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Ragnar surprised us a couple days after Christmas and told us that he needed a break and was taking off the first week of January. We were very excited! The kids don't go back until January 8, 2019 so it was nice to have him around since he was gone so much of December and had to work on Christmas day and New year's eve.
New Year's Eve, we went to my brother Chris' house to celebrate his son Crew's birthday. He was turning 4 and Deacon and the kids were excited to come celebrate with him.
He looks so much like my brother, I can't help but smile every time I look at him.
After his party, we went with my parents and Natalie to the Rockets game. They have played every New Year's eve since I can remember Ragnar working there and we finally decided we would join him. We were in a suite and had a nice time together. After the game we went to my parents house to stay the night and put the younger two to bed and stayed to watch the ball drop in New York City and then went to bed just shy of midnight. What can I say, we are not party animals. We went for a walk with my parents on New Years day and then to Red Robin for dinner. We played games and watched football and had a nice relaxing day.
We played a lot of Uno Attack, Go fish, and Cover your Assets card games since the kids got those for Christmas and they loved them. We probably played well over 20 rounds of Go fish! Deacon loved to play while watching sports.
We went to the movies and saw Ralph Breaks the Internet and it was cute enough, probably not my favorite though. It was a nice outing though and we had almost the entire theater to ourselves.
We made it to the Downtown Aquarium to use some of the passes that the kids got from the Kids club at the Rockets. We enjoy exploring there.
The Ferris wheel was fun, but it was a little chilly at the top when they would stop to let us overlook Houston.
Ella loved to feed the Sting Rays and Channing was excited to be brave and touch them as well.
The train to the aquarium tunnel was cool as we got to see sharks and a swordfish.
The family was brave and we all went together on this ride. It wasn't as scary this time as I remember it.
Deacon was tall enough to go this time and he wasn't scared at all, he was pretty excited. Ragnar was also thrilled that he could fit on the ride this time and could go with us!
We saw the white tiger which was cool as well.
Finally we rode the carousel many times and that was fun for the kids.
After lunch at the Aquarium, Ragnar and I were able to catch a temple session.
We tend to go separately a lot, so it was nice to go together.
Finally the last couple days of the break we had Chris' family over for pizza, games, and an outdoor movie. We watched Ferdinand. It was a nice winter break and the kids were ready to go back to school and I was ready for the routine again.
There is always so much excitement as a child building up to Christmas. I wish that excitement continued into adulthood. While, I still love Christmas, there is nothing quite like the anticipation you see in a child.
For Christmas Eve we invited my brother Chris' family, Natalie, and my parents to join us to celebrate.
We had soup and s'mores and brownies and then played games.
We played the saran wrap game where you have to open a present wrapped in saran wrap with gloves and a hat until someone rolls the dice to take it and gets it open. The candy cane game where you see how many candy canes you can get on a plate in 1 minutes with your mouth, and the reindeer game where you have to be the first to blow up 8 balloons and make reindeer antlers out of panty hose.
The kids had fun being silly.
All the Texas grandkids.
Grandma and Grandpa with their grandkids.
Our family on the night before Christmas. We sang hymns and read the Christmas story from the bible and had a fun night as a family.
The next morning Christmas arrived!!
I love the peace and quiet early Christmas morning when all you have is the light from the tree and you are waiting for the kids to wake up to see what Santa brought.
The kids waited for Deck the Halls from Manheim Steamroller to play and they ran downstairs to look for the pickle on the tree. Several years ago someone told us that finding the pickle on Christmas morning was a German tradition and they gave us a pickle ornament and whoever finds it gets to open the first present. Ragnar isn't sure that it is a German tradition, but it is fun anyway.
Deacon was delighted to find the pickle.
The presents begin..
Channing got a vtech watch she wanted, a fingerling, lol dolls, squishamallows, bows, barbies and barbie clothes..etc. (its a lot of fun to buy for a girl her age ;)). Ella only had beanie boos on her Christmas list and a unicorn pillow. So she got both of those and a chrome book as well as she has to do most of her projects from school at home without one.
Deacon got a hotwheels garage, paw patrol characters, a football, soccerball, and a helmet. Cavin got several games, a math game, Battleship, a snake game, an RC car, helmet, a paper airplane making book, canvas' to paint, and many other random fun things. Really they got their present a month early in a new room remodel and bunk beds.
They seemed to be excited and I love their matching pajamas.
The kids enjoy taking selfies.
It was a nice morning together. It was the first time in 5 years we haven't had someone staying with us on Christmas morning, so it was kind of nice to just have our little family together.
Ragnar unfortunately had to work the Rockets game that day, so we went over to my parents house and hung out and had a nice dinner. We put together a puzzle and played games. As you can tell, my dad was done with Channing's watch making so much noise! :) haha
We had a wonderful Christmas and December flew by!
When Ragnar heard that the Aggies were coming to play in Houston, he hit up his friend to get us tickets to go see them. We started the first night of the Winter break from school going to see them play against University of Houston.
They had a great first half and then didn't have enough in them the second half, so we lost. It was fun to see them again. They aren't quite the amazing team we had when Ragnar and I went to school there, but it did bring back great memories of going to all the games together in college. We love Utah State University.
The last couple years the Rockets have thrown a Christmas party for their employees. Lucky for me, I get to accompany Ragnar. This year it was at the Post Oak hotel which is a very nice hotel downtown. We dressed up and went to party!
It is fun to go to a nicer event together as that is not typically our date nights.
He has worked there for long enough that I know most of his coworkers.
He won a money booth ticket so he got $61 in the money booth.
This lady was playing an electric violin on stilts. It was a sight to see ;)
We had a fun evening together.
We got to go to a couple fun things this holiday season to help put us in the Christmas spirit. One of them was to go to a Live Bethlehem that a church about 20 minutes away put together. On the way home we decided to catch a fun home that is known for their lights and the kids enjoyed seeing that and being with friends. Unfortunately, right before we got their a child had gotten hit by a car and was killed so there was a lot of ambulances and life light as we pulled in. The kids tried not to be too distracted, but it was very sad.
Here was the entrance into the small Bethlehem exhibit.
I really love Christmas lights and looking at them. I'm always sad at the end of the season when they are gone.
We got to spend time with our friends the Clarks and the Browns. They are wonderful families!
Three great dads with cute kiddos!
The Sunday before Christmas we made gingerbread houses as Cavin had been begging to. He loves to work on them.
As in years past, the girls did one and the boys had one. The girls is on the right and boys on the left.
Channing had a girl on the back of hers that represented her. She had "orange" hair ;) haha. We love Christmas traditions!
