Fellas...Chatting it up on the phone

Double Date

Mom, Dad, Ammi, and Aunt Jo watched our kids and Madeleine so Zach, Robin, Kyle, and I could go out to dinner.  SUCH a treat!  We went to Zoe's, and we reserved the Chef's Table - such a treat.  We arrived at 7:30, and we didn't leave until after 10:00!!  We ate so much food, had so much really good wine.  And Mom and Dad picked up the almost $400 (Gulp!) tab, too!  Thanks Mom and Dad!!!

Christmas OUTSIDE!

Because my kids were sick, we didn't want them around Madeleine, and we didn't want adults getting mono.  So, we had our Christmas celebration in our outdoor area.  We turned on the heaters, and we had a great time!  Super warm and snuggly.

AND - Dad gave us one of the best presents we got this year - the book he wrote for Brooks.  (We are really keeping him in the book writing business.  He's writing and publishing a book for every grandchild!!)  "Brooks And The Horseshoe Crab" is probably one of the best books we've ever read.

Dinner out with the family!

We had  great post-Christmas, Christmas celebration with Zach, Robin, and Madeleine.  We started with a YUMMY dinner out at Coastal Grill.  Unfortunately Kyle couldn't make it - someone had to watch our sick kids.  (At the time we thought Brooks had mono, and Graham still had a fever from his sinus infection.)

Oh My Sweet, Crazy Molly

My boys....and one of my Christmas presents!

One of my presents - I asked for it! - was The Learning Tower.  It. Is. AWESOME!!!  Graham loves to eat at it, help me with cooking, mixing.  It's really cool.  The only downside - he's pretty possessive of it.  I think I'll need to get a secone one for Brooks one day.  Sharing could be volatile.

How many toys can Brooks play with at once?!

Fun With Christmas Gifts!

So fun to get "old fashioned" slinkeys!!

The Rest of Christmas

We took some of our presents over to my parents house around lunchtime and spent the rest of the day there.  Such a relaxing day - the perfect Christmas this year!

Kyle and Barrett taking a ride on the boat - the weather was BEAUTIFUL!!

Our annual monopoly game....crazy dealings with Ammi.....required some cognac!

We have TWO "turkey vultures"!

Christmas was MAGICAL this year!

Santa made a tactical error this year.  Two big-ish presents for the boys to share.  They don't share super well.  Yet.  In fact sharing can be rather volatile in our house.  Shame on you Santa.

We couldn't forget the brown girls!  They got bones, chew toys, a big box of goodies!

Christmas Cookies!

Graham very much enjoys  making "happy faces", "mad faces", and "sad faces" these days.  (Can you possible guess which one this is?!) 

Both the boys were sick over the holidays (sinus infections and possible mono for Brooks).  So we had a very low key Christmas Eve.  Instead of our annual tradition of going to the aquarium and out to Mahi Mah's for lunch, we decorated Christmas cookies at Mom and Dad's house.  The PERFECT speed for us for the day!  SO much fun!