After Christmas Fun

The boys have been enjoying a week at home playing with all of their new toys.

We also visited the Children's museum and enjoyed some new exhibits....

and some old favorites too!

Wednesday was Eric's birthday.  He chose to take us all to the new car show and then to Dave and Busters for dinner and games!

All 3 boys found their favorite cars, in their favorite colors!

One last gift

We have been under construction for the past 6 months, building our dream backyard resort, complete with a pool and a pool house.  Well, the pool was done just in time for Christmas break.  The boys got off the bus on their last day of school before break and Eric and I were ready for them to go swimming in our pool. 

They are all ready and full of smiles!

We swam on Christmas day!  The temperatures have been pretty mild for an Indiana winter.

Santa brought new pool noodles!

The pool is closed now for the season but not before we all had a few days to enjoy swimming in it.  We will all be anxiously awaiting it's opening again in the spring!

Construction continues on the pool house....It should be done very soon!

Christmas Morning

I don't think there's anything better than Christmas morning when you are 7,8 and 10 years old.  

The boys were up bright and early at 7am, and in our room waking us up, to go downstairs with them, to see if Santa had come!

And... He did!

What a wonderful Christmas the boys had complete with just about everything they had hoped, wished and asked Santa for!  

All 3 of the boys said their favorite gift was the Playstation 4 game system.  They also loved their new bean bag chairs, sports cards, and baseball attire. 

Not to be left out..

Ruby and Louise celebrated their 3rd birthday on Christmas day!

The boys had special treats for them that they gobbled up.  They are such sweet additions to our family and such good girls, most of the time!

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve is here and there is excitement in the air!

To start out our festivities each son gets to open a present.

The first gifts opened each year are new pajamas.

Then we left home to meet up with our friends the Basiles to attend church and then head back to their house for delicious food and Christmas cheer!

Then back at home again Ben has the cookies and milk for Santa and carrots for his reindeer all ready to go!

Nick is hanging the stockings with care...

Goodbye Jimmy!  

Jimmy is our elf that helps keep the boys' behavior in check during the month of December.  He flys home to the north pole each night to report to Santa about the boys' behavior, the good, and the bad!  Then returns again to our home the next morning to watch over the boys again!

Indiana State Museum

On the kids' first day of winter break we went to the Indiana State Museum.  We always enjoy the holiday decorations and extra activities available for kids during this time of the year.  

This is the race car that will be dropped in downtown Indy at midnight on New Years Eve.

New York has the ball drop and Times Square, Indy has a race car drop and Georgia Street!

Santa Claus is Coming to Town

Perks to living in a small town...

Santa visits all of the neighborhoods in our town on a firetruck! 

I think I might have been just as excited to see Santa round the corner into our subdivision as the kids and dogs, too!

Celebrating a Santa sighting with hot chocolate, cookies and candy canes in new Santa mugs!

One more Christmas favorite... Cocoa and Christmas Carols played by our sons on the piano.  We have truly the best piano teacher!  She has a small concert for the families complete with hot chocolate to enjoy while listening to carols the kids have been practicing the past 2 months.