Happy (belated) New Year!

Hi all! I feel like I say this each time I post, but man, it's been a while! Where to begin...

Christmas was nice. The girls actually liked opening gifts this year. Kaitlyn especially liked tearing the paper. We had a Christmas party at my cousins house with my dad's side of the family (minus the hubby). It was so good to see everyone. We all lived semi close, it's too bad we only get together once a year. The girls did fabulous! They were dressed in their cute holiday dresses and played so well. My cousin has a nice big house complete with a rec-room. They played in there mostly. For a lot of the family, this was the first time they'd seen them since the Christmas party the year before.  Here they are in their dresses before we left the house:

We spent Christmas eve at my parent's house (minus the hubby, again). We were there all day. We had fun watching the girls open their gifts and play with their new toys. Among the favorites is a tea set and some maracas. Natalie loved the noise makers and Katie loved the tea set.

My brother wrestling with the toy packaging...

My mom helping Natalie open her stocking...

Maracas!

Natalie chillin' with her noise makers...

 
Christmas day we spent at home. Hubby and I just got the girls a few things since they are still oblivious to the holiday, and we knew the rest of the family would spoil them. The morning we spent by ourselves, then in the afternoon Hubby's family came over for a couple of hours. It was sure nice not to have to go anywhere that day. That's the first year in a long, long time we haven't had to leave the house.

Here's the girls with Hubby's fam...

The girls loved their new blocks, because they make a big mess...

The crayons were a big hit as well. There were big tantrums thrown when it was time to put them away...

Their first masterpiece...

I don't have any pictures of New Year's particularly because the girls went to bed like any other night, Hubby stayed home, and I went to hang out with some friends. It was a real treat to get away for a while.

So far this year our "luck" seems to be improving. With the last couple of years being so challenging, it's nice to not be stressed out ALL the time.

I hope you all had happy holidays and the new year is treating you well!!