New Year's and Farewell dancing

We spent New Year's Eve at my parents' place.  It was fun to have a little sister time.

 The boys didn't make it to midnight, but we did do a little partying complete with awesome blinking necklaces from Grandma!  As always, the best part is being with my little fam!

Happy 2013!

On New Year's Day we made one last trip to the Chandler home.  While we were there, they pulled out the Boogie Monster book we gave them last year.

 After reading the book the dancing began!

Such a great trip!  Best fam and in-laws IN THE WORLD!

Despite a tight layover and a grumpy toddler, our trip back to Chicago was a little smoother than our earlier travels.  It's nice to be home but we already miss our extended family.  The boys tell me how much they miss their cousins almost every day.  Thanks to Skype and Voxer we've been able to stay in touch. But there's just no place like Idaho :)

Double the fun

Now that we have two sisters married to two brothers, we have a better excuse to get both families together!  So we did just that.  After going to see the movie Les Miserables, we met up with both families for dinner.  It was so fun to have everyone together.

Someone decided Richelle needed a belated birthday dinner so she was totally surprised when the servers came out with the birthday hat and sang the worst birthday song ever.  Seriously, it was a choir of tone-deaf singers -- made for a great laugh.

 And everyone enjoyed trying on the birthday hat.

 I have really cute boys!

 Isn't this little face the best?! 

I am so blessed to have the best family and the best in-laws!  And we get to see both when we visit Idaho.  LOVE IT!

Idaho Snow

Chicago is breaking records with the lack of snow this year.  Luckily, we got our fill while we were in Idaho.

Aunt Lauren was such a trooper to head out with the grandkids...

 ...and create this beautiful snowman!

We also got the chance to head up to Hailey, ID to spend the day with my sister Kamie.

The drive up was beautiful!

 We had to borrow snow gear, therefore, Caleb got to be a pink marshmallow for the day.  Completed with purple boots.  He'd make a really cute girl!

 Luke was so great with him!

 We sledded right in Kamie's front yard!

I LOVE this picture of Brittany and Wesley.  Look at their faces ---- priceless!

 Such a beautiful winter day with my boys!

 Kamie is always such a marvelous hostess!

 Luke was pretty excited when he got the tractor/snow plow running!

Winter fun and family -- doesn't get any better than that!

Christmas Day

Christmas morning was so fun.  Here's our little pile of presents.

 The Chandler house is always kind of like the North Pole.  

 The big boys got some fun Legos and they each got new shoes.  They had lots of fun tearing open the packages.

 Caleb slept a little longer and then discovered his two little presents -- all that sweet boy needed :)

 After naps we headed over to my parents' place for dinner and a little time with cousins.

 There were a couple more presents to be opened too.

 I just like this picture :)

 We've never before been able to share the Christmas celebrations with Kamie's family.  So fun to have them around!!!

 The buddies back together!

Merry Christmas!!!

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve was a very long day for our family.  We woke up at 3:30 AM in order to get to to the airport on time for a 6:00 AM flight. 

 Unfortunately, one of our flight attendants decided not to show up and our 6:00 AM flight turned into a 7:00 AM flight causing us, and everyone on the plane, to miss our connecting flight.

 I don't think I want to remember all the details of getting stranded in Denver on Christmas Eve.  Let's just say we were very excited when we finally found a plane, on a different airline, that could get us to Boise - even though we were supposed to go to Salt Lake. The boys were so exhausted, they all fell asleep pretty soon after boarding our flight--a major blessing! 

 Wesley was pretty excited to see Buster Bronco waiting for us at the airport in Boise.

 A beautiful sunset on our drive to Twin Falls helped me forget the crazy day and get excited for the festivities ahead.

 We pulled into town just before 7 PM and were greeted by the whole crew.  So fun!

 We ate and got right to the Christmas jammies.

 It was so cute to see all the grandkids ready for the annual pajama parade. 

 Let the fun begin!

 Woo!

 The cousins had so much fun!!

 Eventually we toned things down, singing Christmas songs and reading the Christmas story.  Dillon even played a song for us.

 It was a long, but wonderful, day.  We were so happy we made it home for the holidays!

Pre-Christmas Moments

For the first time in 17 years, our ward didn't put on a live outdoor nativity, and instead had a traditional Christmas party.  The boys were excited when they got picked to be in the children's nativity for that night.  Wesley was THE CUTEST innkeeper in the world.   I was mad I didn't video his acting job as he shook his head that there was no room, but then guided Mary and Joseph to the stable. Priceless.

 Dillon played a pretty good wise man as well.  They were both so excited to be involved.

 All the kids did such a great job!

 Aaron and I also got to sing some traditional Austrian Christmas folk songs with an Austrian sister in our ward. I kind of butchered the German, but still had a lot of fun pretending to know what I was singing about :)

 I helped with Dillon's Holiday party at school. Fun to get to know the kids better and see Dillon interact with his classmates.

 A little elf found our house this year. The kids named him Eddy.

 A few days before we left for Idaho, he brought this note, letting us know one present would be arriving early.

The next day, this was waiting for the boys.

They were pretty excited to get downstairs to see what Eddy brought.

 Inside the packages they found the book "Polar Express" and a model train to go around the tree.

 Dillon was so excited!  This is actually what he asked Santa for, but it'll be a present the whole family will enjoy every holiday season.

  I have lots of catching up to do, so bear with me as I work to get up to date.  Happy New Year to everyone!