Our Gift to Mom

This year as our gift to Mom, my siblings and I hired Laura and Tyler's good friend to take our pictures. They turned out really well! The only thing I'm disappointed about is that George wasn't able to make it. I guess that's the life of a doctor.

Here are some of my favorites:

All the siblings, in-laws (minus George), and grandkids.

All the grandkids.

Laura with her family

Me and my boys

Siblings!

It was freezing cold and windy that day, so our session wasn't as long as we had planned, but for what we had to work with, it turned out great. Thanks, Sydney, for your great work and artistic eye!

Christmas day 2012

This is what greeted us Christmas morning!

The boys actually slept in until after 8:00 for which the adults were all grateful.

Then the hard part started: waiting for all the adults to be ready. 

In my family, the kids all line up on the stairs to wait to go down. We don't get to see the tree until everyone is together and ready, and then the youngest goes first.

These boys did a great job waiting.

So excited!

The whole group, finally!

This was the first thing Jude saw and grabbed when he walked into the room. He got a Strider from Santa (a little bike with no petals--it teaches balance). He couldn't put it down and kept trying to figure out how to open his other gifts while astride his bike!

Mason got this neat easel with magnetic letters that Cole thought was amazing.

Stockings!

I'm opening a gift from the boys. George took them out and they picked some earrings and bracelets for me all by themselves. I love them!

Cole's obsession has to be cars. He loved these little cars that make noise when he pushed the buttons.

Overwhelmed? Maybe just tired. :)

Book!

Cole loved this. Thanks, Grandma!

Jude got this tiny Nerf gun from Santa. It has to be my favorite gun--it shoots far and fast, is easy to cock, and even Jude can do it by himself. Love it!

George got me this watch to use when I exercise.  I love the color. (Those sunglasses are from Laura and Tyler!)

The boys got George his favorite shaving cream: Nancy Boy.

Sweet! A ball AND some shoes! Thanks, Aunt Amy!

Ha! George got me these pants to wear to the gym. "Squats do a booty good." :) Amen to that!

For Christmas, my siblings and I all got together and had our pictures taken and got some of them framed for my mom.

We made our grandma a collage of our favorite ones for her to take home as well. They turned out really well.

My gift to George. He's been wanting pots like this for a long, long time.

Santa brings the coolest stuff. This toy was a hit with all the kids (even Lance when he came home).

Amy got us this book! It is huge, expensive, and completely wonderful. It has beautiful pictures and many different recipes to try and techniques to learn. (Oh, see that bracelet on my wrist? That's one that the boys picked out for me.)

See what I mean about this toy being a hit?

After all the gifts were opened, we piled into the car and drove to IHOP to have a late breakfast with the family. It was a perfect transition between Christmas morning with the Allreds and Christmas day with the Glass family.

After breakfast, we drove to the Glass's house to celebrate the rest of the day with them.

It was Christmas morning all over again! Jude got a great Perry the Platypus stuffed animal from Nate and our children will never run out of fashionable clothes, thanks to the aunts, uncles, and grandparents. George and I both walked away with some Under Armor sweatshirts/jackets, too. We were overwhelmed and so grateful!

We drove over to Jen's house in the early afternoon to have Christmas dinner. It was an amazing spread as always.

The "kid" table.

The "Grown-up" table.

Jude was so excited about his remote control car he got from Aunt Jen and Uncle Eric. He drove it so much that by that night the batteries were almost dead.

They know Cole well, because they got him some little cars and a race track. Cole played with the cars for probably an hour and even after that kept coming back.

Mason came over and played for about 4 hours while the rest of my family saw Les Miserables together. He was perfect! Oh, and if you're wondering about the movie, I heard you either love it or hate it, there isn't much in between. 

When everyone was full and the kids were playing, Nate broke out his newest game: Cards against Humanity.

It is crazy, vulgar, crude and completely hilarious. You feel like you need to wash your mouth out with soap and go to confession afterwards, but it will have you laughing hysterically the whole time. I don't think it will be making a debut in our house, but I have to guiltily admit it was very, very fun to play.

How can you tell the kids had a great day?

Passed out on his cousin with the goodies of the day smeared all over his face. Yep. It was a great day.

After we left Jen's house, George drove back to Charlottesville yet again because his shift in the ED the next day would start at 7 a.m. Bummer.

The boys and I went back to my mom's house and got to hang out with these fun people:

The Simmons all came over for a few hours. We ate treats, laughed, played games and visited. It was the perfect end to a merry Christmas.

Christmas Eve

The next day was Christmas Eve! George only had to work a half-day, so he came back into town in the early afternoon. He spent the afternoon with his family shopping while I spent it with my family doing Christmas prep. We all got together that evening with the Glass family for an amazing sushi feast. They ordered THREE boats of sushi. Seeing as there were only 7 adults and 1 kid that really ate any, the fact that we demolished most of the sushi is pretty impressive.

Cole thought the chop sticks were fun and tried so hard to imitate the adults.

The coolest thing about this Christmas Eve?

Yep! We got a white Christmas!

Jude thought the snow was great and wouldn't let me go inside after dinner without playing in it for as long as his little hands could handle. This may be the first snow he really remembers.

It was time for the Christmas program! An Allred family tradition, we read the story of the Birth of Christ from Luke and sing corresponding Christmas hymns.

Cole with Uncle Jason

Cole found this little bike ornament and had a great time pushing it all around while we read the program.

"Hark the Herold Angels Sing"

After the program, we read "The Night Before Christmas", as is also tradition. Usually my dad would read it, but since our boys were the only kids awake, we had George do it.

They loved it!

Cole with Grandma. It was special that my grandma got to be here. My boys just love her.

We put the kids to bed and then the real work began. I think George and I were up until close to 3 a.m. The next day was going to come very, very soon!

The Allred's Christmas dinner and Allen's Birthday

We arrived in Ashburn really late Friday night (Dec. 21st). It was going to be a crazy day on Saturday (22nd) because we all had to be ready at 7:30 a.m. to take pictures for our mom's Christmas present, we needed to do last-minute Christmas shopping, AND we had the Allred Christmas dinner scheduled for that evening. Not the best night to only get 5 hours of sleep!

Saturday morning rolled around freezing and windy, but everyone was a good sport, even the kids, and the pictures were taken without a hitch. (I'll post them later.)

Right after the pictures, I had to take Lance to his dad's house because they were flying out that evening to California for a week. Lance was super excited! He loves his Gonda and Dahlquist cousins and he only gets to see them about twice a year, so this was a special treat. I hate that I don't get to be with him on Christmas, but I'm happy for him that he gets to be with people he loves.

Grandma's house was all decked out in beautiful lights and decorations. It didn't take long for Cole to find our little baby Jesus.

It was sweet to see him play with the baby.

We thought George would only have Christmas day off from work, but he somehow worked his magic on the staff and was able to come up Saturday afternoon (22nd) and got to stay through Sunday evening! I couldn't believe our luck, since we were all set to only see him late Christmas Eve and Christmas day. Since he was in town, we were able to be all together for the Allred Christmas dinner Saturday night!

Cornish game hens. Family tradition.

All my siblings were in town, so my kids were in heaven. I love my family!

This fireman's hat was a hit with the kiddos.

Jude found his own special way to wear it.

For the dinner, Jude and Mason got their own special table.

The whole group. Oh yeah! Grandma came into town late Friday night, too. We were so happy to have her!

Again, with me. I have the best family ever!

Later that night, we had chocolate fondu, an Allred family tradition.

Thanks, Amy, for whipping it all up! I for one was so passed out from lack of sleep, I took a couple bites and stumbled my way to bed. Good thing it was still out the next morning. Chocolate for breakfast, anyone?


Allen's Birthday was the next day (23rd) and we celebrated in typical Glass-family style.

Dinner at Longhorn, Allen's idea, was great! It was so fun to be there with the whole family, especially George since we all thought he'd be working that day. Yay!

Birthday boy! I can't believe he's 17 already. I remember when he was 2!

A blurry picture of the whole group.

Longhorn treats their Birthday guests right: Allen got that huge glass full of ice cream, compliments of the restaurant.

Watching Allen eat his ice cream. He offered some to the kiddos, but they were so full they turned it down.

After dinner George drove back to Charlottesville so he could be at work bright and early for his shift the next day.