Seeing the Sibley Lights!

Well finally, with only one night to spare,  we made our way to see the lights at Sibley park!

2013 Kawanis Lights

We had tried a few times before but we either ran out of time in the night or it was too cold or the line was too long, or in the case of last night Avery fell asleep on the side of the park without the lights and didn't want to wake up. But tonight, we made it, dressed in our snow clothes from skiing we walked around the barn area and looked for any animals (which there were none) and saw all the lights (which there were a ton)!

Enjoying the lights!

Winter Wonder Land In White!

Counting all the blue Lights!

It was a lovely snowy night, perfect to see the lights, a perfect way to start wrapping up 2013 and getting ready for 2014!

Family Festivities (Final Round)

I never get tired of seeing the joy and excitement on Avery's face with each gift he opens this holiday! And what makes my heart smile even more is how much he appreciates and loves each one, and wants to play with them, temporally forgetting about the other gifts he still has to unwrap!

Present delivery!

Unwrapping one last gift

I also had to laugh, because Avery's favorite color might be Blue, but you would have never known after today, you would have thought it was Yellow and Black!

Merry Truck-mass!

More yellow and black!

Avery said something this Christmas that was really sweet, when I asked if he got what he wanted for Christmas, he replied, "I got just the right amount of presents."

Santa!

Avery made the nice list!

 Santa came! And what did he leave our good boy? 

Well a nice ornament with a "Big A"

"Big A" Santa

Some vintage roller skates!

Roller Skates!

Later Mom!

And the much awaited Garbage Truck!!!!

The crown jewel of Christmas

So proud!

Silly Daddy - just open the box!

Time to play,  I mean work!

Merry Christmas Avery!

Family Festivities (Round 2)

Avery got to celebrate Christmas Eve with more family, more food and of course more presents! With cousins so close in age it is always a good time when they all get together!

This big one is for me!!!

So excited!

Bulldozer!!!!

Daddy & his silly boy!

Papa Terry, GG and the Grand kids Christmas 2013

Merry Truck-mass from Avery!

May Your Holidays Sparkle and Shine!

Well this year I though of a really creative and fun holiday card, one I had NOT ever seen on pintrest! A fun line, "may your holidays sparkle and shine" paired with a picture of Avery and a sparkler with sparklers tied to every card. And it turned out just the way I wanted!!

May your Holidays SPARKLE and shine!

The pictures were fun to take and the concept was great ......

front of the card

back of the card

Sparkler fun!

More Sparkler fun!

but...mailing sparklers...maybe not such a good idea...So to those of you that got smashed sparklers in a card from us....sorry...

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Santa's First Stop

Santa was here!

 Well it turns out Avery was on the nice list..... Santa made an early stop at Grammy and Papa's house and left him a stocking full of goodies, the highlights include a giant apple and some more pieces to his train set!!!

More train pieces!

Family Festivities (Round 1)

Avery started his family festivities this Saturday with my family.

 

Our routine starts with, lunch, out, this year was the Red Lobster, same as last year.

Checking out the lobsters with Papa

Avery needed a better view

Grammy, a silly shrimp stealing boy and Papa

The kids like to go there to see the lobsters in the tank, and again this year the staff there was nice enough to take one out and show it to Avery. Avery had no interest in touching it (maybe next year). After lunch sometimes there is last minute shopping to do but this year it was nap time!

Pre-present Nap!

Good thing too, because that meant everyone was rested for the main event, Presents!!!!
With four little kids the joy of opening presents I am sure could be heard down the block!

All ready to unwrap

Let the unwrapping begin!

Opening his new Camera!

Trying on his new hat Grammy made

 After Avery helped hand out the presents he sat down and started opening his pile. With each box unwrapped he grew more and more excited and wanted to play with everything.

Open my train mommy

Building a track

End of the line...

But settled on playing with his new wooden train set first! Then it was time to get out his new camera and take some family pictures! I took some too, just in case :)

Family!!!

Avery & Mommy

Grammy, Avery, Papa

After that it was time for snacks (aka supper) which was followed by some dancing and singing and more playing....

Trying out his new game

Play doh before bed!

....then it was time for bed, so that Santa could come!

Christmas Crafts!

For the last 2 Christmas' "Avery" (with lots of help) has made handmade gifts for GG & Grammy, and this year, his third Christmas Avery make his presents all by himself (mostly)!
Not wanting to have Avery's first solo project be too hard, I went with some simple paper ornaments  and some paint.

Practicing before we get out the paint!

Rudolf stopped by to paint too!

Hard at work on his masterpieces!

So not only was there paint, but there was also Glitter and Sparkles! And yes my house is now covered in them both!

Shake, Shake, Shake

Inspecting his work

Adding some sparkle!

The aftermath!

It was messy but it was fun!  And they turned out wonderful!

2013 Hand Painted Ornaments

Love how they turned out!

And hand painted Frames!