And there were..."Balls of Light!"

The only enjoyable part of taking down the tree...

The kids scream out, "We get to do Balls of Light!" As all the ornaments come down, and finally the strands of lights too, we roll them up and have some fun...

 Here is what they looked like when this blog started the beginning of 2011, after Christmas of 2010.

Now it is the end of 2011, and after writing a weekly post or two, and photographing all these fun moments. Here they are at the end of this year, a year older and a little bigger, these are my babies in a year of growingupfree....

A Merry Christmas!!

He came! He ate!

And our dreams came true!

 

 

Merry Christmas to all our friends and family!

Wow! A limo ride!!

So excited are we!! Except Quin came down with a fever so I had to stay home with him. The limo started at our house and then picked up our friends in the burbs then toured the city full of houses decorated and all lite up for the holidays...
(Since I didn't get to go, there aren't any pics of the lights...just the limo.)

What a treat!!

Christmas Crafts

We make our cousin gifts with our traditional Christmas crafts each year. Our first year Tovrea made bleach stamped Tshirts. He made (cut out on sticky black paper) the design for each cousin, some got snowflakes and some got their first name initial stamped on a solid colored shirt. The technique involved stamping over the design with bleach and then removing the sticker. CoCo made glitter letters for each cousin and sibling.

This year Tovrea made collage book boxes and CoCo made spray painted animal jars. We all enjoy the tradition of making the gifts for each cousin, the kids feel more involved and have a since of pride giving out gifts at Christmas.

Making a Christmas Card

It's the only time of year I actually like to get the mail, because I can't wait to see the Christmas cards of friends and family. So it's time to make our card and I need a really cute photo.  Oh, the sighs.. the ughs.. the "do we have too's"...
I have a plan...red licorice in my pocket... Look at how funny they become.
Wait, a little too funny!!

Oh, the silliness, Christmas time makes everyone cheerful...as so does candy!

Photo of the week

GOT IT! I like this one!

Holiday Reading

Holiday Favorites

Their very own Christmas trees

We just got back from our Thanksgiving trip to the Broadmoor, and everything was so beautifully decorated for Christmas.  The kids are definitely in the mood to get a tree but for now they decorate their own little trees.

Thanksgiving Treat

Thanksgiving at the Broadmoor with cousins.

What a fun filled weekend. We went swimming, shopping, and had great meals together. Tovrea lost his favorite ninja in a tea cup at breakfast, after lots of searching through dish tubs the staff found the beloved lego! Relief...for all, especially Tovrea. We enjoyed ourselves all around the beautiful grounds of the hotel, the famous Broadmoor swans may have got a little too much attention...