Christmas in Charleston Part IV

Sef's other son Kaleb came over on Tuesday to celebrate Christmas. He's 9 months old. Tommy & Kaleb liked the same ball so luckily we had an extra one. This was my first time meeting Kaleb so it was nice we got to watch him (Sef) open presents.

Christmas in Charleston Part III

My brother's son Gavin came over to open presents the day after Christmas. He wanted a shark, robots and dragons so he was very happy with his new toys. It was cute seeing Tommy and Gavin together. They weren't too sure of each other at first, but then they warmed up and played a little.

Opa & Oma with all the grandkids...

Gavin threw a part of his toy at me and somehow I took a picture of it at the right point.

Three generations...

Christmas at Tim & Mindy's Part II

The boys playing on the pool table.

Emma & Alli showing off their new dress up outfits that Aunt Cindy & Uncle John got them. Too cute! And look how adorable Gabby is with her red bow. She's so sweet.

Julia dancing to Just Dance on the Wii. Dan even got in on it with his boys, Vincent & Dominic.

Christmas at Tim & Mindy's

After celebrating Christmas at my parent's house we went over to Tim & Mindy's house to celebrate with my Dad's side of the family. This year we were missing some of the usuals (Uncle John, Aunt Cindy, Neill, Stu, Pat and My Mom & Dad), but we had John, Sue, Tommy, Julia & Ethan so we had fun. The girls (Emma & Alli) have Just Dance on the Wii so all the kids have fun playing and even Sue broke out some dance moves. The kids were impressed with her skills. Julia spent hours dancing and she's great at it so she wants to use some of her Christmas money and buy the game. The kids made a gingerbread house that I bought at Walmart. Rosie and her boys and the newest addition, Gabby, came over too so the kids had fun playing together. Tommy, Dominic and Vincent had lots of fun throwing the pool balls on the pool table.

Christmas in Charleston Part II

Christmas morning we opened presents at my Mom & Dad's house. It was so nice having everyone there...Dad, Mom, John, Sue, Tommy, Bryan, Sef, Craig, Me, Julia, Ethan and Bella. At first I made everyone open one present staring with the oldest and then going down to the youngest, but it took so long so we had to change it up a little. It was so cute seeing Tommy open his presents...well, his mommy had to help of course. He is at such a cute age so it's so much fun playing with him. Tommy got lots of toys and clothes. My Dad got my Mom a beautiful David Yurman necklace (yes, we have a thing for DY). My Dad got a new hat and clothes. They also got a new flat screen tv from the kids. John & Sue got gift cards, money, etc. Bryan and Sef got the same...gift cards, money, etc. Craig and I got gift cards, money, collar stays, ring holder, stuff for kitchen, etc. Julia & Ethan got gift cards, stuff for guitar, clothes, ornaments, etc. Overall it was a nice Christmas since we were all together. I hope everyone had a nice Christmas!

Christmas in Charleston Part I

Here are more pictures from Christmas...

Craig got me beautiful David Yurman earrings!!! I love them!! Julia helped him pick them out and they did a great job. I got Craig David Yurman cuff links that he loved. He actually told Julia a while back that he liked them when we were shopping and she told me so I went back and got them.

Merry Christmas!!

Christmas morning at Tim & Mindy's

We stayed at Tim (cousin) & Mindy's and the kids exchanged gifts on Christmas morning. Julia & Ethan gave Emma & Alli American Girl outfits for their new dolls. Julia also made cute blankets for the girls. She spent all Christmas Eve working on them. Emma & Alli got Julia & Ethan iTunes gift cards which they love for their iTouches.

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve we went over to my parents house and hung out. My Mom & I made lasagna with garlic bread and salad. We also watched the movies I made for everyone (Tommy's first year, The Beurskens' Family videos and Oma & Opa reading books).

We didn't have room for everyone to sit at the table, but we made it work.

Julia's birth hospital

Julia was originally from Danville and she wanted to see the hospital where she was born. We have always talked about going there, but today it finally happened. We stopped on our way to Charleston. It was really neat seeing the hospital because it was so special to Julia. She was adopted on Christmas Day 1996. What a great gift that was! We are so happy that Craig adopted her! She is such an amazing girl! We love you Julia! (Oh, and her brother Ethan is a pretty amazing guy too and we love him lots too!)

Julia's 14th Birthday

Happy Birthday, Julia! We celebrated her 14th birthday with a steak and crab leg dinner at home. She wanted brownies for her cake so we made Gheradelli double chocolate brownies. She also went to lunch with her Dad today and then went ice skating with all of her friends at Millenium Park.

Dinner with The Millards

One of Craig's best friends (Jon) has kids that are close in age to Julia & Ethan, but they moved to California. Jon still lives in Chicago, but goes back and forth between CA and IL. His kids were in town visiting so we finally got them all together for the first time in two years. We had dinner at Lalos and the food and service were terrible, but we had fun hanging out with them. After dinner we ate brownies that Meghan made, ate popcorn and watched the movie Salt - great movie!