We celebrated New Years Eve at our house this year with my parents and Matt and Ellie.  I kept thinking we weren’t going to have enough food, but as it usually goes there was way too much.  The kitchen counters were full of food and the table was full too.

Everyone getting some yummy food to eat.

Group picture… I think Hunter was trying to figure out what was going on.

Silly group picture… Hunter is still trying to figure out what’s going on and Brady is sticking his tongue out at us

Hunter got this beautiful quilt from Aunt Ellie and Uncle Matt for Christmas.  Aunt Ellie made it for him and it matches his room perfectly.  And obviously, he loves it!

We played some fun games together.  Here are Hailey and Pa working together playing Scattergories,  It was lots of fun!  Hunter woke up while we were playing this and decided not to go back to sleep.  I guess he knows a good party when he sees/hears one hahaha.  Someone (fairies, possibly) cleaned up the whole kitchen and all the food while I tried unsuccessfully to get Hunter to go back to sleep.  What a nice surprise.  We all watched the ball drop and rang in the new year together.  It was a fun party.  Happy New Year!!

I loved having Hailey home with me everyday for Christmas vacation.  I know some parents like it when their kids are at school, but I love having her home.  Anyways, we had a lot of fun over her Christmas vacation, which went by way too fast.  Here are some pictures of the fun:

Hailey asked for lots of Lego Friends for Christmas and she got quite a few sets.  The first one she wanted to do was Olivia’s House.  It was the biggest set she got, 695 pieces, and she decided that she wanted to do it completely by herself.  She worked and worked on it.

Hunter loving one of his new toys.

Hailey made these delicious cupcakes in her new Easy Bake Oven.

She tested one to see if it was good (it was).

Hailey with the completed Olivia’s House, front view.

And back view.  She worked so hard and there is so much detail in these sets.  I was proud of her for doing it all by herself!

We had some snow, so I wanted Hunter to get to go outside and experience playing in it for the first time.

He thought it was interesting for a few minutes.  He got tired of it pretty quickly.  The snow was pretty deep and he fell over every time he tried to stand up, so he didn’t last very long in the snow.

Hailey loves playing in the snow.

Trying to avoid a snowball that Rich threw at her.

Hunter all ready to cheer on the Vikings… the outfit must have worked because they won!

I was so excited about Christmas this year!  Since Hunter just turned 1, I knew he was going to be fun this year.  And of course, Hailey is 6 and that is fun age too!

Hailey and Hunter on Christmas Eve, all ready for an evening of fun.  First they each opened up 2 presents (new Christmas pjs and a new Christmas book, a tradition that we do every year).  Then we went out to dinner with my parents and my brother Mike.  After dinner we went to my Aunt Winnie’s house for our annual Christmas Eve celebration.  I took a few pictures there but none were great, so the one above is all I have from Christmas Eve.

Hailey watched all the way home to see if she could spot Santa and she was pretty sure she some something   When we got home we got our cookies ready for Santa and then Hailey went right to bed.

Cookies for Santa- Hailey picked out one stocking cookie for each family member for Santa to eat.

Looks like Santa stopped by!

Stockings

On Christmas morning Hailey and Hunter slept in until about 7:30am.  I was awake before they were, wondering when everyone was going to wake up!

Hailey was pretty excited to see all the presents that Santa left.  She divided them and then the kids got busy opening their gifts.

Hunter opening one of his presents.

Hailey working on her pile of gifts.

Hunter wasn’t really sure what to think!

Yay!  Lego friends!!

Hunter enjoyed standing on his gifts.

After the gifts were all opened, Hunter took a nap while Hailey played with some new toys.  Then it was time to get ready to go see all the grandparents.

Hunter and Hailey all ready to go.

We went to Rich’s parents’ house first and exchanged gifts there.  After that we went to my parents’ house.  We ate dinner and then opened some more gifts.

Hailey was excited when it was finally time to open presents!

Hailey’s number one request this year was a tablet and that was all we heard about!  She didn’t get one from us or from Santa or from Rich’s parents, so she was starting to get worried that she wasn’t getting one.  She was so happy when she opened one up from Grandma and Pa!  At first she didn’t know what it was since it was in the box, but once she realized what it was she was soooo happy!

Hailey spent lots of time playing with her new tablet.

Hunter seemed to enjoy Grandma’s new carpet that she got for the middle of the living room.

We had such a wonderful Christmas!!  It was a busy but fun filled day!

I can’t believe a year has already come and gone… but it has, so we celebrated Hunter’s 1st birthday over the weekend.

Here are some of the decorations from the party:

Pictures from Hunter’s first year.

The dining room all decorated with a Toy Story theme.

Dining room

A few decorations in the living room.

Happy Birthday!

Alien marshmallow pops

Santa Hats (this had nothing to do with Toy Story, but they were cute and super delicious!)

Sheriff badge cookies

Hunter all ready for his party… waiting for the guests to arrive.

The birthday cake

Hunter enjoyed having everyone sing Happy Birthday to him

Hunter’s cake… he wasn’t sure what to do with it.

He finally dug in, although he didn’t eat much of it he seemed to like playing with it.

Hunter opened up his presents (with some help from Hailey).  He loved all of his gifts.

Hunter had a great first birthday party!  He had his grandparents and lots of aunts, uncles and cousins here to help him celebrate.  We’re so thankful for so many people who love him!!