December 2011: Christmas and NYE wrap up!

Warning: Picture overload!

Yes, it's that time of year where I wait to post all the holiday pics...partly because I'm too tired and mostly because we are just too busy.  First I have pics from Bryn's class holiday party.  They did a book exchange and holiday meal together, it was so cute!  I snuck into the party and got pictures of Bryn with her classmates and her teachers, Ms. Molly, Ms. Ashanti and Ms. Maddie who she loves dearly...

I took the kids for their Santa pic...maybe one of these days I will not have a screaming child on Santa's lap, but for now the tradition continues :)

 A few days before Christmas, we drove down to Houston to see Nick's family.  We had a fun visit with Steph, Aunt Judy, Carson and Mayce...

 including a massive homemade Italian feast :)

 Grandma always leaves candy out, which I love because it so reminds me of my Grannie's house and how she used to do this too :)

 It was so nice to have Nick off for the week.  The kids got in lots of great play time and snuggling with him...

Beautiful Christmas baby!

Christmas Eve we had dinner with Pops and Nana...

 Liam was so into Christmas this year....he loved the personalized Santa email video, set out cookies and carrots for Santa and Rudolph, and tracked Santa's movement as he got closer to our house...

 Just before bed on Christmas Eve....

 Sibling gift exchange....it was so fun to have JE join us for the holidays this year!

 Christmas morning!!

 After opening everything, her favorite was the puffs and Ritz crackers in her stocking and his favorites were his new Cars, Shu and Miguel (who were only found on ebay, good call Santa) and his new racetrack that he had asked for...

 Santa even got athletic and academic toys ;)

 Making Christmas waffles...

 And after breaking for breakfast, there are more gifts to open!

 Christmas family pictures...yes, when they are older I know they will be saying "Moooom, I can't believe you dressed me like that"...because that's what I say to my mom :)

 Later that day we hung out with Great-grandma Bev and the Janowski's...

 Annual dance party...

 Gingerbread house decorating...

 We had so much fun in Houston, but before we knew it, it was time to come back home for the Renfro family Christmas.  Everyone was in town together which hasn't happened since Feb!  And this was the first time for many of us to meet baby DC!  As you can see we were all really, really excited to see each other...

 Yes our Christmas was full of gifts....

 but more than that it was so full of love and fun with each other...

Okay not a flawless day, but it would have seemed very strange without at least one meltdown between the four kiddos...luckily they didn't disappoint :)

 Everyone got wonderful, thoughtful, sometimes funny gifts...

 The kids and babies had so much fun together...

 My sweet baby nephew...

 Every year, we get matching pajamas (thank you Mallie)...we usually take a group photo, but this year we had fun doing some cute-silly-alcohol infused pics with some very prom inspired poses :)

 The patriarch and matriarch with the youngest member of our now 14 member family...

 Mallie keeps a table of photos with Christmas pics of the grandkids and some of the four of us as well growing up...

 We all stayed a night together in one house...which meant alot of bunking up, including Pres and Liam having their first sleep-over in the same bed.  They were so cute whispering to each other, telling each other how much they missed the other one, and even managed to fall asleep...to wake up giggling the next morning :)

 More time just spent playing with each other.  I am thankful everyday to have such a close, enmeshed family that really enjoys each other, young and old :)

 After finally winding down for the Christmas craziness, it was nice to just have some days off to hang out at our house together.  Nick and I had some friends over for a game night, the kids and I went to a playdate, and Liam and Bryn have really started playing so well together.  Tonight at dinner, Liam leaned over to tell Bryn that she's his best friend too...which I think implies that Bryn must think Liam is her best friend :)  Here they are one day when he offered to give Bryn her baba (even though she pretty much does this on her own)..she was happy to have the help from big brother though...

 Saying goodbye to Alex and Tippy before they drove back to TN/DC...

 For NYE this year, Meha, Rach and I hosted a roaring twenties themed party...it was so fun to dress up and we had a great night with friends...a big thanks to Meha and Nick who helped set-up and made sure that we all had fake cigarettes, yummy cocktails and appetizers, sweet dance tunes, and lots of enthusiasm for flip cup :)

 There were many, many rounds of flip cup outside, but I only managed to catch a pic of the one-one competition held by Nick and Daphne...

 So thankful to close 2011 with such wonderful siblings and friends!  On our last day of the holiday break, we all went to the zoo.  Even though this weather weirds me out because it's so unseasonably warm (and makes me worry about global warming...), it did make for a really nice zoo day...

 Liam and I in front of the llamas...in honor of one of our favorite series "Llama, llama misses mama"...

 Liam was brave enough to ride Matthew the camel with me and then alone...not surprising since lately he tells us he wants to be Diego when he grows up...

 Having so much fun getting to be together!

 Look who's walking around the zoo! (More to come on that in the next post...)

 Love the three big cousins...baby DC was here too sleeping in the stroller...

 Carousel rides...Bryn's first time actually riding on the horse...or lion as it was...

 She LOVED it...so did Aunt Tachy :)

Well we all started back to work and school today, and it honestly wasn't too bad.  The kids were really excited to see their friends and it is nice to be in a routine again.  Wishing everyone a happy and healthy 2012!