new year's eve

We celebrated New Year's Eve with the Chases at the Ruddick's. Pretty low key this year, but it was a perfect evening (again, I borrowed some photos from Gretchen! That's what happens when you're the first to blog...thanks!). :P

Cedar was a very happy, peaceful guy. I think he was finally feeling better after his first 2 teeth broke through! Finn had 4 teeth by this age so it seemed to us like it took forever for Cedar to get his teeth. Then he got them back to back - one on Monday & the next on Tuesday. :)

Sweet playtime with Aunt Gretchen & Tyler

The younger kids all played so well together that we were able to play lots of Jungle Speed! I think everyone won a game or two, so it was fun! Tyler is pretty good too, so that was neat for me to see. I can't believe he's going to be 10 this year!

Our wonderful hosts: Gretchen & Josh

Aaron cuddling with a sleepy Sadie

Watching a movie...Sadie has already fallen asleep

The Novemberists played for a long time together.

A blurry shot of Cedar sleeping in Griffin's crib

Happy New Year!
Finn made it to the countdown...& beyond. He actually stayed awake for the drive home! I think he finally fell asleep after 1:00 am! (He was the only kid to nap that day, so that certainly helped) :)

The Chases - very sleepy kids

We toasted with champagne.

The only kid still going after midnight. We were definitely in awe of Finn's ability to stay awake...though not exactly surprised. ;)

Happy 2010!

I still can't believe we're starting a new decade! This means that it's been almost 10 years since Kenton & I started dating. Crazy!

visit with the neals

On Sunday, December 27th, Aunt Robin, Uncle Truls, Hannah & Elle came down for a visit. The Ruddicks hosted the gathering & we all had a great time talking, eating & playing. :) I wasn't very good at taking photos, so I borrowed some from Gretchen's blog. (Thanks!)

Josh & Uncle Truls playing on Josh's new foos ball table.

Uncle Truls, Papa, Elle & Aunt Robin

Hannah (3 days before her 16th birthday!), Cedar & Sadie

Aunt Robin brought gifts for the November birthday boys

Playmobils for the "Novemberists"! Thank you, Neals! We had a great time hanging out with you all. :)

it's not christmas without...

...a shot of us hugging the tree with Carolyn & Jesse. :P Carolyn & I have been doing this for many years...it's tradition! This year, Finn hugged the tree too!

We were also celebrating Jesse's 28th birthday before they flew out to Las Vegas to celebrate Carolyn's graduation. So much to celebrate!! :)

at the hecht's

Next we went to my parent's house to celebrate with all the cousins! What a huge pile of gifts...granted, there are a LOT of people when we all get together. :)

The sleepy, slightly sick, baby Santa. This costume was made by my mom for Tyler when he was a baby. Many of the cousins have had a chance to wear it on Christmas. :)

Cohen's turn

Finn & Sadie watching Ronan

Power Miner Legos for Tyler

Buzz Lightyear for Griffin!

Littlest Pet Shop for Sadie

G.I. Joes for Ronan

The 6 of us

Kenton drew Gretchen's name for our family drawing this year. We had fun shopping for her together. :)

Aaron drew my name & knitted this scarf all by himself - just kidding! :)

Kenton's huge pile of gifts from Becca - mostly new board games + a new hoody!

Finn's grand finale gift - a pinball machine! So fun. He's been having a good time with this toy.

Boy, were we spoiled this year?! It's been great to have some new toys to entertain the kids, new clothes for me & new games for Kenton memorize. ;) Thanks for the great gifts everyone - we are so blessed to be so close to so much of our family. We thank God for all of you!

at the henry's

We woke up early on Christmas morning to go to Mummi & Pappa Henry's house! It was too hard to get Cedar to look at the blinking light on the camera. :) Cedar actually wasn't feeling very well...he's probably teething a bit & had a slight fever. So sad. :(

There! Much easier to get the kids to look with grandparents behind the lens. :P

Matching jammie boys

One of Finn's gifts: a large, stuffed doggie. He named him Obi Wan. :)

Cedar's getting big brother Finn...with some help from Pappa. Notice their pretty new wall of shelving & cabinets - Outi's birthday/Christmas gift.

Nice new sweater & shirt from Mummi & Pappa.

New Hot Wheels!

Finn has a great collection of Hot Wheel tracks & has been having a great time setting them up throughout the house.

christmas eve

We gathered at the Ruddicks for sushi (made by Erik & Josh), tempura (made by Kenton), orange chicken & yakisoba noodles (made by Gretchen).

Mmmmm...sushi! Kenton was brave & tried some this year. He says he liked it! :) Everything tasted great & we had LOTS left over even though we all got our fill.

New favorite silly/unflattering self protrait. :P

Cedar tried avocado & cucumber!

Hi Mama!

More cucumber, please?

Cedar started army crawling forward & spent some time showing off his new trick! He's taking a little break here. Finn was there too but he spends most of his time playing upstairs when we visit the Ruddicks. :)

Siblings

We each got a little gift from the Hickmans - earrings for the girls & Starbucks gift cards for the guys. Thanks guys! The earrings are so cute! :)

christmas eve morning

Santa came early to our house this year! With all of our family gatherings & celebrations adding up, we decided to celebrate Christmas early so that we could take our time & enjoy our time together. We've rushed our gift opening in the past in order to celebrate with the grandparents...but really, we didn't need much of an excuse - Kenton & I have a very hard time waiting! :P


The excited 3-year old! We didn't put any gifts under the tree before hand, so it looked super exciting to Finn when he woke up. (Notice the new stocking on the right - Cedar's was finished just in time!)

We told Finn the night before that Santa was going to come early. He was excited but a little nervous & told Kenton that he didn't want to hear Santa. The idea of Santa coming into our house made him uneasy. :)

Finn got a dinosaur book!

Cedar got a book too.

The typical, excited expression from Kenton. :)

Cedar liked his new toy!

New boots - a little big, but he'll grow into them. :)

A favorite - Bakugan!

It was so pleasant to take our time & enjoy the morning. We ate homemade pumpkin bread while we opened gifts & had lots of time to put toys together & play with them. It was so fun to remember that it wasn't even Christmas yet! We got to do it all again with the grandparents, aunts, uncles & cousins the next day! :)