New Year's Eve

The Kluesners came over to celebrate, and we got a little more Christmas music in. Alicia, Lucas & Megan loved dancing to BNL's Jingle Bells. For those that don't know the version, it starts very slow, then gets a little crazy ... and the kids happily join in the craziness. :)

More from Cincinnati

While hanging out at Grandma Krollmann's some more, we also got to see cousin Julie and her son Ryan. There also seemed to be some unspoken tower-building contest.



While hanging out with the Suttmann side, a cousin came over and took lots of pictures, so we didn't take very many (hopefully she got lots of good ones!). We did, however, get a good one of Megan with Grandpa Suttmann.

Christmas in Cincinnati

Megan & Lucas did pretty well on the trip to Cincinnati, especially during their nap. :)

The morning of Christmas Eve started with a visit to Grandma Krollmann's house where we met up with Uncle Mike and Kayla. Lucas and Megan enjoyed showing off their piano "skills" (Lucas even played a rousing version of Jingle Bells). After a little wrestling around and some nap time, we headed to Aunt Barb's for Christmas Eve dinner where we met up with Aunt Dawn and Grandma and Grandpa Suttmann.


The Christmas Day festivities began at Grandma Krollmann's house. After tearing through the presents, we got a surprise visit from J.R. and Tina and crew.


After festivities at Grandma Krollmann's, we headed back to Grandma and Grandpa Suttmann's house. Unfortunately, due to the chaos, we didn't do very well at getting photos ... but there was lots of wrapping paper and toys and clothes and chaos. Oh, and we got to eat again. :)

Christmas at Home

Santa knew we wouldn't be home for Christmas, so he stopped by a little early. I think he knew no more would fit in the car on the way back from Cincy. :)

Megan's favorite present was her stroller ... once built, Megan played with it all day (whenever Lucas didn't swipe it from her). Lucas's favorite present was probably his Shake 'n Go Lightening McQueen ... it was the only thing he had actually asked Santa for (specifically, "A Big Lightening"). Both liked the medical kit and they made sure everyone was healthy enough to keep playing. Unfortunately, we did have a few dinosaurs run wild and start attacking us, but we were able to contain them before anyone actually got hurt.



Jasmine, however, was less than impressed with the interruptions (we bothered her while we were opening our stocking stuffers) and just wanted to go back to sleep.

Snowy Days

We all decided to head out to the back yard to make use of the great packing snow we had. Lucas got into it more than last year and Megan had some fun, too. And, of course, we made a snowman!

Family Pictures

Today we went and got our family pictures. I may be a bit biased, but we have the cutest kids. :) And I love the fact that we can usually get them to smile great for their pictures. The pic above is my favorite of the day.

St. Nick's Day

Apparently 3 is when things really stick in a child's head. Especially when related to presents. We informed Lucas about how St. Nicholas would visit while he was sleeping last night and put a present in his shoe. We put out a shoe for each person and Lucas and Megan went to bed. Lucas awoke at his usual time and called "Mommy, is there a present in our shoes?". So much for convincing him to go back to bed for a while. Lucas did manage to wait until everyone was up to actually open his present. Definitely a favorite day of Lucas's, but then what day isn't when you receive a present?

To get in the mood for St. Nick's day, we visited Santa Claus last night. Lucas's friends Carl and Alicia joined us, so it was definitely a fun evening. Fortunately, the line to see Santa was fairly quick. Once Mommy convinced Lucas to sit next to Santa, Megan joined them for a photo opportunity (thanks to the Bormets and Kluesners, as we had sadly forgotten our camera ... duh). Lucas then told Santa what he wanted for Christmas and happily accepted the candy cane. In addition to Santa, there were cookies and some crafts. Lucas covered a paper stocking with stickers while Megan ran around expending the energy she gained by eating a cookie. I believe all the kids had fun.