Nov & Dec Recap

By comparison to Sept & October, November was pretty quiet.

November 2012
We had some incredible family photos taken by WildClover Photography. We did a short & chilly outdoor session. We only had 20 minutes with them (mini-session), but they really did a great job capturing us in that amount of time. Those ladies are AMAZING! I'd highly recommend them.
Here are a few of the photos by WildClover:

We were also lucky enough to celebrate Thanksgiving twice. The first was Nov 17, when our friends Deb & Eric hosted our traditional Friends Thanksgiving. The turn out this year was huge! There were 20 adults and 18 kids in attendance.  Eric is amazing in the kitchen and was able to pull off cooking a giant turkey with all the fixin's seamlessly.

On Thanksgiving day, we went down to my brother and sister-in-laws. Mike and Maureen are also amazing hosts, and we've been doing Thanksgiving with them for the last few years. We had another spectacular meal, and Maureen cooked two turkeys so that we'd all have leftovers to take with us. We are so lucky to have such awesome family members so close by.

December 2012
December flew by in a blur! We attended fun Christmas parties, decorated and did a ton of baking. However, in between all that I am proud to say that Corey earned is Orange belt in Moo Gong Do. He was thrilled that Nanna and Grandpa were able to attend his belt ceremony. I can't begin to tell you how proud we are!

Proud Grandpa with new Orange belt

This kid is *amazing*

We had a wonderful Christmas. We traveled to my parents  for Christmas Eve & Christmas Day. The kids adore opening presents with their cousins. Santa came through with all the right things...particularly a skateboard for Corey (yikes!) and a Nintendo DS for Alexandra. On the 26th we were lucky enough to have ALL my siblings and their families get together at my parents. We also took up the whole back room at Teo's the local & beloved hotdog joint.

Corey trying on his leather jacket

Look at that pile of presents!

At Teo's!

JJ experiences his first Teo's dog!

David helps out his cousin

 Then we headed off to see Ivan's mom and sister & got to celebrate Christmas all over again!

Grammy helps Alex open a gift

Lucky kids! Two Christmases!

While we were there we also got the chance to see Ivan's step-mom & step-sister. So much fun!

Gramma Sue & Corey

Alex adores Aunt Billie!

We rang in the New Year with a quiet night at home with Deb, Eric & Mary. I will confess that we did our toast at 9:30pm & were all in bed by midnight! Happy New Year!