SNOW!

We have been waiting and waiting and waiting for some real snow, and we finally got it on Friday.

This snow is HEAVY!  For the third time this year, a storm caused damage to the trees in our yard!  Prior to this year, we haven't had any damage!

Tom took Collin and Reagan sledding on Sunday.

Here is a video of Collin sledding (as always, to view videos, you must log in to the blog - videos do not appear in emails of blog posts).

Today, the whole family went to Pierce's Beach for more sledding fun.

Here is a video that shows Reagan sledding and Collin sledding with Katelyn.

I love the way Collin and Katelyn both yelled "Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh" down the hill!
You can really see and hear it in this video:

This is Katelyn's first experience with snow and her first time sledding.  She loved sledding.  At one point, I tried to pick her up off the sled and she pushed my hand away; she didn't want to stop!  Collin did a great job holding her tight and keeping her safe the whole time!

Kate and I left with Tyler and Collin after a while, but Reagan and Tom continued sledding for another hour or so.

I am so grateful for the snow and all of the fun the kids had playing in it!

Reagan's Swing Jump

Tom took this video of Reagan a couple days before Christmas.  This is a great swing jump.  I love how she sticks the landing!

Disney on Ice

One of Reagan's Christmas presents was tickets for us to go see Disney on Ice.  Reagan and I went with her friend Courtney and Courtney's mom.  We all had a great time!

The girls both got spinning, light up Tinker Bell wands, snow cones in Tinker Bell cups, and cotton candy that came with Mickey ears.

We had great seats and there was no one sitting directly in front of the girls, so they had a fantastic view.

It was really dark so the pictures aren't great.

 When we left the show, it was snowing pretty hard - our first real snowfall of the season.

We ended the night with dinner at 1149.  The restaurant was empty, so the girls could be silly and not bother anyone.  They loved that.

It was a fun day out for all of us!

Christmas with Auntie Karen and Uncle Mark

Auntie Karen (my sister) and Uncle Mark are here from New York!  We celebrated Christmas with them on Friday.  

 I didn't really get a good picture of Tyler's wrapping paper, but Auntie Karen thought it would be funny to wrap all of his presents in Justin Bieber paper.  He happily ripped it all off and threw it away.  Reagan actually salvaged a piece of the wrapping for herself!

 Auntie Karen is a good sport!  She sang karaoke and played Just Dance!

We never get to spend adult time with Karen and Mark, but this time we had a babysitter and were able to go out to dinner.  It was a nice night out!  I hope to do this every time they come to MA.

We all wish they lived closer!

Kate and Logan

Logan and Katelyn are three days apart.  He was actually born on my due date, September 9th, and Kate followed on the 12th.  Tom and Ryan (Logan's father) are first cousins, so I'm not sure what that makes Logan and Kate, but they are cousins no matter the official title.

Logan lives in Connecticut, so we don't see him very often.  He is in daycare and used to being around children his age.  Kate may be around her siblings all day, but she is rarely with other babies or toddlers (maybe twice in the past year) so spending time with Logan on Christmas was quite the experience for her!

He quickly let her know that he likes to wrestle!  She was very tolerant!

 Nice sharing.

 Not sure what to make of him right now.

It was cute to see them together.  Kate mostly just stared at him and occasionally pushed his hand away, but she was very interested in him.  If only we could know what they were thinking!!!

This video of them sums it all up.  Very funny stuff.

Christmas Day - Afternoon and Evening

We went to Grandma Susan's house in the afternoon on Christmas day.  Unfortunately, Tyler wasn't feeling well enough to come.  He missed a great party and everyone asked for him and missed him.

Like I said in my Christmas morning post, Kate LOVES clothes.  She is always happy to open them and usually wants to hold them for a while!

Collin is building, of course, while hanging out with Uncle Mark.

I have to make a copy of this picture for Reagan.  She LOVES Brittany.  She loves Uncle Mark too, but she just LOVES Brittany.  They gave her that cute unicorn.

 Kate enjoyed playing on the floor with Auntie Cyn and Great Grandpa.

 Grandma threw a great party - great food, great people, great atmosphere, and she still had time to give extra attention to the kids anytime they wanted to be with her.

Papa and Grandma M came for a while too.  I didn't even realize how festive they looked until I looked through my pictures.  LOVE it!

 More clothes for Kate.  These outfits were gifts from Uncle Jimmy and Melissa.  Kate obviously loves them.

 Don't ask what is in the pink box; I'm not telling.

Yes, I was there!  Reagan took the picture of me with Collin and then Collin took the picture of me with Reagan.

 Kate loves Auntie Di.  This is the only picture I got of them together.

 I think this picture came out so nice.  It may be the only picture we have of just Grandma and Tom.

I have a few nice pictures of Grandpa Jim, but he requested that I not post pictures of him here - BOOOOOO!

No one else made that request, so I'm posting pictures!  This is my scrapbook; I need everyone in it!

 Jimmy and Melissa are so photogenic!

Brent, Ryan, Uncle Tim, Narcy, Auntie Jo, and Logan (three days older than Kate - separate post coming about them and the fun they had on Christmas)

 Reagan was supposed to wear a red dress, but she wanted to wear this outfit and the tights she had to go with the red dress SOMEHOW got a hole in them on Christmas morning.  HMMPH!

Kate was trying to jump out of my arms and I didn't get a good picture of us together.  This will have to do!

 We are all happy that Matt is living in MA right now.  He is so great with the kids.  Kate even let him hold her for a while, and that is not to be taken lightly!

 Collin with Uncle John

 Reagan being a goof - how surprising.  I do want to mention the locket she is wearing.  It was a gift from Great Grandma and Great Grandpa and Reagan has not taken it off since she put it on.  Well, she took it off to sleep tonight, but she is treasuring it.

Collin and Reagan don't get to see their cousins, John and Audrey, very often.  Once they warmed up, all of the kids had a lot of fun together.

We left Grandma's house sometime after eight, I think - I already forgot, and everyone was pretty tired.

A truly fantastic day with family and friends!