Christmas with the Cousins

Again, I have not had time to update the blog in almost 2 weeks. Here is a late post from our Christmas celebrations.

When we do Christmas with D’s family it is a noisy houseful of kids having a good time. The kids don’t outnumber the adults quite yet.

All the kids tried to sit to get a picture with Grandma.

They were a lot less patient by the time it was Grandpa’s turn.

Bentley received a rocking horse that she loves. Even the oldest cousins thought they should get to ride it too.

Grandpa and Grandma converted one of the bedrooms into the kids’ room. Off to the left is a bunk bed, and on the floor to the right is another mattress. All the kids who are 3 and up got to stay together in the same room. They thought that was great and behaved very well. It helped that they were all exhausted by the time it was bed time. Here, D is reading them one of their bedtime stories. Almost all the parents stayed to hear the story too.

We celebrated Christmas over New Year’s, which was cold and snowy. Despite the weather, the kids and a few of the adults bundled up everyday to take the kids out to burn off some energy and have tractor rides (the highlight at Grandpa and Grandma’s house). The rides were especially fun because they were able to push and blow snow with the tractor. This was the first time Bentley had been out in the snow. She took a couple of sled rides with the cousins. When it was time to come in she let us know that she wasn’t ready. We have a couple of girls that really love to be outside, even in the most miserable cold.

Bria tried to climb up on the rail of the deck to jump into the snow, just like one of the older cousins. With her snowsuit on she couldn’t pull herself up. It was funny to watch her try. She did get some help from an uncle.

One of the highlights for me was getting to try out Grandma’s new snowshoes. I had never been snowshoeing before, but it was a lot of fun. Normally the cold would keep me inside, but once I got all bundled up and the snow stopped blowing I really enjoyed being out there. It helps that in the country they have a lot of places to explore, and if it was too windy I could walk along the trees (which completely blocked the wind).

After a long weekend away, we came back home for about 24 hours then headed out for our next adventure.