Christmas in Edwardsville

On New Year's Day we traveled to Edwardsville to celebrate the holidays with Grammy (Kim) and Grandpa Brett. Here is Ethan helping Grandpa Brett open the present that Ethan picked out for him. It was a small basketball to hold change. Ethan was once again so proud of this gift!

Grammy holding "Catty-Cat" that Olivia selected (and named) for her from the holiday store. Olivia picked this just for Grammy to go in her room of stuffed animals (for the grandkids).

One of Ethan's presents was literally taller than him! (an art desk)

Olivia holding her mosaic tile art project.

A guitar from Uncle Brennan - very appropriate!

Uncle Matt (visiting from California), Joe, Olivia, and (when he felt like it) Ethan playing Wii after lunch. The kids highly recommend Toy Story Mania!

Ethan and Grammy.

Olivia and Grandpa Brett.

Uncle Matt with Ethan and Olivia. I know that Ethan's face is a bit blurry, but this was the only picture of the three of them with Ethan's face actually in it. After this picture, he buried his head in the chair and only wanted me to take a picture of his bottom, not his face. Isn't he too young for this type of humor??

New Year's Eve Fun

We spent a fun New Year's Eve morning sledding with good friends Dominic and Michael and mom Kara. As shocking as it may seem, my kids had never actually been sledding! We have just pulled them on the sled, but never down a hill (of any significant size). Time to fix that! Olivia absolutely loved sledding, which I guess shouldn't be a surprise since she loves water slides and the concept is the same. Ethan was a good sport and went down the hill two times before deciding that sledding was not his thing.

Here is Olivia after her first time down. We went to a hill in Washington Park, and had the entire place to ourselves for the majority of our time.

Ethan (with Kara keeping him steady) ready for his first trip down.

Olivia, Dominic, and Ethan all did great jobs pulling the sleds to the top themselves.

Ethan decided that snowball fights are more fun than sledding.

Snowball fight! Being the good mom that I am, I accidentally got Ethan right in the face with a snowball. That was a bit traumatic for him, but he recovered nicely.

Olivia at the end of sledding time. Quite the pink cheeks!

Our New Year's Eve was very low key. Some silly hats and noise makers. Homemade risotto and chocolate souffle. Sparkling cider. Watching one last Christmas movie. The main excitement was when I burned my hand on the souffle pan. I had just taken it out of a 400* oven, and without thinking I grabbed the handle with my bare hand. I have four blisters on my right hand (one of which is the size of a quarter!) and I continue to wrap it due to the raw skin. So, instead of sipping champagne in front of a fire, Joe had to wash all of the dishes and make a run to Walgreens for some cream. My resolution is to make smarter decisions in the future!

Cheers!