we put the work in to helping them be good nappers.  We brought their sound machine, put them to nap, and they slept like champs for their whole nap!  (BW win!)  We did a grab bag for the adults, and it was so much fun!  The gifts were so funny, I think everyone did a great job!

Feeding the girls was so much easier with the chairs. :)

Ben and Benson rocking their new hats.  I love these little friends!

We stuck Uncle Jared with dinner duty for a bit.  Love having so many helpers! ;)

Kyle sporting his grab bag gift.  Looking good!

It was a great day of talking with family we hadn't seen in a long time.  I am so grateful for the chance to just be with all these people I love so much.  And I want to send a big thank you to everyone who was so generous with the kids!  It means so much to us to know our children have so many people who love them.  (This Christmas and our early Christmas!)

We had a great Christmas!

The crew!  What a wonderful group.  Photo credit: Philipp Schonger

-Kim

Christmas 2016: Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve Day was pretty quiet for us.  Meo, Omi, and Uncle Jared headed to Aunt Gail and Uncle Dan's house early in the day.  They live about an hour away from us, and Evan and Jess live in that area too.  The family that was in town already did lunch together and attended church.  Our five stayed at home to get one last good nap time in before the holiday craziness.  I knew the kids would be up late and napping in different places, so a good quality nap was very important.  After everyone woke up we packed up the van and met up with the rest of the family!

Christmas Eve was spent enjoying good food and good conversation.  Ben adored running around with his cousins Peyton and Benson.  They were so cute!  Ben and Benson just kept running!  They are so funny to watch together.  They giggle and chase each other.  Ben would yell out, "Where is that silly little guy?" and the chase would be on!  Ali and Sammy were a little overwhelmed by all the people, but they warmed up.  I think they really enjoyed being held so much.  Ali took advantage and played shy, putting her head in my neck and smiling.  She loves when I hold her.  Sammy liked hanging out with Omi.  They sat and watched the action together.

We did learn a few things on this outing.  We didn't bring any high chairs or anything for the girls.  When Ben was this age we would just hold him if we were out without a high chair.  I thought maybe we could do the same with the girls.  Yeah.... doing that with twins is a little harder.  I forgot that part of what worked was that we took turns feeding Ben and eating ourselves.  Both girls needing to eat took a lot of attention.  We actually ended up having them sit on the floor with a bowl of cheerios after they had eaten their other food.  We brought the high chairs after that.  Oh well, they didn't seem to mind.  We also learned that Sammy really likes prime rib.  (I hope she doesn't think that will be a common meal, these kids eat a lot!:) )

We didn't get to hang out too late.  The kids were tired, we had a long drive home, and we had to prep for Santa!  Once we got home we put Ali and Sammy right to bed.  We check Santa's location and he was only a couple of hours away!  We got Ben to bed and got everything ready for Christmas morning.  Christmas is just more and more fun each year.  Ben was super excited for Santa to come!  We wrote a note to Santa and Ben wanted to write his own.  We left out the cookies and carrots (for Rudolph of course).  Then off to bed to rest up for another fun day!!!

These kids were busy all night!  So much playing!

Sammy liked hanging with Omi

Ali thought it was pretty fun too!

Pat and Sammy, eating up the prime rib!

Ali and me!  She was digging the mashed potatoes.

We gave up and gave them cheerios on the floor.  Benson had a few too. :)

Three cuties!!  I love their little table.

We tried to get good pictures of the big three...  tough to do.

Most of the crew!!

It was such a fun night!  I wish I could have spent more time talking with everyone, but the kids still need a lot of attention.  Ali and Sammy were adorable and let everyone love on them.  Ben had so much fun with his cousins.  We were all so excited for Christmas fun the next day.  Every year Christmas with the kids gets better.  It was so fun to have the girls to celebrate with this year.  Ben just gets more and more of what is going on and really believes.  I love making the magic happen for him.  We are working on the Jesus aspect of the day.  We sang happy birthday to Jesus and talked about.  But honestly, Santa kind of took the spotlight this year.  I know we need to work on that, but we have time.  At least the kids are seeing that the holidays are about family and love.  And we had plenty of that!

-Kim

Christmas 2016: Play time

We had a great first Christmas here in our new home!!  We were so happy that Meo, Omi, and Uncle Jared were able to make the trip out here to see us.  We were bummed we didn't get to see Pat's side of the family.  But budget and time off allowances meant we had to stay here.  But with every downside there is an upside- this was the first time my whole side of the family had been together for Christmas in, well, in at least ten years.  The last time we were all together was before Ben was even born!  Just getting to all be together was wonderful, and we had a really great time.

Meo and Omi got to town first.  Pat had to work all the way up until Christmas Eve, so the Friday before Christmas we hit up the indoor play place!  It was just as much fun as the first time we went.  Ali and Sammy were super into it, and Ben adored running around and showing Meo and Omi all the fun things to do!

Ben loves all the climb on structures!

Omi was very busy- holding Ali and pushing Ben in the car.

Ben doesn't like riding the mini roller coasters, but he does love setting them  up!

Ali was digging the snuggle time.  Sammy just wanted to play!

Of course Ben had to ride Thomas. :)

I love these two playing together!!

Such a sweet sight.

Omi was a great train player

My girls and me!!

These girls were go go go!

Bounce house!

This kid is such a hoot.

Sammy and Ali adored these balls.  They chased them all around the place!

Watch out!  Babies on the track!

"I exercise like Mommy!"  He's so cute!

Ben had so much fun.  He loves this place and plays on everything.  The girls were so cute chasing the balls around!  They thought those were the best.  It was the perfect way to spend some time on Meo and Omi's first day.  Plenty of play time and tons of fun!

-Kim