Christmas Weekend - Friday, December 23rd

We had a very busy Christmas Weekend.  Our festivities began on Friday with my husband's family.  There was a surprise on Friday; my husband was sent out "West" (Wisconsin) on Thursday and was gone overnight.  Due to that, when he got into the shop at 7:30 AM, they had no work for him so he got to come home Friday morning and had an extra day at home!  The down side was that he was not home on Nate's actual birthday, the 22nd.  The boys and I had a fun day but we didn't actually celebrate Nate's birthday until lunch on the 23rd so Darryl could be home too!

 The birthday boy when I went in to get him on the 22nd - he always wakes up so happy! 

 We had been out shopping/running errands that afternoon so I let the boys pick what they wanted to bring home for dinner.  They picked "'dilla's" from Taco Bell. 

One of the things we did on Nate's birthday was get Josh a haircut.  Now, that might not seem like a big deal but the boy has bad hair.  He has about 5 differant cowlicks that make cutting it difficult.  We have taken him to a barber, a stylist, and to Great Cuts . . all to no avail.  Well, I finally called the lady who cuts my hair and said "HELP!"  She stepped up to the task and did a fantastic job with his hair AND she even put green gel in it for him and spiked it.  Josh loved it :-)

 I learned recently that Nate doesn't really care for frosting so I picked up some mini-muffins - the boys enjoyed them.

Opening gifts!  You'll have to excuse the hair - they had not had baths yet :-) 



We got Nate a Pirate Ship that he can ride around.  He loves it.  (And so does Josh!) and a Match Box Car Carrier.  He is always hauling Josh's around so now he has his own for his own cars! 

Later that afternoon, we headed out to Darryl's family Christmas.  I've mentioned before that his Grandma, who is 91, lives in a nursing home so we have the family Christmas in the Nursing Home so she can participate.  Honestly, it is not our favorite place to gather but we make the best of it!  This  year, my mother-in-law reserved the activity room since it is bigger and right next to a little kitchen.  It seemed like a great idea but no one took into account that the residents wouldn't appreciate being "kicked out" HA!  One whole side of the room had windows facing the hallway so the whole time we were like animals in a zoo - the residents stood and watched us.  This year we decided to do appetizers but none of us communicated what we were bringing so we ended up with Meatballs and BBQed mini hotdogs.  Oops!  It was still fun, very hot, but fun (It's a nursing home - what do you expect? LOL)

 Darryl's Grandma and his mom's husband.

 Our niece Rachel.

 Josh and Nate playing with a new gift - if you look close you can see how red Nate's face is - he was soooo hot!  We rolled up his sleeves and unbuttoned his shirt to try and help him out!

 Rache's Fiance, Rob and Darryl's Sister.

The family - Darryl's mom is in the White Sweater - her husband was taking the photo.

The boys were so tired that they fell fast asleep on the way home.  Darryl and I stopped on the way home to pick up one gift and we treated ourselves to a shake from Steak-and-Shake.  It was a great way to end the day!

I'll share the rest of our weekend in another post or this will get WAY to long :-)