merry christmas and happy new year!

december: 

when did this kid get so BIG?!

 the snow is FINALLY here!!! the kids love playing out in the snow! malloy more so than rex - she'll stay out for hours if we let her! rex likes to come in after 20 minutes and asks to watch tv. (he doesn' get to watch tv!)

snow fort! 

ice cream shoppe

make-up is a favorite!

we went through a dry erase phase for a few days. it was so fun for them to erase what they had drawn and start something new. we saved a LOT of paper - these kids draw picture after picture all day long!

 rex's christmas concert and party at school!

sprinkling reindeer food so santa knows where to find us! 

rex made his own mask - it's a cyclops

 santa came to our house early so that we could have christmas morning together with just the 4 of us! the kids were so excited! malloy didn't stop talking from the minute she came into the living room until presents were all opened. she was trying to open rex's presents and/or tell him what he got! he was completely fine with it and went with the flow! malloy got cuddles the monkey and monster high girls from santa and some books and a make your own slap bracelet kit from mommy and daddy. rex got optimus prime and boulder, and monsters university guys from santa and some books and captain america mask and shield from mommy and daddy. we played with toys, cleaned up the mess, ate breakfast, packed up and headed home for the holidays!

decorating yet another gingerbread house - although this one was made out of rice crispy treats! 

malloy's

rex's

decorating cookies!

christmas eve! we had a great time celebrating christmas eve at aunt cathy and uncle joe's house! 

christmas! we opened presents at grandma tappy and grandpa gary's, got dressed and headed over to grandma val and grandpa don's and did our little christmas there, then headed out to roro and papa's to celebrate with the harris clan and ended up back at grandma tappy and grandpa gary's for a few more presents and dinner! phew! the kids did great! they were very excited about everything they opened! i was a little nervous about malloy being a stinker but she did great!

ready for presents! 

rex got to put baby jesus in the manger this year - with careful detailed instructions from malloy

giving grandma her present! 

some of us participated in an "ugly sweater" party

malloy was so excited to get twister!! 

legos with grandpa gary

rainbow loom! 

bosket christmas! we headed over to great-grandpa bosket's house the day after christmas to celebrate some more!

 trying out their new neck pillows that grandma val made them! 

wrestling with uncle paddy

relaxing and putting together more legos! 

cootie! 

we went sledding at grandma val and grandpa don's house! malloy had a blast! rex laid facedown in the snow and ate it.  he's not much for trying to walk up a big hill all bundled up.

games after sledding! malloy was so hot from sledding, she came in and immediately stripped down to her underwear! 

malloy got a nice quiet chunk of time to play with all of rex's new toys while he napped! 

we went and visited roro and papa for a bit and ad lunch with them! it was nice to spend some quality time with them! the kids LOVE going to roro's house!

visiting papa and roro

dinner at tony's - the holidays caught up to rex. he was unwakeable for a good portion of dinner

back to buffalo!

packed to the ceiling!!!! 

malloy did math problems the entire way back to buffalo! 

morning movie and popcorn with the animals! 

we FINALLY had a playdate with old friends!!!! 

new year's eve! we spent the morning swimming at grandma val and grandpa don's hotel! it was SO FUN!!!! both kids are little fish and would swim all day every day!

quick snack break

grandma and grandpa spent new year's eve with us at our house! we played beauty salon, played games, watched a lot of pentatonix videos, and ate yummy food!!!

all dressed up for new year's!

happy new year!!!

rex was playing with spices while neal got ready to season the turkey. he made this and said "look! it's a penis!" boys...

mmmmm turkey! 

friday: no school for rex because of the weather - brrrrr! we had an unplanned lunch at wegmans. it was VERY exciting for the kids - they've never been over to the cafe part before and were thrilled! rex had meatballs and malloy had some sesame chicken and dumplings. she loves chinese food! 

growing a fairy and lizard! 

playing superheroes! 

saturday 1/4: we went to toys r us in the morning and spent our christmas money. it took quite a while - malloy picked a barbie head to play salon with and wanted to go home. rex wanted everything in the entire store!  we came home with some good loot!

rex and i went to his friend eliza's birthday party in the afternoon. it was frozen themed! we made snowmen marshmallows and played with friends! so fun! malloy and neal took down the christmas tree and played games while we were gone.

when we got back, we organized some more! malloy LOVES to clean and organize and will often ask to do it!

putting hair chalk in his hair

malloy set up a hair salon in her room :)

operation

don't break the ice!

SNOW DAY - our first big storm of the winter. it was COLD and the wind was whipping on top of the snow coming down! we stayed cozy inside!! and kept busy shooting the nerf gun, making fake snow, playing games and watching tv!