Christmas 2015

Christmas season started early for us!  It must has been the snow at Thanksgiving but we started decorating earlier than normal:).

The kids sure enjoyed helping us this year!

Living in a neighborhood is so fun!  We had the local fire department come as "Santa" and give the kids candy canes.  Our neighbor is a fire fighter so we knew when to come out and catch the action!

The neighborhood crew!

I also hosted a little pj party where we made nativity scenes instead of gingerbread houses:).

I had a bubble bread mishap....welcome to the life of Katie.  

PS always read ALL the directions!

The kids had a blast.  It was fun to have breakfast, pjs, nativity scenes and a movie which no one watched because they were so busy playing.  So much fun!

For Christmas Gigi wanted some pictures with the kids.  Here they are!

And I thought we were done with Harley Santa pictures but apparently not!  

Christmas 2015

Another tradition is the Santa cruise at Coeur d' Alene!

There was plenty of time to play in the snow!

And time to scooter in the snow?!

Finding clues in the snow.  AKA animal tracks!

Hannah likes to clean off the bushes:). 

Christmas morning is now spent at our house and it couldn't be sweeter!  The kids wake up in their Christmas jammies and we take a picture before all the festivities begin!

Hannah got a microphone!

Daddy serenaded her:).

A Peregrin falcon shirt for our little ornithologist! 

Then it was up to Nana and Pops for breakfast!

I got this shirt for Jared last year in disneyland and it is by far his favorite.  Jared has one facial expression....

Yup, he's pointing to cheeful.  Can't you tell?!

Then it was time to play in the snow!

Jared played outside with them for HOURS!

And they made a fort!

Then it was time for Hopes daily blow out...

Present time!  

Hannah was enjoying her new microphone and high chair.

We had to leave early because Nana and Pops lost power.  Luckily we had just set the meal on the table.  Then we ate quickly and opened present.  It was getting dark quickly!  My favorite memory was Gigi in the bathroom and her light went out (it's an app on our phone) and all we could hear was "Burt!  Burt!  Burt!"  LOL.  She was fine and we gave her light.  We all were ready to leave before it got too dark. 

After we got home, Hudson was ready to pack all his stuff to his room!  

He loved the Sea Scope the most!

Nana took Gigi & Gpa home and Pops and Uncle Joe came down to warm up and have some cocoa.

Jared again picked out his hair and was singing on the microphone.  It had a boo setting and he was booing amazon and zulily.  How sad!

Thank you for the sling shot Uncle Joe!

Mommy snuggles!

Jared and I were able to sneak away one evening for a Clinkerdaggers dinner.  It was so nice to have a meal with my man!

The famous burnt cream.   Jared ordered banana fosters...a favorite of his!

Then we had cinnamon rolls the next morning.  Hannah LOVES cinnamon rolls but she really LOVES to help, especially in the kitchen:).

Reading her new book.

A Hannah sandwich!

Painting his bird house!  He was so excited to do this!

Puzzles have become a favorite family activity.

Then we headed to a Chiefs Hockey Game!

This was my favorite because it was my "brother time."

Nana fed Hopers.

And she conked out on the way home.  Sweet baby girl!

Hot cocoa has become a winter favorite as well!

Or maybe it's the whip cream?

Some of us get sad when the whip cream goes away:(.  

Hannah could paint all day, every day.  

She didn't nap one day and was all tucked out.  I got the benefit of this snuggle and cherished every minute.  What a doll!

Gigi and Gpa time!

Then it was New Years Eve.  Hannah hadn't napped, she tried but just couldn't fall asleep.  I couldn't find her anywhere.  Finally I opened up her closet and found her.

She fell asleep. Minnie, binky and my party girl.  

She woke up and perked up and we headed to the Bolsters for New Years!

This was Instagrams best of nine for the year.  The most liked 9 pictures of 2015.  

Pretty much sums up my year:).

Then it was cousin time!  We headed down to see Grandma and Grandpa.  

We went after Christmas this year.  The kids were able to wear their Christmas pjs altogether.  

Aren't they just adorable?!  

#outtake

We opened some presents and had a fabulous meal together.  I loved snuggling my newest niece Sloane.  She was just the sweetest!  It made me realize how big Hope has gotten:(.  

Hudson was busy putting together his legos the next day:).

We had our large extended Haak family celebration that day.  Sometimes there are so many people we noticed all the kids had escaped to the basement.  Uncle DD enjoys playing Donkey Kong and Hudson looks forward to this every time we see him!  All the kids loved it!

The next day we headed over to see Aunt Tiff and Uncle DD's new home they bought!  The girls loved running in the yard, snow and all!  The house was gorgeous!  So much room to play!

Then it was back to Grandma & Grandpas for a treat.  Hannah loves this tall high chair/stool of Grandmas!

We ended with a classic rolling down of the window saying good bye and then my window wouldn't roll up.  I googled youtube videos on how to fix it, no luck.  Thankfully Hank's mechanic came over and took off the door panel.  He was able to roll it up so we could head home.  Grandma politely offered us some cardboard but I would have rather stayed another night then drive with cardboard:).  Luckily it was fixed enough to get us home.  

The drive was a long, slow one.  It was snowing and icy.  We took it nice and slow.   What normally takes us 3 hours took us over 5.  But we made it safely!  

It was a nice Christmas spent with family. We really tried to slow down this break and focus on what's most important.  Merry Christmas!