Christmas

 Christmas is such a magical day with little children. I look forward to it all year. 

This year the kids slept in a bit since we had a late night the night before. Then they burst through the wrapping paper wall and scampered down the stairs to see what Santa brought. 

 Tate was a big fan of the hoop!

 The main gifts from Santa this year were the hoop and a big Duplo set, and the kids had fun with both.

 Last year we got together with Jake and Tyra's family for Christmas brunch and our kids had fun running around with their cousins. But this year we did our own thing since Jake and Tyra are in the process of moving to Chicago and were away on Christmas. (We are going to miss having them close by - especially on holidays when it's so nice to be with family!)

 Bryn's favorite gift was the "Princess Celestia" pony that she's been wanting for a long time.

 My boys!

 Tate loved Christmas day. The wrapping paper, bows, crawling under the tree and getting into mischief. His last day of wreaking havoc with the Christmas tree ornaments before I put the tree away on Christmas night... haha! 

Mya's favorite gifts were fresh art supplies and coloring books.

Later on, we got together with some friends for a delicious Christmas dinner and game night. It was a great Christmas!

Christmas Eve

 We spent Christmas Eve with some of our good friends from church: the Thomas family, Hibbs family, Comparetto family, and the Ure family. We always miss family at Christmas time, but thank goodness for dear friends who feel like family! I didn't take many pictures, but here are a few blurry pictures to document a few parts of the fun night. 

 Bryn and Mya being silly during the candy game.

 Bryn was the angel in the Nativity just like last year. This year she added a fur coat to her angel costume to add a little more drama to her role. 

I love these cute kids that my children get to be friends with.

 Laps full of sweet kids who feel more like nieces and nephews. 

 Maddie loves babies and somehow put Tate into a trance. He never cuddles like this with anyone besides Josh and I, but somehow Maddie got him to lay on her lap for a long time. 

 Afterwards we put the kids to bed and got ready for Christmas. After many years of girly gifts at Christmas, Josh was so pleased that Santa brought a basketball hoop this year. I think Josh has used it as much as the kids have :)

NYC Christmas Trip

 The week before Christmas we skipped work and school and made the 40 minute drive into Manhatten for a fun family day in the city. We did over seven miles of walking as we tried to fit in as much fun as we could. Three cheers for well-behaved kids who lasted all day and allowed us to pack in a lot of good stuff! We had such a good time...

 First stop: The Rockefeller Tree

 Rockefeller Center on the left, Plaza Hotel on the right

Gorgeous decor between Saks 5th Ave and the Rockefeller Center

Beautiful St. Patrick's Cathedral

The Nativity at St. Patrick's Cathedral

The girls went nuts at the American Girl Store. Three floors of American Girl goodness. Bryn has been saving up her money for an American Girl doll or a Bitty Baby, so she was in heaven. It got her even more motivated to do jobs all day to earn enough money.

 We walked up 5th Avenue to check out more of the Christmas store windows. Our favorite displays were the ones at Bergdorf Goodman. So pretty!

 Luckily, we went on a weekday and we went early enough in the day that 5th Avenue really wasn't that crowded. We pushed around our double stroller without any trouble at all. 

 There were fun Christmas decorations all throughout the city. 

 It was such a beautiful day (weather in the 60's) that we ended up spending a lot of time in Central Park, walking around and playing at the playgrounds. 

 Most of our time in Central Park was spent at the Adventure Playground. All three kids loved it!

Bryn and Mya were so funny playing Charades on this little dome. I love watching them play together and become such great buddies.

 Sheep Meadow

 It started getting dark as we were leaving the park and it was beautiful to watch the sunset over the city skyline. 

We had a tasty meal at one of Josh's favorite NYC restaurants: Dig Inn. I'm a fan! The girls thought it was fun to sit at the window and look out at the busy street and all the pedestrians. 

Later on we walked down 5th Avenue and got the most delicious hot chocolate at the City Bakery. We shared two cups between the four of us because it was so rich and creamy. The homemade marshmallows made it even more amazing. 

 The NYC Public Library

 The fun Christmas displays at Macy's on 5th Ave.

The girls had just seen the Peanuts movie with Josh a few weeks ago, so they loved seeing all the Charlie Brown windows.

We went to the Rockefeller Tree once more to see it all lit up at night. Beautiful!

Lighted archways in front of the window displays at Lord and Taylor on 5th Ave.

And a silly Tate who was such a champ, just chilling in his stroller for hours on end.

The Empire State building

What a fun day as a family! We love living so close to New York City and being able to take advantage of all the fun things going on here. The girls haven't stopped talking about the fun time they had and that makes me so happy. It was totally worth the $115 parking ticket that we got that day :)