2012
Per tradition, we spent Christmas Eve at my Nana’s and Christmas day local. We had a couple of new faces celebrating Christmas…James & Mallorie.
Things got crazy when we tried to do group shots. First group up – the great grandchildren.
Then the grandchildren.
The little kids did their yearly art project.
Since it was getting late for the little ones, they opened their gifts early.
On Christmas day, it was our turn to have everyone over. Danny and the girls came in the morning and C & C and the girls came over in the evening.
Chloe enjoyed her stocking stuffer while sporting her new Christmas sweater.
The little nieces got umbrellas and LOVED them!
Another Christmas in the books!
Last week I was finishing up my wrapping and as soon as I laid the tissue paper down, this happened.
You can see the shirt I have in my hand that I was literally seconds away from putting in the box. (Sorry Chad-that was your box!)
Chloe felt like snuggling all night long. Later on she curled up next to me on the couch.
Every year my family tries to get together to make tamales – a long time family tradition. Unfortunately we were unable to make them last year, so this year we made sure to make it a priority!
Some action shots…
After tamales we spent time hanging out with the littlest family member.
I’m not sure how many tamales we made, less than prior years since we dropped an entire bowl of filling – but regardless we had fun!
Something else went down on tamale day…but that’s another post for another day. 
We’re still alive!! Here are some recent pics from my phone. Most are sent from Crystal.
Below is Hailey getting princess-fied. Love how excited she looks! Mousie was there too but chose to dress up with a sword. #tomboyforlife
We needed a Chloe sitter for one night and C&C agreed to watch her. Quote from Hailey “she’s so exciting to wake up to us”.
The other day I was talking to Hailey and she asked for a surprise. I brought over some strawberry milk straws that the girls enjoyed for breakfast the next day.
And lastly, the older nieces had a slumber party at my house this weekend. Brooky insisted on wearing her penguin beanie to bed.
I can’t believe it’s been almost two weeks!! Lots of pictures to catch up on!
The Sunday after Thanksgiving (the day after mine and Brooky’s races) was Jeff’s Turkey Tri. It was another sprint but this was farther than a normal sprint. We arrived a little late (oops!) and had to park literally 1 mile away. The transition area was set on top of the hill. Jeff went straight there to check in and get marked up.
The water wasn’t too chilly but they let the swimmers wear their wetsuits anyway.
Jeff waited until right before the first wave went before jumping in and warming up. His group was the second to last that went out for the half mile swim. Jeff’s mom and Andrew’s girlfriend both were able to make it to see him off for the swim and then caught him going out for his bike ride!
Swim – 20:08
After the swim was the easy part for Jeff, a 14 mile bike ride.
Bike – 56:02
By now the temps were warming up and Jeff still had a 4.5 mile run in front of him. Here he comes for the final part of the race!
Run – 53:26
He did awesome! Total finishing time 2:18:30, total of 19 miles for the day! Just like his last tri, he was pretty sure this would be his last one. Until 3 days after when he was already looking for his next race. 
