A New Day

Today is indeed a new day. After writing that post yesterday, it seemed as if this huge weight was lifted off of my shoulder. Steve was amazed when he came home from work yesterday and saw me smiling. He was actually shocked. He said he couldn't believe the difference in how I looked versus the past week. All of a sudden, I started thinking about things in a more clear manner and I am free to start enjoying the holidays.

Last Saturday we had our family Christmas with my parents. These gatherings are always so much fun because the cousins really do adore each other. All of them. They are so lucky to have so many cousins all within the same age range and I love that they are friends, not "just cousins".

When we got there, I wanted to make sure to get a picture off all 12 of the cousins together with my parents and I was so happy that everyone was willing to help we wrangle it together. Of course when you try to get 12 kids, ages one month to 17 years old in one picture, there are going to be challenges getting everyone to look forward, smile, and (as in the case of some goofy boys, Noah included) some less than ideal facial expressions. But I think the final one turned out pretty good.



After Aaron's birthdayy party when all of the cousins had fun jumping in the bean bag chair he had gotten, my parents decided to get bean bags for the rest of the kids who didn't have them. On the way there, Steve and I had wondered where they were going to hide all of those bean bags. We didn't have to wonder too long. I laughed when I saw them all stuffed high in the bath tub waiting for the appropriate time.











When it came time for gifts, the kids got so excited when my dad started bringing out the bean bags one at a time for them. They looked so cute all sitting in them together. Immediately after, the kids started picking up their bags and carrying them to different rooms in the house. Noah took his downstairs to watch a movie. He has loved it all week long as well and I think it was definitely the perfect gift for him.






This year was also "The Year Of the Lego". Every boy got at last one set of legos and they were eager to begin to build right away.

Noah found a corner and set to work right away. He needed a little bit of help finding pieces, but in general, he is really good at reading the directions and putting them together. He played with his fire engine the rest of the day and every day since he has wanted to show me all of its special features.














Aaron and my nephew are a little bit younger and wanted to play with their legos, but aren't quite as adept at putting them together yet. That's where the moms come in. My SIL and I got to work on the sets for those boys. I have to admit, I actually like putting them together when there's a plan. I am just not a creative person to come up with ideas on my own.






After they had played, eaten lots of yummy food and treats it was bath time. The favorite time of day when visiting Grandma's House. Aaron and my niece started out the party followed by almost every kid in turn afterward. My parents always get the kids pajamas so I had to take a picture of the cousins all snuggly warm in their new pjs before the fun day ended. Half of them were watching a movie at the time so it was kind of hard to get them to look at the camera, but I still thought they looked cute with their arms around each other.



It really was a great Christmas celebration and I left feeling as if we really had celebrated Christmas Day. I woke up Sunday morning with the usual let down I feel when Christmas is over, only to realize that we still had two more weeks before the real day. It feels like one more little gift...a longer Christmas season in a way.

This week is a little crazy with last minute preparations as well as a whole bunch of extra activities to make up for the three snow days the boys had last week. I am looking out my window at a very light dusting of snow coming down and it is beautiful. It's gonna be a great day!