The Twins' Birthday Party

My niece's twins turn one this weekend so we drove up to Green Bay to attend their birthday party. It was the first time we got to meet the little sweethearts. They were the happiest babies I've seen in a long time. Not that I'm around many babies these days.

Their names are Morgan and Mallory and they seem content no matter who was holding them. And in a room filled with people, I was quite surprised. It all seemed a little overwhelming to me so their mom is pretty lucky that they have such nice dispositions.

Chloe was thrilled to get to go shopping and she personally picked out their birthday presents. She couldn't wait to be part of the gift opening process.

Since it was such a long drive and the end of the spring break week, we thought we would get a hotel room for the night right down the street from the party.

Chloe and Avery got to spend the evening swimming in the hotel pool and the following morning. They had a blast the entire weekend.

Chloe's Class Field Trip

I got the opportunity to chaperone one of Chloe's field trips - a trip to the Milwaukee County Zoo!

It was great fun. I was responsible for Chloe and one of her classmates and our only assignment was to go out and have fun.

The weather was perfect for a March day. It was in the high 50's and not raining. For March you couldn't ask for any better.

We walked the entire zoo and each of the kids picked out their favorite things at each stop.

I was so glad I got to go.

Chloe's Birthday

For Chloe's birthday we had a little party with just a few of us. She was happy to get her Jurassic World dinosaur collection that she had wished for for her birthday.

She had a pretty dress on, but dresses never last on her. She is definitely not the kind of girl who needs frilly things any more. I am glad she is her own person.

She has grown so much. Her permanent teeth are coming in and it doesn't seem that long ago that we didn't think about things like the tooth fairy.

Mom's Birthday

We celebrated my mother's 80th birthday yesterday and as always, it is impossible to get photos of her. She hates getting her picture taken and sometimes it's just not worth the fight to try to sneak them. So I must admit that I did not try very hard. However, I do have some photos of my granddaughters. They really like the pet bird, Oreo that resides at my mom's house. So Chloe tried hard to get Oreo to go on her shoulder while Avery hoped the bird would hop on the hat my sister gave her to play with.

Christmas

After coming back home late on Christmas Eve we did our gift opening. Miraculously, Santa delivered gifts to our home while we were with the whole family. I just love how he takes care of us on Christmas Eve.

My granddaughters were excited but a little tired. All that play with their cousins got a bit exhausting. My daughter was very excited to see her girls open the packages containing the gift on her daughters' wish lists.

It was a perfect day and I look forward to our Christmas Day dinner here today as well.

Christmas Eve at my Mom's

Christmas Eve at my mother's is a tradition that goes back to my very beginning. It will continue forever as far as I am concerned. So as usual, we head over for dinner followed by gift opening. When we walked in the door, the tree was in a new place and it was pretty. Avery's new bike was right in view and she sure was thrilled when she saw it which made the excitement in the air even greater.

We had a nice dinner with some good wine that BJ brought along. The kids want to get to present opening but the dishes have to be done first. And it's driving them all crazy which is a part of the process...teaching them all patience.

As the kids all lined up in front of the tree, Greg handed them each a package. They all looked the same...as it turned out, they were Kindle Fires. Every kid got one and it was great fun for all the adults to watch them open them up.

After that, it was a whirlwind of frenzy and gift-opening. We all enjoyed more wine and dessert once the excitement settled down and the kids were playing with their new stuff. The really cool thing about this Christmas is that my brother, his wife and his 4 kids were with us. They live in Menomonie which is too far to come without major planning by them. Other than that, pretty much Christmas Eve has gone down this way every year. And I love the consistency of it. It provides great comfort for me and I think it does for my family as well.