Entries Tagged as 'christmas'

Kelly & Jeff’s Holiday Party

January 3rd, 2010 · No Comments

On the second day of the year 2010, we went up to De Pere (near Green Bay), WI for my cousin Kelly and her husband Jeff’s holiday party. I’d only been to their house one time before and Dallas had never been there so we were long overdue!


Kelly & Jeff

My parents, my brother’s family, Kelly’s mom my Aunt Sue, my other cousin Kelly and her daughter Katie, and my cousin Sara’s family all came over. Jeff made a big pot of chili and cornbread and Sara brought cornbread muffins as well. There were lots of dips and sweets to round the meal out. ha. Here’s a photo of my brother and sister-in-law since apparently I didn’t mention them at all the last time I saw them and it cannot be implied that they were present without proof. haha.


Richard & Amanda

Steph got a guitar for Christmas so she was practicing with a book. My Aunt Sue was also showing her how to do some things.


Stephanie

Margo is only about 3 months old.


Kelly, Katie, Margo, Mom

I tried to take a photo of Jessica and Tessa, but it is hard.


Tessa, Jessica

This always happens:


Tessa, Jessica

Bribed to hold still.


Jessica, Tessa

Charlotte happily posed for a photo.


Charlotte

There was a fierce white elephant gift exchange. My dad got the first pick and opened something nobody wanted. It’s this annoying Packers toy dinosaur that dances and has blinking lights and plays the most annoying song on earth. This has been circling through our family for a while now.


Dad

Dallas got the Bodyguard soundtrack on cassette. Luckily Unfortunately, our car has a tape deck and we had a 3 hour ride home.


Dallas

Tessa really wanted to keep a hold of these granola bars in the swap. She may have cried the first time they got stolen away. I can’t remember who ended up with them. It was either Tessa or Sara.


Tessa

After the gift exchange, we played a lot with the kids. Here’s my cousin Sara’s husband Cam and one of their twins, Fiona, I think :) .


Fiona, Cam

Intense round of the fish game, except in the princess edition I think they catch jewels.


Jeff, Charlotte, Elise, Fiona


Fiona

Fun day. Wish we could have stayed longer, but we had a long drive home. Luckily there was no traffic and the roads were clear. Can’t wait for next year’s swap. We have some junk lovely gifts to give away!

[Read more →]

Tags:···················

Jen & Chad’s New Years Eve Party

January 1st, 2010 · No Comments


Jen & Chad


Dallas, Chen-Je, Paul


Jen & Halle


Diane, Quinn, Kristin


Chad & Jen with their new niece Halle


Rachelle & Cousin


Family Photo: Brian, Jill, Halle


Phil, Abby, Ed. Baby Jonah is in the bjorn!


Meg & Chad


Jill & Halle

This was the 5th year in a row that we have gone to Jen and Chad’s house for New Years Eve (2008, 2007, 2006, 2005). The party there has become very family friendly as many of our friends have children now. It is nice that there’s a place for our friends with families to hang out that is nice and relaxing and has other kids to play with. It was fun to see everyone and to meet Abby and Phil’s baby Jonah for the first time. He was the youngest at the party, only 6 weeks old! Kristin made a ton of food, plenty of pupus and some roast beef sandwiches, so we went to the party for dinner and stayed til about 10 p.m. before heading to our second party of the night.

Like last year, we gave Quinn his Christmas gift at the party. It was a tool box with tools in it and a book about a monkey with a tool belt. Quinn loved the tools and wouldn’t even open the book once he saw them. Then we finally got him to open the book with the use of the tools. Pretty funny. Now he can help Chad with “projects” around the house. Quinn also got to help open our gift for Halle, which was the Friend Brigade. I saw these for sale at Renegade and bought a set from their creator on Etsy.


Quinn excited to have a gift to open


Tools!


Using the tools to open the other gift

[Read more →]

Tags:···················

Christmas in WI

December 28th, 2009 · 5 Comments

On the day after Christmas we went to Oak Creek, WI to celebrate with my family. Jessica got a Wii Active Life: Extreme Challenge game for a Christmas gift and we all had a fun time playing it. The game comes with a mat, kind of like Dance Dance Revolution, and you have to jump and run on it to make your on-screen character do things.


Dallas & Steph


Mom & Jess

For the rock climbing game you have to use your hands.


Dallas & Rachelle


Mom & Dad

Amanda showed me Jessica’s wishlist for santa. It was more like a wishbook – multiple pages stapled together and inserted into an envelope.


Jessica’s Wishlist

I can’t remember what “schering” was supposed to be, but Jess really wanted Laffy Taffy. The end – “batadohede” – is potato head. This list kind of reminded me of Stephanie’s wishlist from a few years ago. Except Jessica is younger. As you can see, she is just learning to write on her own. But she is having fun doing it. She even made all of our place cards for the dinner table.


Stephanie & Dallas’s place cards


Grandpa & Richard’s place cards

Not sure why Jessica chose to call my mom and dad “grandpa” and “grandma” but wrote her own parent’s names out. She also got to choose where everyone sat. Jess put me on one side of her and my mom on the other.. and of course Dallas was as far away as she could get him. Ha. She also looked online with my mom to see the proper places for all the silverware and side plates and glasses and things.

After dinner we opened the gifts that Dallas and I got for Steph and Jess.


Steph opening a gift


Steph trying on her new belt


Jess opening a gift


Steph’s favorite gift from us: Purple Converse

We got each of the girls a Nintendo DS Lite game. Jess’s was some pet game and Steph’s was a style-related game. Most of Steph’s gifts were also style-related: a belt, earrings, fingerless gloves, a shirt, shoes. Seems appropriate for a 13-year-old. Jess’s gifts were more drawing/art-related: a stamp pad, book on how to make fingerprint drawings, stamps, markers, coloring book. And this also seems appropriate for a first grader. They seemed to both like their gifts, so that’s good. My mom and dad surprised us with a few gifts, even though we agreed not to exchange. And my brother gave me some fresh, squeaky cheese curds.

Great day with the family, eating, playing and exchanging gifts!

[Read more →]

Tags:·············