Christmas with cousins

I am terrible at blogging. No need to make excuses! But I do resolve to do better in the new year. And I also plan to catch up on some posts that need to be made. In the meantime, I thought I'd share pictures of my favorite part of our Christmas holiday this year -- children! Christmas is truly best seen through the eyes of children.

With my brother living in Canada (and previously in California), we seem to have one time a year when our whole gang is together and we try our best to make the most of it. The happiest of all of us though are the grandchildren--the five of them. They have a nonstop ball playing with each other and it is so wonderful to see. Our boys love their cousins dearly. But I'll go ahead and say that a picture of all five of them together just doesn't happen. Oh well.

The oldest ones (Katherine is six weeks older) took a moment to sip some apple cider (a first for Thomas):


The middles (Eliza is exactly six weeks older than Parker) had a ball hiding in the pantry with some flashlights, eagerly waiting to be discovered!




And the youngest, Lauren, was great at keeping up with the big kids and at doing her own thing. I taught her my best "TA-DA!"


There were cookies to be made...


And cookies to be eaten...


Gingerbread houses to be built...


A golf cart ride on a windy, cold day...


There were hugs...


And tackling...


And playing with Uncle Trey...


And there was Lauren trying to figure out how to get the sheep from the nativity set...



But most of all, there were smiles all around...











(first apple cider for him too!)







Nannie even managed to convince them they could be "ADVENTURERS!" if they tried various veggies (like raw squash)...and Parker even bought into it...


And on the rare moments when they weren't running full speed, they occasionally stopped to listen to a book...


Or crash for an episode of Dora the Explorer...


We enjoyed the time we were able to spend with our family for Christmas. The boys cannot wait until they can be reunited with all of their cousins again!