Christmas Round #1

Every year, sometime between Christmas and Thanksgiving, my brother and Jon return to MN for a Christmas celebration. This year it happened to fall on their birthday weekend, and we did all we could to pack some fun and celebrating into our time together. 

We started off with a big Christmas ham dinner at our place the night they arrived. The meal was yummy but the time together was even better. I sat at the table extra long that night, taking it all in and enjoying the moment rather than rushing to clean up. I can tell that Regan is getting older, because she too sat around the table, catching up, listening to stories and simply conversing with the family. 

My mom and Lincoln had a mean game of Laser Tag going on, and I came around the corner only to catch this quick photo of my mom :) 

Go mom go! 

Early the next morning we ventured to the big Mall of America where my brother was waiting with his "Birthday outfit". I had no idea what to expect when he let us know the night prior that he had a special gift for all of us....look at him! 

I may have given him grief more than once as he showed up multiple places (all day!) in that silly outfit. Apparently this is what you can wear when you don't care at all what anyone thinks of you :) 

It was a day of "yes", and very little "no". Instead of buying Christmas gifts, Ben and Jon requested to take the kids on a shopping spree. Oh they loved it! The only request was for the kids to pick out things that they wouldn't normally purchase. And we did just that! Sidney found a stupidly expensive squishy and their reply "SURE!". 

Although we didn't come home with these ride-on toys, the kids sure had fun scooting around the toy store, which was packed with people....

Both girls wanted to check out some make up stores so we went into more than one of them. Ryan and Sidney had us all buckled over in laughter when they came across this fun mirror allowing the buyer to test lip colors before buying. 

Ryan looks like he's done this before! 

This is the result of not wanting to try on clothes, and then in putting back on your own sweatshirt, you do so backwards. We made her pose for us with the hood up. 

After a full day at the Mall, both girls had double header dome ball games so we spent the evening cheering them on and entertaining Lincoln while dodging foul balls.
Can't get enough of watching them play. 

They're both continuing to work on their skills in this "off season" and I'm proud of how hard they are working. It was fun to have a little bigger fan club this weekend. 

The next day we went back to MOA and spent the morning at Crayola Experience thanks to some gifted tickets by a dear family friend. The kids played to their heart's content, as did the adults :) We crafted and molded and created for close to two hours. Eventually we walked over to the attached hotel and the kids took advantage of the swimming pool in hopes of wearing out Lincoln for a nice afternoon nap. 

It worked! And when he woke up, he was a TIGER! 

Ha! 

This cutie cracks us up. Whenever we take a picture, we always have to do one of just him. Acting like a tiger. 

It was a delightfully wonderful weekend where memories were built and good times were had. Just what Christmas celebrations should be. 

I'm sad that Hope had to work the night of this family picture.....I might have to figure out how to crop her in!