Happy New Year!

I have to admit this past holiday season was by far the best! We were so fortunate to be able to spend time with both of our families and our two Christmases were so much fun!

Elliott and I started things off with a sleepover at my folks house, so we were ready to start celebrating bright and early Christmas Eve day (6:30 am people! - this was clearly Elliott's idea, not mine!). Everyone else came over by early afternoon and we spent the rest of Christmas Eve talking, eating and enjoying the larger than life yule log ;) We also did a lot of present unwrapping and Elliott even got in on the action. Santa and Grandma and Grandpa K got him a Lego train set...to which he very quickly began 'choo-chooing'. He also got puzzles, a tool box, books and a Radio Flyer push bike. There may have also been a few matchbox cars among his loot :)

Christmas morning we left for Texas where we spent the next week with Brad's family. It was so much fun to see everyone again. We hadn't seen Krista's family in over 3 years and needless to say the kids have grown! My goodness!

We wasted no time digging into the presents that night (after all...I'm pretty sure we would have had a riot on our hands if we made the kids wait another day!).

Elliott even got his own camera! While I know it is a little old for him still, it has been so much fun to see his pictures and I know he will have a lot of fun with the camera for many years to come. In fact, I'll be sharing a few of his pictures in a coming post :)

...although this is one I took with his camera that I particularly like.

Elliott also made some new friends! This was the first time he met his aunt, uncle and cousins in person and it was so much fun to see them together. We took trips to the park together (as well as the mall) and Leila even joined Elliott for a Gymboree class! Keziah was particularly sweet with Elliott...and once again I wish they lived closer since she would make such a great babysitter in a couple years!

There may have also been a bit of wine and cheese...naturally ;)

And perhaps one of my favorite moments of the entire trip: Brad and I came in from where we were sleeping next door to find all the kids quietly playing together on the family room floor.

Uncle Brad was also able to rekindle his very special relationships with Keziah and Matias...and make a new friend in Leila. We will miss being around them so much and we are so, so very pleased we were able to see everyone. It has been entirely too long and I'm afraid it will be a long time before we see them again, but we are already counting the days!