It's a wrap, 2016....

It's a new year with lots of fun new happenings this past month.  They say a picture is worth a thousand words so to get myself started back in the blogging world,  I hope you'll accept my pictures and blurbs in place of the thousands and thousands of words it would take....

Our tree... not quite perfect and seemingly leaning left or right but just enough to add the Christmas cheer we all desire.  It would be safe to say that each branch was a bit to heavy, adorning upwards of 2-3 ornaments and to our amazement, only one branch broke.  We loved the tree well this year...

We took the kids out of school a tad bit early one Friday afternoon just prior to Christmas.  A spontaneous idea of heading to Yankee Candle with Auntie Laura, Andrew, Grammie and Dziadzu.  You'll never guess who we bumped into.. Santa and Mrs. Clause.  After about an hour wait, it was our turn.  All four boys approached, seemingly fearless.  For better or worse, Santa informed Jake that he couldn't bring a real fish because water freezes in the North Pole (way to kill a little boys dreams, Santa) and shared some realism with Chris that he wouldn't be able to get a real cell phone unless he had a job to pay for the monthly data.  Who knew Santa could be such a Debbie Downer?!? We did score some pretty cute pictures if I do say so myself though!

In keeping last years traditions alive we allowed the boys to "shop" for one another.  There's a great store called Five Below where everything is $5 or less.  Decisions are tough but the gifts were well thought out.  Aiden and Chris bought each other small plastic sports arcade games and bought Jake a sour gummy kit and robotic car.  Jake bought both of the boys Star Wars note pads and golf t's (similar but different of course)

We were all excited about heading to Mamie and Grandpa's for our annual Christmas Eve dinner and present exchange.  Unfortunately for this tike, he was down and out with the flu and slept the day away.  Thankful that he got a second wind and was able to enjoy much of Christmas Day!

Uncle Danny visited from Florida!  He gifted the boys with some mighty fun (and loud) electric guitars so they've been rocking and rolling and jamming away.  We had an awesome time catching up and even snuck in a hike with Dan and Dziadzu before he headed back to sunny Florida. Isn't it weird to see barren ground at the end of December?

A bit out of order but I'm still adjusting to this new blogging platform so my apologies.  This little guy had a blast in his preschool Christmas play where he dressed as one of Santa's reindeer.  He may have been slightly distracted waving much of the time but he couldn't have been any cuter!

Christmas morning was spent at home (and will have a separate post of it's own) and Christmas afternoon by traditional was at Grammie and Dziadzu's.  The sun was shinning and we even snuck out for some fresh air!  We had a delicious meal and awesome company despite the fact that this was among the two pictures I took there!

We spent New Years Eve with this fun and crazy crew who live on our street.  We had a blast and enjoyed an earlier New Years celebration and were willingly in bed well before the ball dropped.

With the start of the new year I'm committed to trying to stick to blogging but in the meantime, you'll find me actively sharing some of my favorite moments, activities and bloopers from our day to day happenings on Instagram.