Christmas and New Years!

Hello everyone and Happy 2010!! What a week we've had. We had quite the adventure with visits to both grandparents for the holidays. But, our busy week started with Christmas Eve. Aidan had a great time getting everything ready for Santa. He made a "letter" for him and put out the milk and cookies by the tree. I was busy all day making more cookies and Kringlas, which Aidan helped with. Kringlas are a family tradition for me so to share it with my son was a treat. I have wonderful memories of my mother and grandmother making them and I hope to someday make them as perfectly as they do. So, after a busy day of preparations, we read Twas the Night before Christmas to Aidan and sent him to bed. Of course, it took forever for him to fall asleep but "Santa" waited patiently. We put out all the presents and tried to get some sleep ourselves. Christmas morning, I videotaped Aidan coming down and finding his presents and stocking, especially his crane from Santa. We all had a great time and some ebelskevers (apologies for the spelling) for breakfast. (A Ross-Boon tradition.) This Christmas so much fun. To see it through the eyes of your children makes it new again. Aidan really understood the concept this year and enjoyed himself. After present opening, it was off to packing and the next day we were off to Iowa. We made a stop in Davenport to see Cynthia and Ron and eat at Ross's, of course. Yum! We were lucky enough to see Melissa and her family and Kelli and Max. It's been awhile since we've seen them, let alone all of them at the same time. Aidan had a blast playing with everyone. And Olivia had "blasts" of her own. Let's just say the antibiotic that she was on didn't sit very well and we had many clothing changes last week, meaning Olivia and the people holding her. But Nana and Grandpa were able to meet up with us in Davenport too so it was a big family get together and very fun. Then off to my folks. Aidan was so excited to be able to play in the snow. And even better, Grandpa found the old toboggan and Aidan went sledding! In fact when we got home Aidan was sad cause all the snow was gone, as he said. :) I don't think we'll be getting 12 inches of snow, sorry Aidan. While at Grandma's, there was play time with Sophie. Aidan always looks forward to seeing his favorite cousin. Julien broke out the Wii. Not only did we get Dad to play (he's a bowling whiz) but, Brian and the girls played too. (It really is a system anyone can play.) It was so funny to see them sword fighting on Sports Resort. Emma and Sophie both wanted to take on their daddy. Olivia got lots of love from Grandma. Like all the grand kids, she loved rolling around with Grandma on her wheelchair. From there we went to Nana and Grandpa's, where we had another Christmas and celebrated New Years. Not only did Nana and Grandpa take Olivia both nights for us, but they watched the kids so we could go to lunch and see a movie. Which we really really appreciated. It was nice to get some sleep and even nicer to have some adult time together. Before we knew it, it was time to come home. As much fun as we had last week, there's something about coming home and sleeping in your own bed again. It may take us a couple days to recover.