Christmas 2013!

We had a wonderful week in Virginia.  I'm sure I am going to forget a lot of the details, but here is a quick run down of what we did...

Christmas Eve we spent most of the day at Grandma and Robert's house.  The kids enjoyed opening gifts from everyone and we had a wonderful meal, as always.  We also had fun doing the gift exchange.

Christmas Day the kids woke up and were so excited to open presents.  I believe they woke up around their usual time 6:45 or 7.  

This year, the older boys didn't really ask for anything expensive or big, all they wanted was football stuff, so that is what they got!  They were so excited!  Logan's big gift was a Jake and the Neverland Pirates Ship.  The funniest part of opening gifts was when Logan yelled, "This is just what I wanted!"  When Grammy asked him what it was, he said, "I don't know."  He was just so excited to be getting gifts.  I think being a parent on Christmas morning might be even better than being a kid.  It is so fun to see them excited.

After the kids played for a bit, we went to Christmas mass with my parents and then later went to Aunt Julie and Uncle Phil's for Christmas dinner.  The kids did a gift exchange and the adults all did one too.  It is always fun to reveal who had who.  The kids spent a lot of time playing in the basement with their cousins.  They love getting to hang out together.

Leah and Cousin Brandon enjoying their milk.

Logan opening Leah's gift

On the 26th, we went to Aunt Meghan and Miranda's house for brunch.  We got to spend time with Grandpa McLaughlin.  The kids watched a movie and the adults chatted.  Leah took a great nap and then we headed back to Grammy's house.  That evening, my sisters, sister in law Fanchon, and my Mom and her friend all went out to a nice dinner and then to see Flashdance at the Kennedy center.  We went to celebrate Fanchon's new baby coming in March.  We try and do some kind of shower for every baby, even it is just a small get together of just us ladies.  While we did that, Dennis and my Dad took the kids to Julie and Phil's house.  The kids all watched a movie and they ordered pizza.

On the 27th, we met up with Dennis' friend Tasha and her family at the Mall.  The kids played in the play area and we had a nice lunch.

That evening my Mom's whole extended family had their annual party at the hall.  We played games and ate delicious food.  The boys had a blast!

On the 28th we met up with our friends, Mandy and Stephen, and their kids, at the National Zoo for Zoo lights.  We had an awesome dinner before hand and then went there.  The traffic around the zoo was crazy, but once we got in it was real fun.  The lights were cool and they had some exhibits open.  Unfortunately, by the time we got to the rides the lines were crazy so we didn't do those, but it was still a fun evening.

I can't really remember what we did the rest of the weekend.  We met up with Grandpa McLaughlin for breakfast one day.  We also visited with Shane and Lisa and it was fun to see their little ones.  We watched football over at their house.  We also, of course, played Catan at Julie's some evenings.  Oh and Sunday evening, Julie's family, David and Fanchon, and my parents and us all went out to an Italian restaurant we like.  We like it because there is a separate kids room with a TV and a "babysitter" that entertains the kids and takes their orders.  It's nice to have adult conversation without being interrupted or distracted the whole time.

Monday afternoon we hit the road back to Indiana.  We arrived back here at 1am on New Years Eve.  It was a long drive and Leah got a little fussy, but for the most part it went fine.  Dennis and I both felt it was a nice trip to Virginia, not to rushed and we got to see lots of people.  Christmas 2013 was a good one!