Holiday Recap

This year for Christmas we headed to the east side of the state to celebrate with Ben's parents and family.  We were gone for almost 2 weeks and we had a great time.  We left Seattle just in the nick of time- we barely escaped the huge storm that hit here, to arrive in Tri-Cities just in time for a few snow storms over there.

The kids had a blast in the snow and wasted no time getting bundled up and going sledding, many times.

They loved it!

Ben was so excited to have 2 weeks off from work and didn't let the snow stop him from going hunting 3 times!

On Christmas Eve day, we had a few errands to run at Walmart (yes, we really went to Walmart on Christmas Eve, and yes it was terrible).  The kids found some reindeer antlers and kept themselves entertained despite the horrible crowds and lines.

You know Dasher, and Dancer and Mitchell and Chloe.....

For Christmas Eve night, we enjoyed extended family over and had lots of yummy food and fun.  Mitchell enjoyed the olives!

Our attempt at a Christmas Eve family photo- Chloe now closes her eyes when she smiles and Mitch was, obviously, not happy.  But Mom and Dad just keep smiling......

All ready for Santa to come in their matching red pj's.......

Chloe showing off all the presents for the eight of us who opened them.

Christmas morning was so much fun.  Christmas is so enjoyable with kids and I much preferred to watch Chloe and Mitch open their gifts than to open mine.

The only thing Chloe wanted Santa to bring her was an umbrella.  She was so excited to see that he had left her one in her stocking.

When she saw it, she gasped, then turned to me and said, "Wow, Mom!  I didn't even tell him I wanted it and he STILL brought it."  (She wouldn't sit on Santa's lap or talk to him to tell him what she wanted this year....) Amazing!  If I know Santa, and I think I do, I'm sure he's just so glad that all she asked for was an umbrella....... I'm not sure what he'll do when her requests become bigger and more expensive!

Mitchell received this fun little car/bike from Nana and Papa and it was a hit with everyone, adults included.  You simply sit on it, put her feet up and the car moves by just steering. 

Mitchell was actually not really interested in anything at all.  He didn't want to open gifts or really do anything except crawl away and whine.  He'd only open something if we grabbed him and held him.

He finally got so cranky that we just fed him breakfast and put him to bed.

All the Andros men, showing off their matching baseball shirts.

Ben's brother Nick, who is going to dental school in New York City, gave our family matching T-shirts.  We really do love New York, but we would love it even more if we could go visit him there!  (Someday, we hope...)

Chloe loved her book with the magic pen that when you tap the words on the page with the pen, it reads the story to you.

The day after Christmas, Ben, his parents and two brothers all flew to Los Angeles for Nick's wedding.  With all the terrible snow storms, they barely made it in time for the wedding the next morning.  Here is the groom and his beautiful bride Cris just outside the LA temple.

The day after the wedding, they all got to tour Hollywood a bit.  Here is Ben with Dora the Explorer.  I'm not sure what he's asking her to do, but I'm sure if he would have said, "Vamos, Dora!" she would have done it.

If you look closely, the Hollywood sign is between them.  (And yes, it was warm and beautifully sunny there while we all had snow and cold).

We had a wonderful time and all the fun definitely wore the kids out!  Chloe fell asleep in a shopping cart more than one time this vacation.  Once at Walmart on Christmas Eve, and...

Once at Sportsman's Wearhouse the week after.

Mitch was exhausted too!

We rang in the New Year by celebrating Megan's birthday on New Year's Eve.  Happy 33rd!  We all enjoyed the amazing chocolate cake from Costco that evening- our last hurrah (food wise) before the Looking Fine in '09 challenge began.  

This was the view at Snoqualmie Pass as we drove home...... beautiful!

Happy New Year!