Punching balloons

Do you need something to entertain a kid or two for a long time and totally wear them out so they are ready for naps?  Get some punching balloons and have at it!  Who knew?!

A brisk January walk/ride

Lucy got a new bike for Christmas and as fun as it was riding it all around our empty basement, we were all itching for some fresh air and sunshine, so we bundled up really well and went for a walk/bike ride outside at the beginning of January.  We took a little stop at the pond down the block to throw rocks.

New Year's Eve 2014

I really wanted to make New Year's Eve a fun day/night as a family this year.  For the past few years, I have either had a newborn, or a toddler that doesn't sleep at all and screams all day, so I haven't been very excited or motivated by a new year.  This year, however, felt totally different.  I was excited for the New Year, set some goals, and wanted to kick it off with a bang!  I hung up some balloons for the girls and had a time written on each one that had us do something throughout the day.  One was to fill out our New Year's questionnaire, another one was to go bowling, and a glow-in-the-dark bath was included as well.  We found an awesome countdown on YouTube that we used as an early countdown for the kids.  Their celebration was at about 7:30.  Right before we had our little celebration, and totally last-minute, we had the Madsen's come over to join us.  It was a fun, spontaneous countdown and dance party!  Once everyone was gone and the kids were in bed, Ryan and I busted out a bunch of snacks and fake bubbly and hung out until the real countdown at midnight!  It was such a fun day!

The rest of Christmas break

All bundled up for zoo lights!

 Love her cute little crossed feet in her big girl bed!  This isn't an unusual way for her to sleep.

 My parents bot got really sick while they were here so while they were resting and on meds, we took the girls to Dave & Buster's and had a BLAST!  It was so much more fun than I expected (and did I mention free?  Thanks to a gift card from some work meetings that Ryan had there).

 We went to Dayton to the National Museum of the United States Air Force.  This place was also SO fun!  The planes were awesome to see.  And this was free, too!  I thought we would spend an hour or so there, but we spent three hours and still rushed to finish without seeing everything.

Christmas Day

Christmas morning was so fun having kids old enough to get excited about it.  We had them both coe down the stairs at the same time and they both knew exactly which big Santa gift was theirs.  We opened presents and then had our traditional big brunch with a breakfast casserole, cinnamon rolls, fruit, juice, and I'm sure other things that I can't remember.  One of my favorite Christmas traditions.  We then just spent the day relaxing at home, playing with the new things, etc.  My grandpa and Becky stopped by for a few minutes to see what the girls got for presents before heading up to Cleveland again.  It was a great day!  And then, my mom and dad started getting sick and stayed that way the rest of the trip. :(