our 2012 christmas

We had such a fun Christmas this year! Having kiddos around makes the season even more special and we really enjoyed lots of time with our families this year.

We started our Christmas kick off in Ankeny with dinner at a friends house, visiting with some old friends that it'd be far too long since we've seen each other.

The following morning we enjoyed Christmas donuts at home and had Christmas as a family of 4. Lily's big gift this year was a play kitchen and she loved it. It was so fun to watch her with her new toys and open the presents. She got to open double the presents because we let her open Preston's too :) Jimmy and I didn't exchange gifts this year because we are taking a trip together in the Spring. We also have a hard time coming up with gift ideas for our parents for us and really don't NEED anything at all so we decided not to get them for each other this year.

karaoke machine

elmo puzzle

little man just hanging out while lily opened his presents

Later that afternoon we packed up the car and hit the road North to the Grover's. We spent the weekend before Christmas and Christmas Eve at the Grover's and had so much fun. We did lots of relaxing, playing in the snow, snowmobiling, movie watching, snow tubing, baking, and just enjoying the company. We got lots of fun gifts and since our kiddos are the only kids in the family on that side, so far, they get plenty of attention :)

lily making play dough with grandma grover

silly girl

my sweeties in their christmas best

our family 

gma & gpa grover with their grandkids

four wheelin' in the snow - lily and jimmy

aunt jalissa & preston

playing her new barbie guitar

one tired little girl - fell asleep at dinner with food in hand!

Late Christmas Eve night we headed to my parents to spend a few days and enjoy Christmas with my family. Again we spent the next few days relaxing, watching old videos, playing games, shopping, and playing outside. There are a few more kiddos on this side so that means things are always a little louder and there's always lots of laughs!

kiddos in their christmas jammies

karoke with cousins

checkers with grandpa

opening presents

happy boy

our family christmas day

upside down but of the 2 smallest cousins - paisley and preston

mom and dad with 5 of their 7 grandkids

grandma and the girls in their matching sweaters

great grandma davis and cousins

great grandma and grandpa dieken and cousins

We ended up staying a few more days than we had maybe originally thought/planned but that allowed us to enjoy lunch with a few friends from high school, a play date with Lily's good little buddy Lily, Jimmy and I to enjoy a rare night out with friends, Danielle and Matt, an impromptu trip to the outlets  with my mom and mother in law, and an anniversary dinner for my parents at yummy brown bottle - a family favorite!

Overall we had such a fun break and really enjoyed our time with our families and Jimmy's time off work. Of course we are still playing a little bit of catch up on things around here since we spent most the time back but that's ok, it was well worth it!

Hope you had a wonderful Christmas as well!

the 2 lily's

mom and dad on their anniversary - 37 years!