Lang/Clayton to the Roc

On the Friday after Christmas, we had some special guests arrive...Grandma & Grandpa Lang and the Clayton crew!  They left Thursday night and drove through the night.  They made such good time that they arrived a good hour or two before we expected them and I literally got out of bed and opened the door for our guests.  

Having these guests allowed us to use the second floor of our house, which before this had been hardly utilized.  We had one bedroom nicely outfitted for Grandma & Grandpa and another huge bedroom with two air mattresses and a pack n' play for the Claytons.  It was so great to have everyone under one roof.  

We had a fun day at the house with one nice walk along the canal, while Jason caught up on some sleep.  

On Saturday, we took the kids to Bounce-It-Out and the we headed off to meet the Goforths for a family photo session.  The Johnsons had come in from Pittsburgh the night before.  Parker was not fully cooperative but we did get some decent shots.

The entire group came over to our house that night for a big family dinner.  These kids all have so much fun together!

On Sunday, Mom, Annie, and I got some girl/shopping/lunch time alone (always a treat) and then tag teamed with Greg, Jason, & Dad so they could watch football at a bar that evening.  We had a cookie making session with the kids.  We used the traditional Lang family Christmas Tree Cookie recipe, but made them blue instead.  Then each kid got to pick a shape to use on a sheet of cookies.  Then we decorated them!

On Monday, we went to the Strong Museum of Play.  We have a membership and therefore had some free passes for the family to use.  The museum is wonderful but it was very crowded, so a couple hour visit was plenty.  

That night, we met Papa G out for dinner.

For New Year's Eve, we dusted off the raclette grill for dinner and celebrated the New Year at 8:30 by watching a video from You Tube of London's celebration.  Despite Annie and my best efforts, it appeared the kids thought we had lost it when we started yelling and jumping up and down.

Here are a few more photos & videos of the cousins just playing together.

This video is a little long, but I couldn't bear to trim the beginning and just watching them together, around 1:00 minute is when it gets good

  

Christmas 2013

After our return from Florida, things were pretty hectic to get things in order for Christmas.  Having that vacation in the middle of the month really through my planning skills for a loop.  That is going to be my excuse for the utter lack of documentation on our Christmas 2013.

On Christmas Eve, I was off work so I took Parker for a quick visit to Bounce-it-Out.

That evening, we went to Papa G & Sandy's house for the annual Goforth Family celebration.  Greg has many cousins who all live in the area and most of those cousins have kids of their own, so this family gathering has grown quite large.  Parker was a little shy at first but after the gifts from Santa were given to all of the kiddos, she walked up to every person there to show off her new sparkly necklace.  It was so great to see everyone.  

On Christmas morning, we thought Parker would be so excited to open her presents from Santa and surprised at what was under the tree, but the reaction we got was much more subdued:

Once she started opening the gifts, she got a little more into it.  

On Christmas Day, Papa G and Sandy came over in the evening to open more gifts and have dinner.  It was a nice, relaxing evening (even though my flourless chocolate cake was a little overcooked).