Merry, Merry Christmas!

I just wanted to post our Christmas cards this year. I had fun getting them ready to send to family and friends. I love how they turned out (except the scan is kind of fuzzy). This picture does not do Drew justice either. He is normally our funny, happy boy.

Last Friday night we hosted one fun Christmas party! I was so bummed that NONE of us got pictures--guess we were having too much fun :) We invited seven couples to our house. We had tons of food and fun. We played a game called Santa Bingo that my family had played at Thanksgiving. In the middle of the table are wrapped presents, one for each person. Then you roll dice hoping to get doubles and when you do, you get to pick a present and unwrap it. When everyone gets a present you set a timer for five minutes and if you roll doubles, you get to steal (trade) someone's present. Some of the presents are really good and some aren't very good. It was so funny! Some of the presents that weren't so fun to get were sardines and gas-x. One couple ended up with both "bad" gifts and they were so gracious. We stayed up late playing games and talking. It was definitely a night to remember. We were surprised that many of our friends had not had Martinelli's sparkling cider (a non-alcoholic, carbonated cider that is delicious!) . It is one of our family traditions and we enjoyed sharing it with them.

I've been thinking a lot about the Christmas letter we sent with our cards this year. Its funny how the second the letter goes in the mail, the letter seem outdated. I wonder if I will remember all the changes that seem to be happening right now, when I write my letter next year. This year our letter was fill-in-the-blank. Hopefully, I made it pretty easy to figure out with only about 10 words to fill in.

We hope and pray you have peace this holiday season.

Merry Christmas from our house to your!

Jeff, Alison, Jack & Drew

Thanksgiving

Well, my pictures uploaded in the wrong order, but that's okay. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year. All of Alison's family met together in the West because Alison's brother and wife had their first baby...a little girl named Audrey. Alison's parents rented a huge house and we all stayed together. There were about 15 of us. It was so much fun! And we are all in love with little Audrey! But on Thanksgiving we played a really fun game that Alison's mom brought. It was called Turkey Bingo and we laughed the entire time. The first picture is Alison's brother wearing the reindeer antlers and the next picture is Alison's Dad.
This is little Audrey and I think it is safe to say that Uncle Jeff was a baby hog. He wanted to hold her 24-7! But he did let the rest of us have a turn.




A couple of Jeff's sisters were at college nearby so they came and stayed with us, too. We had a full house but it was lots of fun. The house we rented had a piano and the boys loved playing with their aunts! This was Aunt Lacey giving them a lesson.
Of course, Aunt Alison got to hold baby Audrey, too. She was such a sweet little thing and did so well with us passing her around so much.
The boys were just in awe of her and Jack kept asking if we could take her home. It was a wonderful trip and so much fun being together!

Halloween

I think I forgot to upload pictures of Halloween. These were taken at a party with the boys' friends. Drew really wanted to look like Jack, so I let him put on makeup, too. It was a lot of fun this year. We had three parties and lots of candy and fun!

More Fall Fun...

This is one of our favorite Fall and Winter Soups. It is soooo yummy!
This is Jack's good friend. They love to be together.


Its funny how much things can change in just a couple months. Jeff's hair had grown back in (he had his head shaved for a few months, just for fun, but Alison convinced him to grow it back).