We spent Thanksgiving in Pagosa Springs, CO (with a quick stop in Farmington to before heading up with his fam). It was just us, Eriik's parents, his brother and their fam...no GG Pa this year, because the trip was too much for him healthwise. We miss him! It was a great family get together ....it was absolutely beautiful there...the mountains were gorgeous! The cousins had fun playing together although Alana (who is the exact age as Ava) is really crazy about Alec (always has been) and I think Ava got a little jealous in the beginning...they ended up working it out though :)They found a patch of snow to play in on the first day, but it didn't last long since the temps got up to the 60's! It was so nice, but the kids were wishing for snow! There was so much for the kids to do at the activity center...we decorated T-shirts, made toy snakes and lizzards, decorated cookies, went swimming, and played mini golf. Eriik and I celebrated out 9th anniversary while there as well. Our anniversary landed on Thanksgiving this year, so we celebrated it the day before by checking out downtown shops, stopping at a little coffee house and playing checkers there and then going out to a nice little Italian restaurant in Pagosa called Bacci...really good food! We opened Christmas presents to each other the day before Thanksgiving so the kids could play with their toys. For Thanksgiving we ate at Boss Hog :) Their thanksgiving dinner was really good! The whole trip went too fast as usual, but it was really good!
Shortly after Thanksgiving my brother Jimmy and Mom stopped by on their way back from spending time with Kelly in San Antonio. So we were able to have a good but short visit with them! Mom got to go with us to cut down our Christmas tree! We had trouble finding a good one this year...but it was fun.
We spent Christmas at our home this year. My brothers were at my mom's and Eriik was on call at work, so we couldn't travel. Kelly came up to spend Christmas Eve, Christmas day and the day after with us. Christmas eve we made Christmas cookies and decorated them and read the final day of our advent "What God wants for Christmas". It was really a great evening. The next morning they woke up bright and early itching to get out to the living room, we held them back till we got our coffee :) The big gift for the kids this year was a bounce house. They had no idea....we had it set up in the garage and asked them to take the trash out and I video taped them walking in to see it for the first time... their reaction was priceless!!! One of the best parts of Christmas day was that it started snowing that afternoon! I screamed out loud when I saw it...I may have been more excited than the kids! It is such a rare thing for it to snow here, and for it to be on Christmas day was smply magical! Kelly and I decided to see Les Mis at the movie theater that night...it was the opening night for Les Mis and I was sooo excited to see it...it was beautifully done...perfect...I cried like a baby. It was so nice to get to share it with Kelly. Sydney came the next day and hung out with us and that was a lot of fun!
For New Years we did the same thing that we have done for the two previous New Years Eve's....so it officially a Rowland tradition! We had the Ziezemers over and they stayed till after midnight. We have always had a great time, but I think this was the best of them all so far. We played games, ate LOTS of food, and this year we made up a new game on the fly...while we were playing phase ten we each took turns naming old songs that brought back memories. My picks were not popular amongst the group since some of them were broadway hits. It was really hilarious...we were jamming out to some Brazillian tunes, really fun.
Then it was Alec's 8th birthday two days later! So, four of his buddies came over (Carson, Austin, Kobey, and Bryson) and bounced in bounce house and we played lifesize Angry Birds with cardboard boxes...they really had a blast. He is growing up so much! He's just now starting to go through that stage where he thinks he's "too cool" for some things...makes me kind of sad...and yet, I realize he's growing up and I'm excited about the wonderful young man he is growing to be. What a sweet, smart, fun boy he has always been...such a blessing!
Little Addison turned 2 just three day's later on the 6th! Her birthday landed on a sunday when we were having small group at our home so we decided to have a couple friends over the next day. We had the Nelle's and the Whites over. Addie is in the same class at church with Suzanna and David and we are already good friends with their families so that was easy...2 kids over for a 2 year old. It was totally a last minute thing...originally I was going to space out their birthday parties by at least a week, but it's just what worked with schedules so I rolled with it :) Anyway, she had to have a Dora birthday since she is slightly obsessed with the Dora! The kids bounced in the bounce house (man I love that bounce house!) and played in Addies room a little. They were most excited about the cupcakes after the pizza though. Addie literally went face first into hers :). That sweet girl is getting cuter by the minute...I LOVE to watch her dance and sing and love how she says "Mommy Rowland...whatcha doooooin??" she is on a kick where she adds Rowland to the end of everyone's name...even our dog Izzy. Also, you wouldn't think it possible to say "No!" in a cute way, but when she doesn't want to do something she sings "No" to the tune of "Oh my darling"...with just the word no over and over again to the tune...hilarious! So, we have started the potty training (a introduction to it anyway)...which is really the only thing I absolutely can't stand about parenting. I'm just not any good at potty training! Anyway...hopefully Addison trains easier than Ava did!
Ok...so, I am now officially partied out! It was fun though....loved every minute of the time with our family and friends! Here are way too many pictures as usual! They are slightly out of order, but it's close enough.
<
