Christmas Break!

Our Christmas break started the day before Christmas Eve- Jacob still had school but Luke pulled him out a little early so we could get started on our drive down to Maryland and we got in later that night. At my parents house the others who were home were Andrea, Daniel & Meg with their 2 month old Claire, and Julia and Matt were home in between both their families as well. We had a great time visiting and playing all day on Christmas Eve!

 Ava (and all of us) got to meet cousin Claire for the first time! Ava is 5 months older than Claire but they didn't seem all that much different in size! It was fun to see them curious about each other :)

My kids always love seeing the aunts and uncles too!

 That night, after years of not acting out a Christmas pageant we decided to do one this year with the kids. Everyone participated, and my family were all shepherds with Ava being our sheep! We had a good time! We also did our traditional rice pudding but with a non-traditional 2 seeds. I ended up with both seeds in my bowl- so I won both prizes! Chocolate for everyone!

 We stayed up watching "It's A Wonderful Life". So fun to be together with family for the Christmas Eve traditions! 

The kids were very patient and happy Christmas morning- even waiting until I woke up to look into their stockings! We had a good morning opening gifts with everyone there! 

 Even though my boys can get a bit excited and silly at their grandparents house, I think everyone enjoyed being able to have kids back in the home for Christmas!

After we finished opening our presents and had breakfast we made our way down to Virginia to spend the rest of the day with Luke's parents. The boys were able to open even more gifts and spent the rest of the day building and playing with their new legos and toys.

We had a nice Christmas dinner together and enjoyed just being able to relax. 

 The next morning I had plans to meet my old high school friends for brunch, so I brought Ava along with me and enjoyed visiting with my friends and spending the rest of the day with my sisters in Maryland. 

Meanwhile, the boys stayed with Luke and his parents for the day. They first went to go see the new Star Wars movie together and did a bonfire at the house that night and had a great day! 

On Sunday, Luke and the boys met us back in Maryland and we all attended my parents ward at church together. It was nice to spend the day at home, and had fun playing card games that night. The next day all my family made a little outing out to Savage Mill.

It was really mild weather the whole week we were there, but this felt like the coldest day! But we still played at the park, then walked the trail along the river. 

But first- a family picture! 

Daniel showed us the benches he had built there as part of his Eagle project years ago.  

Afterwards, we got warm walking through the shops there, then later some of us went to Chick-fil-A for lunch. Later that evening our family went out with my dad to go see the train display at the fire station- which was really impressive! We spent an hour looking at the trains and doing the little treasure hunt to find all the hidden pieces throughout the display- it was really fun!

 This was perfect for the boys being able to enjoy the trains and see the fire engines- we might need to come back and do it again!

On our last day, Luke and I went to the DC temple while his parents watched the kids at the Visitor Center. They enjoyed wandering around and watching the videos, and even though they couldn't be inside the temple, the boys liked being able to see the mini- replica of the inside of the temple.

We spent the rest of the day visiting with Luke's parents at Grandma Martha's house, and the next morning we made the long drive back home! 

While it had been warm, rainy and mild in Maryland, in New York we came home to snow on the ground! It had snowed around Christmas, finally the first snow of the season!  While a part of us were sad we missed our first Christmas and snowfall in our new home, we were grateful we had the chance to visit with family and enjoyed a great break! And we still were able to relax together at home to bring in the New Year! 

 It's been a very busy but great year for us! We have been blessed with so much and look forward to another fun year with more adventures ahead!

Christmas Season in Saratoga

December was filled with lots of fun activities all building up to Christmas. We tried to embrace new traditions and see what New York had to offer for the holiday season! 

We had heard a lot about the Victorian Streetwalk in downtown Saratoga and attended that one night early December. I think our expectations were a little too high but we still enjoyed ourselves. 

Downtown Saratoga had a very small tree lighting (it was literally one small tree- ha!) and then Santa rode in with some elves, which we were expecting a full horse sleigh, but it was some sort of truck and trolley. The boys weren't interested in standing in the long line to see Santa but were able to peek through the window and see the kids visiting Santa, and there was a live reindeer the kids saw. 

We enjoyed walking around downtown seeing all the lights and displays, but our favorite part was the free hot chocolate! It was a cold night, but a fun memory!

A few days later we went to a Ball family Christmas party at the bowling alley and had a lot of fun!

Aside from bowling, the boys got coins to play the arcade games and tickets to do the bumper cars and play area. The boys had so much fun they didn't want to leave!

At the party they each got a nice long visit with Santa too! Ava was a little surprised, Blake was a little shy, and Jacob was a little hesitant, but there were no tears!

In the beginning of December Ava also turned 7 months! I can't believe how fast she's growing, but she's turning into such a beautiful girl!

She has been such a sweet and patient baby, I love it! The only time when she gets impatient is when she is excited to eat her baby food and starts panting! So it's nice to have a big brother's help sometimes :)

We had fun this season making a big batch of sugar cookies to deliver to friends. The boys really wanted to do this, but of course I ended up doing most of the work and it took nearly all weekend! But they were delicious and we enjoyed passing them out together too!

It's always fun going to holiday parties with Blake's preschool and the Christmas party was no exception. They sang Christmas songs and Santa came and passed out personal presents. Blake was so excited to get a new train!

And as always, some Christmas pictures on Sundays of my 3 cuties throughout the month! Got some great pictures this year!

We're ready for Christmas! Our first Christmas in NY won't be spent in our new home, and are a little sad about that, but feel blessed that we live close enough to our parents that we will be able to visit family over the holidays!