NYE

We celebrated Christmas with Jason's family on NYE this year.  Jason worked the first half of the day, and since Ad had spent the night with her Nana the night before, Lila and I had the house to ourselves to get organized for "Christmas".  We had a wonderful celebration with Jason's family, and the girls were spoiled beyond belief with new, fun things to play with.  We are so blessed to have wonderful families who love us and love our girls so much.

 

My sous chef loves cake batter

Nolan is borrowing our old rock n play, and Lila decided she needed to check out what was her bed for the first 7 months of her life.  She looks so big!  Where did my baby go?!?

Precious cousins.  Addie is so in love with Nolan.

I seriously could not love this little fire ball any more

Nana with her babies

Grandma O with her newest grandson

This pic just cracks me up......group pictures with kiddos is always an experience.

Changed into our jammies and ready to head home

The rest of the week, we spent at home playing with our Christmas loot.  Ad got this art easel from Deanna for Christmas, and the girls have been loving it.

Lila got this slide, and we have been spending a ton of time on it as well.  It is perfect bc Lila can climb up and slide down all by herself.  #lessworkforme!!

The jeep has also been getting a lot of miles

and Lila decided she needed to get a little computer work done on this chilly afternoon

 

 

When I reflect back on 2015, I have some great memories and some really sad ones as well.  Our family continues to evolve and change and beyond all else, I just feel extremely blessed.  I hope each of you had a wonderful 2015 and wish you many blessings in 2016.

Zoo

The week after Christmas, I was still off work and was feeling accomplished since I got all my Christmas decorations down and put away so the girls and I decided to go have some fun at the zoo.  We invited Jenn and Nolan and offered to take Zayden as well since Deanna had an appointment, and he was in town visiting.  I was a little nervous about our adventure as we drove to the zoo bc it was pretty chilly and drizzling, but when we got there the rain stopped, and we had a great day.  The animals were all up and moving around enjoying the brisk weather, and the kids held up great.  All in all it was a successful trip.

 

Bundled up and ready to start our zoo adventure

Checking out the owl while the zoo keeper gave a talk

Our crew

The big kids

and Lila.  She wanted to do and see EVERYTHING that the big kids were doing.  My baby is getting so big.

They all loved the fish tunnel and crawled through several times while Nolan was taking his bottle.

Nolan made a short appearance outside his stroller while we were inside the natural encounters bldg.

Petting the snake

Nolan's 1st trip to the zoo!

Petting a gigantic bunny

Another snake encounter in the reptile house

Before lunch we stopped to feed the giraffes

then took a carousel ride

Ad and Zayden wanted to take a picture with every animal monument in the zoo.  haha

Nana offered to let Ad spend the night with her that night since we were all heading up the next day to celebrate Christmas.  As soon as we got home from the zoo, we packed her bag, and she sat looking out the front door anxiously awaiting for Nana to come pick her up. 

Addie Day

Before Christmas, Donna text me and asked if she could take Addie to have a special day of fun so we put it on the books for the first day we were back in town after Christmas.  Ad was so excited, and Donna completely outdid herself.  They started the day by having breakfast together, followed by a carousel ride at the mall, a trip to the natural science museum, a pizza lunch, the toy store to pick out a toy, and the grand finale.....a horseback ride.  As you can imagine, Ad was completely over the moon.  She came home telling me exactly how you make the horse go and turn and stop, etc.  The whole day was basically every little kid's dream.  Thanks Donna for taking the time to make such great memories with my baby!

 

Donna and Ad bundled up and ready to start their day.

Breakfast

Practicing for the real thing

She chose a pony for herself and also brought one for Lila.

Giddy up

Checking out the butterflies at the museum