New Year's In TN!

After we left FL we drove to TN to see our other side of the family to ring in the New Year!  Looks like those matching PJ's still fit some of the family from a few years ago!

Unfortunately I forgot mine :(  But Mama Kay and Aunt Domi had theirs!

I think Paul and Papa actually had theirs too, but they weren't around for this picture (or they weren't in their PJ's at that time).

New Year's Eve...we poured some bubbly (sparkling grape juice for the kids)...

And had a countdown to midnight (or 9:00).

Unfortunately, Juju couldn't even make it to 9:00!  We went to mass, then out to dinner, and on the way home she fell asleep and wasn't even woken up by changing into PJ's!  So, we whispered Happy New Year's and put her to bed.  But here is the rest of our family ringing in the new year (well, at 9:00 anyway, which was already very late for these kids!). 

Since we were all up so late, the next day involved a lot of relaxing cuddle time...

And some movie watching and iPad game playing...

And then some more cuddle time...

We had a great few days in TN, which wrapped up a wonderful Christmas vacation.  We love you all - thank you so much for everything!  Happy New Year!  We are looking forward to everything 2013 is going to bring us!

Alligator Farm

On our last day we decided to go down to the Alligator Farm in St. Augustine.  Check out this albino alligator!   

Check out that huge one behind Juliette, Abbey and Madgie!

My three little amigos on a big gator!

Juliette thought the scales on his tail looked like steps, so Patch helped her walk on the steps!

Ben and Abbey found a Budha!

Juju and Mommy!

Add in Madgie too!

I just love pictures like this...so cute!

Ben, Patch and Abbey were brave enough to pet a snake!

Then Juju and I did it too!

 

AHHHH!!!!

Whew, don't worry guys, Patch has got this one!

Check out that dangerous animal!

Most of our crew...

There was an area where you could pay 25 cents and get some gator food to throw down to the hundreds of gators swimming in the water below.  It was actually pretty neat.  Once we ran out of quarters though, Abbey got crafty.  She stood next to the machine and any time a person bought some she would quickly grab up any that fell on the ground that they didn't catch!  It was pretty funny to watch her do it, but then I had to stop her and let the people get all of the food they paid for!  Good idea though Abbey!

 

Just a cute shot of Abbs...

 

And that wrapped up our trip.  The next morning we got up early and drove to TN where we had a nice visit with Mama Kay and Papa (more on that to come).  Thank you Madgie and Patch for a fantastic Christmas.  Everything was wonderful, we had so much fun, and we already miss you again so much!  Love you all!

Cars and Rockets

Even though everyone else left, we still had a few days to stay and play! Once the kids got a little tired and restless of playing with their new toys, we decided to get out Patch's toys...

Just two guys going for a ride around the neighborhood in a corvette...

Then it was time to take out the Delorean...keep it under 88 mph please!

Juju's turn!

Abbey's turn...

My turn with Juju in the white corvette!

But the red one is my favorite!  This is the one we drove away from our wedding in and was Patch's 1st corvette!  Note, he also has a black one, but that one is currently being worked on and can't be driven.  And I don't remember what years these cars are either, but all in the 60's and 70's I think.

Then we drove the cars up to an empty lot to play with another new Christmas toy.  This is just a cool shot of the cars I thought.

Ben got a model rocket for Christmas, just like the one we launched for Tiger Scouts.  Daddy and Patch set it up...

Then it was time for lift off!!

It had a parachute that would deploy and the kids would race after it trying to catch it.  The rocket actually goes really high.  We did it over and over again and one time the parachute did not deploy...this is how we found it...

It was very cool though!

Then it was time to get squishy back in the car and go home...

What a fun afternoon!

Christmas Day continues

After all the presents were opened, it was time to really play with everything! Madgie took some time to read a new book to the girls...

Paul and Patch made the Christmas dinner to give Madgie a break.  Although I look skeptical in this picture, I promise I wasn't.  Everything turned out delicious!  Making the dinner was not an easy task when you consider we had 19 people there!  Uncle Al came over for dinner too, although I did not get any pictures of him unfortunately :(  But we were very glad he was there!!

The kids toasting Christmas with their kids wine!

Cheers!

The kids serioualy could not get enough of their cousin.  And I could not get enough of taking pictures of them with their cousin!

 

Uncle Paul finally got a turn to hold him!

Patch and Juju play with one of her new toys!

The day after Christmas Uncle Chris had to leave for work unfortunately...better get a quick picture before he leaves!

Luckily, Aunt Ginny and Baby Brendan stayed for a few more days, much to the delight of the kids who got to keep playing with Brendan (and Aunt Ginny too of course!).

 

Nana and GrandPatch left next :(

And then Mimi :(

The house sure was quiet.  I rocked Baby Brendan to sleep and then my baby wanted some cuddling too...

Then we finally got around to making that gingerbread house!

Ben's side...

The girls' side was a bit more haphazard with the decorations, but still very nice...

Thanks so much to Nana, GrandPatch, Mimi and Uncle Chris, Aunt Ginny and Baby Brendan for coming down to spend Christmas together!  We had such a great time seeing everyone and wish we could see you all way more often than we do!  Love you all!