We had a wonderful Christmas 2015. It was nice and spread out and mostly relaxing!
I kicked off Christmas week with a night out with friends. Amanda is always so good at staying in touch and I love that about her. Now that the 3 of us are "neighbors" we had been meaning to get together for a playdate, but then we decided to do a wine night :) We went to a super cute place and got the best seat in the house. A table in the back all on it's own right next to the fireplace with comfy chairs. It was perfect! Hopefully we can keep it up on a regular basis. 5 years ago we had a similar meeting to renew our teaching license, crazy how much has changed since then. Coworkers by chance, friends by choice. Love these ladies!
Libby, watching her magical video from Santa
Thank you Maddy, for watching Emma so I could take Sally and Libby to get our nails done for Christmas!
Christmas Eve morning, one of my favorite days of the year. Reid snuck this picture of his girls. It was Rusty's, our elf on the shelf, last day and he left a note that Sally was reading. Emma would even notice Rusty throughout the house and giggle, here she was spotting him too.
When you're the mom you can decide when presents get to be opened. We decided to do the presents Christmas Eve morning so that it wasn't rushed after Christmas Eve dinner, when it's late and the kiddos need to get to bed so Santa can come. This way, we were able to enjoy the gifts throughout the day before getting ready for Mass. It just might become a tradition :)
Dr. Libby--thanks Meggers!
Sally has been asking and asking for a real bunny. We found the next best thing :)
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She has named it Nimbus because it's fluffy like a cumulonimbus cloud
Thank you Uncle Marc for her new Viking Gear! Skol!
Then we got ready for Christmas Eve Mass. Much appreciated the recommendation that we needed to be there by 3:15 for a 4pm Mass. The Bigs and I went early to save seats and get Sally to Choir practice so Daddy could let Emma finish her afternoon nap. By 330, they were already sending people to the "over flow" in the cafeteria and gym.
I had Libby save our seats while I quickly dropped Sally off at Choir, This is how I found her when I came back--such a sweet girl!
Sally's in the front row, 3rd one in. She did great! Brought tears to my eyes when we were going to communion and she is singing her little heart out to Angels We Have Heard On High, just beaming!!
Selfie stick for the win ;) We're still learning
'Twas the night before Christmas!
Watch Emma...
Going in for the polk, Sally will take anything from her, we got lots of giggles
The Girls wanted a turn with the selfie stick
Emma had enough with all of the pictures
Ok, I'll smile, but only if Libby can be as awkward as possible. Sally, always on point
Blasting the Christmas music while we grill steaks and wait for dinner
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Cheers to Christmas Eve--Emma, chuggin' away
Someone LOVED the steak, she would giggle with each serving
Heading up to bed to hopefully wake to Santa having visited
'Twas the Night Before Christmas bedtime story
We had a wonderful Christmas day. A lot of the gifts the girls got were activity based, so we laid low and did different activities with them.
Emma's walking more and more every day. She's starting to choose walking over crawling.
Mid-afternoon we headed to the DeChene's to celebrate with family
Thanks to Angie and Josh for the super fun Minute to Win It games!
Some of the cousins
The 26th we woke up to SNOW! Yay! We've been waiting for something to play with outside!
Reid finally got to try out his new toy! I warned him, if you buy a snowblower it won't snow ;)
Snow angels!
Not sure who loves skating more, the girls or Daddy :)
Around noon on the 26th we finally celebrated Christmas with my family. Cousins, lined up, oldest to youngest to open gifts...Emma was napping
Uncle Joey wanted to play Santa
The adults!
The Kiddos! I know Emma, Mommy's so mean to take so many pictures
Then we headed out to play in the snow and go for a winter wonderland walk!
Thank you to the Atwood's for letting us take over their backyard!
Grandma and George pulling Libby and Bobby up the hill
Walking around the path...makes me so happy to have been able to have room and fun for the whole family and share our home and 'hood!
The crew in the "enchanted forest" Missing a few little ladies as they wanted to hang back and play at the park
Gang's all here! Merry Christmas from the Moran Clan!
Hope you had a Blessed Christmas as well!
We'll continue celebrating tonight with Nana, Grandpa and Aunt Jane!
Quick date night with the hubs, first stop Excelsior Brewery
Cheers to "the old man" who would have been 60!
Teaching the girls to skate...he's a good dad
An attempt to get a picture of the matching sisters...
"Here mom, I'll just hold her"
Picking Sally up from Choir Practice. She's excited to be a part of the choir at Christmas Eve Mass!
They earned screen time with having cooperative behavior! (Sally got a new desk and night stand, thank you Bridget!)
I got to go in to Libby's classroom to read a story for her birthday. Was very thankful to Mrs. A for taking Emma, so Mommy could focus on the Birthday Girl!
Sally and Charlotte's first time at Feed My Starving Children. Many eyes were opened, we had a great experience, we'll be back!
Rockin' our hair nets :)
So much fun!
More skating with Daddy while Libby was at her birthday party
More Christmas Cookies
My peeps are back watching the Eagle's Nest as often as they can
