Family in Town

We were so glad when Grandma and Grandpa Cox made it in to town safely.  So many other people had been having problems getting where they were going that we were very grateful that their trip went off with out a hitch.  They got in late Sunday and went to Sandi's house for the first couple days.  We met down at Sandi's house for Christmas with Grandma and Grandpa and brunch. (lunch)  I still went to work out in the morning and the delivery with Dan's smoker happened just in time for me to get home, shower and then we were all ready to head down to Sandi's.  The kids had fun opening and exchanging presents with family.  My parents found it amusing since both Sandi and I had gotten some power tools for Christmas, while the guys hadn't gotten any.  

Tuesday morning, we met up at Defy to have fun with the passes from Grandpa.  The kids mostly had a blast!  Anna's knees were bothering her after a bit so she sat down and it wasn't too long before Eileen was tired of the crowds.  All of my kids were sweaty and tired by the time our hour and a half was up.  We had a fun morning together though!  

In the afternoon, we made up Bagna Caulda again to have with the family.  We had lots of fun and lots of food and sang songs together and had fun.  Dan took Evelyn to go watch her friends in the Nutcracker and had a great time together.  Then in the evening, I got to go play water polo!  

Wednesday after working out, we met up with everyone for lunch at Sushi Hana.  My kids all LOVE sushi, and Eileen has convinced my mom, but my Dad and Taz and Kai weren't huge fans - all my dad wanted to eat was rice and all Taz and Kai wanted to eat was fruit. :)  After, the boys went back to Sandi's house and the girls went for pedicures!

James slept over with Taz for a couple nights and Kai slept over here Wednesday night after she went with Evie to an Ice Skating thing her friend had organized.  

Thursday afternoon, we had our Murder Mystery Dinner.  Sandi organized it and planned the menu and stuff.  The older kids and the adults had roles to act out and the younger kids got to act as waiters and servers and we all had a blast.  Those with roles got to dress up and we had fun being silly!  

In the evening, Eileen had a babysitting job and I had water polo.  My dad has been having fun taking the kids on walks to get his steps in.  They all love going for walks with him - even David who complains about walking to school....  lol 

Grandma and Grandpa headed home on Friday.  It was so great to have them come out to visit!  

Saturday was New Year's Eve.  There were lots of plans for New Year's Eve.  Eileen was babysitting again and was not really sorry to miss the noisy party.  We started out the evening at a party at a friends house.  The kids got to hang out with their friends and have a great time.  Then around 9, Dan and I took David and James home.  Evelyn stayed to hang out with her friends and Anna took Aaron and some friends to the youth dance.  David headed to bed when we got home and James immediately got on Roblox and started watching Naruto.  I pulled out my puzzle and got started.  The evening was quiet but nice.  We almost missed midnight!  Then Dan headed to bed while I waited up to make sure all the kids got home safely.  Eileen was the last one home at nearly 2am.  Then just as I was getting ready to climb in to bed, Evelyn threw up.  Something hadn't agreed with her stomach and it came up.  Once she got it all out, she was feeling much better, but there was still a bunch of clean up to do before we could get to bed!  

That made even our later church start time feel early, but we were so glad we went!  The talks and lessons were great!  I was subbing on the organ and things went well and I had a nice chat after with a visitor who was saying nice things and asking questions.  Primary was a bit crazy (which was not really a surprise after last night!  After church, quite a few of us took naps, since we were all tired after last night, but David was bright and chipper and happy!  We had fun playing our new Wingspan expansion and hanging out together.  Now I'm looking forward to bed!