Off to the the Ho-in-tell

The day after Christmas you could find us in Cincinnati at the CoCo Keys Water park and Hotel or as Mac says it "Ho-in-tell." Mac loved it, went down every slide, the bigger the better. We threw G down one of the smaller slides and he screamed "Never again!" the rest of the time he was content cheering for Mac. A water park is no place for a kid that has water anxiety.





Did I mention Annie took her first steps a couple of weeks ago? She was loving the walking thing until G tackled her. Ever since then she's been a little timid of walking and her playful brother.

Christmas

Christmas morning was exactly how it should have been. The kids woke us up early. We opened a present, played for a bit and then opened the next. It took us over an hour to open everything.
Annie was content eating the one cookie Santa left until she opened her doll. She grabbed it, hugged it and kept patting it's back.
The boys loved everything they got. Especially their animal planet sperm whale and sharks. After opening it Mac excitedly said, "Santa really knows me, I didn't write sperm whale on my list and I got him anyway. He just knew I liked them!"
The morning was topped off by church. Can Christmas be on Sunday every year? I loved getting ready and meeting with people I love, singing Christmas carols and listening to talks about the Savior.
Yes, Christmas was pretty great but we missed our families. I missed having them here to share in all the Christmas joy. Thank heavens for technology- we spent most of the day on face time! Maybe next year we will all be together. Kentucky Christmas everyone? :)

Christmas Eve

I'm mad at myself for not taking enough pictures. Maybe we'll have to reenact our Christmas festivities so I can document them.

Highlights of Christmas Eve...

Dodge-ball/ volleyball: Saturday we reserved the church for some dodge-ball/volleyball. We invited a bunch of families, let the kids loose, blasted Christmas music and just had some good old fun.

Gingerbread houses: Later we went over to a friends house and made more gingerbread houses. These houses were pretty intense. I had to cut Drew off after 2 + hours and he wasn't nearly finished.

Chinese food: we ordered way too much take out Chinese food but ate most of it.

Skype with Elder McAllister: It was so much fun talking with Dave and the rest of the family. It was like we were all together for Christmas.The rest of the night we baked cookies. Sprinkled the lawn with Reindeer food. Read the story of Christ's birth. Opened a couple of presents and then tucked 2 very excited boys in their beds.

Getting into the Christmas Spirit

It seems the Holidays just keep getting better and better. The older the boys get the more aware they are of the Christmas traditions. They helped decorate the house. Mac made a count down to Christmas chain. Breaking a link off was the first thing he did every morning, after which, he announced how many more days until Christmas. Brownie the elf made his way to Kentucky with us and we have loved him here- how am I going to get my kids to do anything once brownie leaves.?:) The boys humored me and only watched Christmas movies and shows. Everyday we looked forward to opening a present for the 12 days of Christmas, "on the 1st day of Christmas my grandparents gave to me..." Family nights were centered around the true meaning of Christmas. Retelling the stories of Jesus and discussing ways we can be more like our Savior.

I love the Christmas season and all the traditions that come with it. Especially the ones that bring my family closer together.

{12 days of Christmas}

{Gingerbread houses}

{Southern Lights}

11 months

Annie is keeping us on our toes. She's one hyper, happy, loud, talkative baby and we can't get enough of her. Here's what our little 11 month old is up to these days.

She waves goodbye...
She loves Top Ramen, but that's expected...
Crawling....
Walking with help...
Making messes and getting into everything- she hits up the toilets daily. We're lucky if the toilets are just full of water when she gets to them.
She gets stuck in the weirdest ways...

Man I love this girl!

Other highlights

Riding Traxx up to Temple Square...

Making Gingerbread houses...

Seeing Santa....
Went to the zoo...

Watching Mac play Just Dance..

#2 Thanksgiving

We spent Thanksgiving Day with the Millar Clan- Grandpa Millar, his kids, their kids, etc... I love this family! They won me over the first time I met them. Some of the nicest, most fun people I have ever met. I feel pretty lucky that we get to see them as much as we do.

Highlights of the day:

Rocket Launching. Grandpa Dad (Drew's Dad) built a rocket launcher that launches paper rockets that the kids make. Mac and G had the highest flyers...they did have some help from Grandpa and Uncle Jed.
Would it be Thanksgiving without football?

Of the 28 Millar grandchildren, 16 are boys. Of the 16 boys, 13 are married and 8 of the 13 had baby girls within the last fourteen months. 5 of the boys are pictured below (from left to right, Trevor (Bridget), BJ (Carley), Jed (Maren Jane), Jeremiah (Quinn), and Drew (Annie). I've said it before - these Millars are some of the manliest (hairiest) men I know. Hopefully the girls won't follow suit :)