And its all over...

I can't ever say it enough...so grateful to have family living relatively close to us!

My brother and sister and their families came to our place after Christmas and we even got a west coaster out here as well, my cousin, Emmaleigh. We had a blast. 

The girls counted down the days to Christmas but then they also counted down the days to when the cousins would be here, I started to question which they were more excited about. 

It all came and went too quickly. As the last car drove away, the girls' moods changed quickly and they were so sad. Doug took advantage of the opportunity and told them, "If you think its fun hanging out with cousins now, just imagine how much fun it would be to go to collage together. You should all make a goal right now to be able to go together, and maybe even live with some of your cousins! That means you need to do really well in school!" I was grateful that he recognized and took advantage of such a great teaching moment.

The Huish family was kind to let us use their house/beds while they were in Arizona so it made the sleeping arrangements more manageable. We wanted to maximize all the adult time together so we'd put all the kids to be at our house, hang out, and then at bedtime the Jensen's and Pratt's went to the Huish's. Luckily, the kids are always exhausted when we get together so they slept well.

Highlights:

Philadelphia- Macy's light show and Dickens Village

Independence Hall

Mint Museum

This time we waited in line for 1 hr 30 min. Luckily it was a great place for the kids to eat  lunch.

One of the scenes that has haunted Paige ever since our family went the first time. We  covered her eyes this time. Ryan did a great job explaining why the "scary" nature was an important to the plot of Christmas Carol.

Ryan and Amber are always so fun, I loved how I caught Ryan in action, ready to jump over the kids.

Watching the light show

Hanging out with these four awesome babes

Ryan and Robbie both got baseball cards from Erika.

Date night. 

I informed the babysitter about two hours before that there would be nine kids. I gave her the option to bring some help or just get good money. She's a good sport.

We went out to eat and then took advantage of the Huish's house so we could play games, without waking the kiddies.

Playing a lot of reverse charades:

And Reverse charades with the kids too!

Wrestling/tickling. 

I think every person got attacked and tickled to death by the whole crew.

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Saturday we visited the Amish market and hung out at Chick-fil-a. The only place to entertain children in Vineland. Great way to be able to chat without interruptions though.

The Pratts went home Sunday, Emm took off Monday. Ryan and Amber took the older kids to the Children's Museum for the New Year's Bash and I stayed home with Syd and Blake to let them [me] get a nap.

New Year's Eve we were all wasted and I hardly put any thought into a party, which is unlike me. We ended up playing games, more reverse charades, with the Jensen, Wrays, James Huish. We even missed the count down- totally lame here! But at least there was a lot of laughter!