Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Our little family was so ready for a nice, long holiday break.  For 10 days before Christmas, I took the girls up to Illinois to visit with family and friends.  We arrived on December 12 in time to SURPRISE my grandfather at his birthday party.  It was so awesome getting to spend that night with him and our family.  We got to spend a lot of quality time with many people we love.  It was a wonderful visit and a great time of togetherness for the girls and I.

This was my first time flying with both of them.  They did really great and I would even volunteer to do it again.  Here they are on the plane.  I think all three of us were excited.

Uncle Nate took Geneva and let her pick out her Christmas gifts.  I think 7 Barbies can be considered "spoiling."

My hometown put on Christmas activities and we got to ride on a horse drawn carriage with my grandparents.  The girls loved it!

One of the activities was cookie decorating.

My mom and dad's visit overlapped ours for about a day.

While we were in town, we stayed with my grandfather.

Here I am with some of my beautiful female relatives.

There were delays with our flight and we nearly got stuck for the night in Dallas, but we were so very lucky that everything worked out ok and we arrived at our home airport at 12am.  The girls did so well and were so happy to see their daddy!

After arriving back home, it was basically time for Christmas preparations and celebrations, which we spent quietly at home with one another and my brother's family.  It was a cozy little Christmas and I felt so blessed to be spending the time at home with our sweet little girls and our dear niece.  Greg cooked his traditional dinner for Christmas Eve and we had Christmas Day dinner at Tracy and Clarissa's.  We are so happy to live so close to them.

We tried over and over to set the camera to take a photo of all of us.  This was the only one we got where everyone was looking and there were no heads out of the picture.

It is hard to get Cecily to stay in one place long enough to take a picture of her and Geneva together.

Geneva, on the other hand, is always up for a picture.

Christmas Morning

Santa ate some of his cookies and left a note for Geneva and Cecily.

Christmas Day dinner at Tracy and Clarissa's.

A few days after Christmas, Greg's sister came to visit us.  We all had a really nice visit with aunt Bethany.

Greg and I rang in the New Year very quietly, as the girls were in bed by 8:30pm.  It was nice just to hang out at home and begin preparations for a New Year's Day lunch that we hosted for friends.  We had a traditional lunch of black eyed peas, pork tenderloin, and sauerkraut.  Even with having 9 or 10 children ranging in ages from 11months-4.5years, it was a really relaxing and happy time.

Tracy's birthday was on the 3rd and they had us over for a delicious dinner of traditionally prepared Spanish Paella and homemade chocolate cake.  It was delicious and so nice to spend the evening with them and celebrate Tracy's birthday.

I still have a whole week left of winter break and I am enjoying every minute of this slower pace, bonding time with Greg and the girls, and catching up with friends.  As a bonus, we are even getting a few small projects complete in the house.