Catching up with Friends over Christmas Break

One of the best parts of Christmas break is the opportunity to see so many loved ones.  Most of my blogs have shown the multiple family parties we've enjoyed, but we also have been fortunate to spend time with several friends as well.  First, we headed to the Dorseys for a super fun evening with nothing planned except for hanging out with friends.  Time spent here is never quiet -- there were 15 kids in attendance between our four families!

I even managed to get a (very poor quality) picture with most of them looking!

We also spent some time visiting with Virginia.  Evelyn and I get to see her all of the time, but we generally go when the others are in school. . . like the time in this picture.  Virginia couldn't wait to show us all of the beautiful decorations at the Wellsville Retirement Community.  Aren't they adorable??

We went back when all of the kids could go, and Violet was so excited to see Virginia!  I think the feeling was mutual.

Evelyn led the way as we showed the older kids all of the fun decorations.  Violet found the Grinch wall, while the boys pretended to be Santa by the tree.

We have the best retirement community!

We also were excited to have the Carpenters come for a visit, just a week after "Baby Brycen" celebrated his 5th birthday!  It's so hard to believe that it's been that long since we first met them in the PICU at Children's Mercy after our kiddos' heart surgeries.  We ate some pizza and played some games. . .

. . . and handsome little Brycen followed Rocky Cat around most of the evening.  When he wasn't with Rocky, he was with Russ.  He and Russ have always been close.

Our sweet kiddos, and their mommas.

And the whole Dwyer and Carpenter kids crew!  We've got some pretty cute kids if you ask me!

I love having the time to catch up with friends over Christmas break!  What a blessing they are to our family!

Final Christmas Party (for this year, anyway)

We have a couple of family Christmas parties planned for after the new year, but we had our final Christmas party in 2016 with friends who are really more like family, the Adams'.  This year, Ashli and Eric hosted as always, there was lots of great food to check out.

The dads discussing something very important, I'm sure. . .

. . . and look at this group of Wellsville women!  We were so excited that the Campbells were able to join us this year as well!

Some silly girls hanging out in Maci's room . . .

 . . . and a couple of those girls were brave enough to face Lincoln in his new game, Pie Face. Violet thought this was about the funniest thing ever!

The handsome grandpas and beautiful grandmas really enjoyed the party.  These are the folks who started all of these lifelong friendships when they became neighbors over 40 years ago! 

What a fun party!  I'm so thankful that we still get together for Christmas each year and I'm so thankful for these friendships!

Continuing Christmas

Our Christmas celebrations continued the day after Christmas at Grandma Cheryl and Grandpa Kermit's house.  Once again, we got the family pictures out of the way early before the kids got too crazy with their cousins.

I can't believe how tall Jackson is getting!  Scott won't admit it, but I think he's now the tallest member of their family.

Then pictures of grandkids with Grandma and Grandpa, as well as with Uncle John.

Love these smiles!

We enjoyed our dinner and held the kids off as long as we could, but they were ready for their presents!  Of course, before any wrapping paper was disturbed, we took time to remember the real Christmas story.  We read out of Luke chapter 2, as well as two prophesies from the Old Testament books of Isaiah and Micah foretelling the birth of our Savior.  Jackson did the honors this year.

My kids waiting not-so-patiently for all of the gifts to be distributed. (And Violet doing her favorite picture pose. Again.)

The littlest girls were SO excited to get their very own ballerina Barbie!  This was the only thing Evelyn actually asked for this year, so good thing Grandma Cheryl came through!

Oliver got an extra-special antique Oliver tractor from Uncle Scottie (similar to the White tractors he got for Grandpa Denny).

Once the gifts were all opened, Grandma had another surprise up her sleeve, or rather on the Christmas tree. There were 9 envelopes on the tree, one bearing each grandkid's name.  What could be in those envelopes??

Say what?!? IFly passes for everyone!!  Oh my goodness were they excited!

This extra special Grandma got some pretty fun gifts, too.  And the plaque couldn't be more accurate: cousins have definitely become best friends at their grandparents' house.

These two especially!  Tuesdays at Grandma's house are Evie's favorite day because her BFF Kyla is there!  They loved playing with their new toys and books together.

Then the girls put on their comfy new Frozen jammies that Grandma got them.  Cozy, cozy, and crazy, crazy!

The entertainment of the evening came in the way of Jack's gift from Uncle John: the Samsung Virtual Reality Gear headset.  We all took turns experiencing the virtual reality, which was pretty amazing. . . and laughing at others as they took their turn!

What a special evening celebrating Jesus' birth with all of my favorite people!  Thank you, Mom and Dad -- We love you so much!!

Santa Claus is Coming to Town!

We left Grandma Jo and Grandpa Denny's and got in our pajamas to do our annual Night Before Santa routine.  St. Nicholas always waits until the morning after Christmas to come to the Dwyer house since we aren't home on Christmas morning.  We got our cookies and milk set out by the fireplace, and Evelyn made sure we turned the fire OFF.  Then we read "Twas the Night Before Christmas" as a family.

These boys are up to something ornery; just look at those smiles!

All ready for bed!  

Looks like he found us yet again! Kindle Fire tablets for everyone!

The boys were up first and had their stockings emptied in no time.

They were excited about their Fire tablets, but Violet was definitely the MOST excited!

Of course, I think she was equally excited about her new Nemo cup.  It doesn't take too much to please this girl.

Santa success!  Four happy children right here!

And the best part?  My house is no more cluttered than it was before Santa came to town! :)