Capping off 2012

The last 10 days have been eventful, with Christmas taking the spotlight of course!
Brandon had his birthday on the 20th, and we took him out for supper at his favorite restaurant where his god parents and their kids met us as well.  He had some presents to open and we all had cake.  Later next week he will have some friends over for a bit of a birthday party for him.  He had a great night.

Brandon's favorite TV show is "The Big Bang Theory"

A Big Bang Snuggie for his movie nights

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Besides the "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" book series, Brandon's fav reads are Goosebumps books.

Harry Potter mug and a Harry Potter cookbook

We then also said goodbye to George, as we went to Outlook on the weekend for an early Christmas and couldn't take him with us.  He went back to the north pole with Santa on Christmas Eve and won't return until next December.  He had a few more tricks up his sleeve before he left though:

The kids were pumped to see some gifts from George; however, they only contained things the kids owned.  Brandon got his iPod, Jacelyn got her doll, and Charlie got her dress shoes.  Imagine their surprise that morning!

The morning we left we awoke to a snowball mess between The Gunman and George.

Our Christmas in Outlook was alot of fun, with a scavenger hunt and other Christmas activities to keep the 5 grandkids busy indoors on such a bitterly cold weekend.  Lots of laughs, lots of good food, and the kids all got spoiled.

The kids all wanted to decorate grandpa up like a Christmas tree again like last year, so who were we to say no?

A yummy chocolate fondue treat

Then, we enjoyed Christmas morning at home before heading to Maidstone to mom's.  The kids love waking up in their own beds on Christmas morning, as do we.  And this year was a record time breaker for us: the kids never came into our room to wake us until 6:30 am!!!  We made Brandon wait in our bed with us until the girls woke up.  I think our day started at 7:30 with stockings being opened and presents followed at a more leisurely pace.  Last year the kids were up at 5:30!  Mind you we were in Outlook that year which didn't help with the sleeping in either.

The coveted X Box was the only thing Brandon asked Santa for.

An iPod for Charlie

And a Snowboard, helmet and boots for Jacelyn

Tiny bunkbeds for her Calico Critters collection.

All Chuck wanted was a double baby stroller out of the Sears catalog.  She must have circled that picture 20 times.

 Yesterday we stopped by the house and saw the basement was framed up and ready for wiring.  Brandon and Mike are standing in the bathroom area.  Our siding is in the garage as is our front door, but that goes on after the bathtub goes in.  We will have two showers, one over sized and the other one in the master is a double shower.  Feeling the crunch now and we are so ready to move in.

To the left is the huge basement bathroom that will have a double vanity, shower, and laundry room round the corner behind the stairwell.  To the right is the play area, with a storage room in the far right corner and more storage under the stairs as well.

And with that, the holidays are over.  After getting through New Year's life will be back to normal (as normal as it gets around here anyways).