This past Saturday may have been New Year's Day, but for us, it was another Christmas celebration. We usually get together with my mom's side of the family the weekend before Christmas, but this year it didn't work out that way. It was our turn to travel to their house, so after ringing in 2011 Friday night, we loaded up our cars and hit the road. Here's a cast of characters. First, my mom and dad on the right, and my mom's sister Kim and her husband Ron on the left.
Here are the boys from my generation. From left to right: cousin Joel, brother Nick, husband Doc, brother Ben, and cousin Roger.
In the girls picture we have me, cousin Rebecca, sister-in-law Beth, cousin Paige (holding Sevens), and sister-in-law Erin.
This last picture was the hardest to get - and you can see why! Here's the youngest generation, from left to right: Parker (2), Jett (5), Bren (2), Carter (2), Gracie (8), Roaney (2), Sevens (1), Neely (4). (I think those are the right ages.)
Talk about a full house! The little people love getting to play with each other. Gender and ages don't matter - the boys fight over the tiara and the girls play with the guns, too. And sometimes, they all end up with a boo-boo.
Bren was the first to need a band-aid for her boo-boo.
Parker, while sharing doritos with Bren, noticed her band-aid and needed one too.
And then, of course, Carter needed one too.
It's a good thing we didn't invite the DFS to our Christmas meal since it looked like we'd been beating the kids.
The girls headed out on a mini shopping trip and left all the kids at home with the boys. I think the kids wore them out!
Luckily, when we got home from our shopping trip, lunch was about ready to be served. We sat down to a delicious meal of steak, potatoes, shrimp, salad, corn, and rolls. It was yummy!
We all waited patiently (sorta) while the kitchen was cleaned up before we could open our gifts.
I got to sit next to Roaney while she opened her presents and guess what she got...a new makeup kit!
She spent the rest of the afternoon turning herself into a beautiful little princess.
New Year's Day is also my uncle's birthday, so we got to have cake to celebrate.
With that many candles, it's extra impressive that he was able to blow them all out!
It was getting to be late in the day so we all stuffed our faces with cake and then hit the road. It was a great end to the Christmas season, even if it did fall in the new year!