The Rest of Christmas Break

Matt miraculously had the entirety of Jillian's Christmas break off of work, so we had lots of togetherness.

The day after Christmas, Matt took the girls to spend their gift cards from Grandma and Pop Pop, and we put in a family effort to assemble a jigsaw puzzle before teaching the girls to play one of our favorite games--Camel Up!

On Sunday, we hastily packed up a few days early and headed to Des Moines.  Winter Storm Goliath was threatening to get in the way of original plans, so since we had the time, we just skipped town. Jane Fonda, er I mean Adrienne, came along too.

Adrienne rode this way for a solid 30 minutes in protest of her sister's music choice. It's hard to take turns.

The girls had a fabulous reunion with Grammy and Grandad--they hadn't seen them since July! We went out for pizza after we arrived, then spent a fun day indoors Monday while it snowed...baking cookies, having tea parties, and crafting.

On Tuesday, Grandpa and Debbie made the trek up to see us. We met them for dinner and then enjoyed a leisurely stroll around Bass Pro before they headed to their hotel.

On Wednesday morning, we met Grandpa and Debbie again and had a delicious brunch at the Iowa Machine Shed before they headed back south. We managed a family picture...with a pig.

On Wednesday evening, the cousins arrived! The girls were so excited to see Jack and Bryce, and to meet Baby James. We then had 4 days of family bonding and chaotic kid fun. Love to see how much the kids enjoy each other!

Jack holding James for the first time...

My girls curled up watching a movie. Sometimes they look so much alike that I have to do a double take.

These eyes make my uterus hurt. Have mercy.

As per tradition, Grandad ensured the grandkids had Krispy Kremes for breakfast every day. Nothing like a sugar high to start the day!

The biggest and the littlest

 Bryce has a very systematic way to enjoy the donuts.

On New Year's Eve morning we opened gifts. Grammy delivered BIG TIME with Descendants pajamas for the girls!

And Adrienne was SO excited to finally get the Ice Power Elsa from cousin James. She asked me several times why Santa 'forgot' to get that for her since she specifically asked him for it...couldn't tell her he 'forgot' because Aunt Mal already purchased it for her.

Wonder Baby soothing himself to sleep.

Adrienne got a doll who shares her name--big stuff!

After snow play each day, Grammy hooked the kids up with hot chocolate, peppermint spoons, marshmallows, cookies, you name it. Do you see why my kids always cry when they come home??

 More Wonder Baby shots.

Jillian received Twister from G and G, so she and Jack enjoyed playing together...with Aunt Mal being a good sport about joining in. I volunteered to be the spinner. Love Jack's sticker face.

I have  no pictures of NYE, but we celebrated with a Birnbaum (actually longstanding Siebenmorgen) tradition of dessert waffles, sausage, bacon, and eggs for dinner. When we were kids we'd always have this at midnight at my grandparents'. None of us were hot on the idea of keeping ours up until then, so we settled for 6 and everyone enjoyed the meal. Not everyone made it until midnight, but a handful of us rang in the New Year playing games before heading to bed around 1.

On New Year's Day, the boys went to see Star Wars and us girls stayed back to wrangle the kids. Aunt Meggie and Aunt Mal are way better at crafts than I am, so we made Fairy Dough to play with and some salt dough hand/foot print ornaments. The three big kids enjoyed this a bunch. Bryce and James were napping, so missed the fun on this one.

Boys movie theater selfie

Toasting to the New Year--forgot to do it on NYE so an afternoon cocktail while kid wrangling seemed appropriate for us girls.

On Saturday we tried to get some pics of the grandkids with G and G. It was not entirely successful. We had goofiness and some threenager drama, and just general chaos that is always involved when you have 5 kids 7 and under to deal with. Not to mention the grandparents who can't seem to look at the camera the whole time. The memories and pics are priceless...and make me smile. Lots 'o love in their arms, for sure.

Jack was cracking me up with his flashing..."hey look at my shirt!"

Aunt Mal looks surprised...Aunt Meggie looks stressed. Uncle John is in the background, across the table from Matt...they did a really good job of ignoring the madness and pretending like they didn't care about anything other than their Summoner Wars board game battle.

Threenagers do. not. like. pictures. Poor Bryce!

 Pay attention, Mom! Why is your phone out???

As good as it gets.

 Bryce finally made his escape...so 4 out of 5 ain't bad, I guess.

 Grandad and James didn't get the silly face memo on this one.

Also on Saturday, the girls made a quick escape to Target.

Somehow, on the way to Target, we got distracted and ended up stopping for a beer....gotta take advantage of some Daddy Daycare when you can! 

We spent the rest of the day hanging out at home, enjoying a pizza party, and starting to pack up for home.

Matt wanted to know why no one ever wanted pictures of the boys. So, here you go. Sons-in-laws.

My favorite picture of the week....don't forget our "brother", Urban. Meow!!

Santa Kitty and Grammy....

Such a blessing to be able to spend so much time together this year. We ended our break by coming home to about 14 loads of laundry and a frantic run to the store to cook/prep some uber healthy meals to start detoxing from all our holiday indiscretions. It's been real, 2015. You were full of fun and blessings and growth. Happy 2016!