Gingerbread houses

Lita sent us home with Gingerbread house decorating kits to do once everyone was well. Today we decided we were close enough (Sebastian just watched from afar).

Stephen with the house he and I decorated.

Two redheads working togetgher

And by far the most detailed (and slowest!) craftswomen

 

Christmas, Part 3!

Uncle James, Aunt Karen, Jake, Lairen, Jared and Brianna came Friday. We had a nice few hours of lunch, gift opening and some outside time. Austin even used his new drone to photograph the group!

 

 

Christmas, Part 2

Today we headed to Lito and Lita's house, sick kiddos and all. It was a nice relaxing afternoon spent with them. The kids were so happy to still be able to go despite the illness. They had been looking forward to it!

 

Merry Christmas!

We started with the children's mass on Christmas Eve. Anastasia wasn't feeling well, so we gave her medicine and had her sit in the back of the church. Mariana generously offered to sit with her so I could be with the rest of the family. Such a sweet girl. I relieved her after communion.
Then we went to Pawpaw and Manah's for an enchilada dinner I had made ahead of time and opening gifts!

SO precious in her Christmas dress

Sweet sick girl taking it easy

 

I think this was actually a gift to me from Manah and Pawpaw...a way for the younger ones to burn off energy when they can't go outside!

Christmas morning we opened our own family's gifts. We started youngest to oldest and all watched. It's just so fun to see everyone enjoying the giving and the receiving!

 

 

Her sisters went in together to buy Allia this statue of her confirmation saint that she has wanted ever since confirmation!

It was so nice to have good weather so we could enjoy the outdoor gifts!

Stephen's birthday party

Stephen has been looking forward to his 10th birthday for so long since it is the year they get to have a party at a place other than home. He really wanted Urban Air, but their parties are so expensive. Much to his joy, they sent out a really good coupon in the mail a month or two ago for a party booked by December 15. So we did it, and it was definitely a great move. He and his friends had such a good time!

 

 

 Enjoying his gifts already...

 

Champs!

Gloria and Stephen swam at their championship meet this weekend, both swimming Saturday and then Gloria riding with a friend so she could swim Sunday too. They both improved almost all of their times, some by quite a bit. We are very proud of them.

And then this morning, we received two emails from the swim team. Gloria and Anastasia both moved up to the next levels! We are so proud of our swimmers!

Christmas Show on Ice

Mariana skated in her annual Christmas show this weekend. She had a group performance and a solo this year. Lito and I went on Saturday while Austin, Gloria and Stephen were at their champs swim meet. Then he took Allia, Gloria, Stephen, Anastasia and a friend on Sunday.

On Saturday, she skated beautifully despite the fact that they played the wrong music for her act!

 

She had quite a few friends and her voice teacher there to cheer her on with us Saturday. Here she is with her best buddy and our neighbor, Abby.

 

 Sunday's group

 Her performance was even better on Sunday with the proper music and one performance under her belt already. We were so proud of her! Everyone stayed to skate afterwards and had a great time. Mariana even coached Anastasia for a bit, and she was able to skate on her own after that. So sweet.

On a side note, Lito brought Cecilia's birthday gift...an electric toothbrush. All 3 of the younger kids loved it!

He also brought a big bowl of salsa which they also really enjoyed!