Christmas

 While Dave and I were not in much of a rush to come home from the beach, the kids couldn't wait to get home to see Allie Cupcake.  She stayed at a pet resort while we were gone and has been pretty chill since we got home.  We can't tell if she's depressed to be home with us or if she's behaving so we don't send her back!! Either way, we'll take it!

 We went to the Christmas Eve service at church, had dinner at Marty and Lisa's house and then headed home to put the presents under the tree.

 Taylor's big request was school supplies for teaching, especially an electric pencil sharpener.

 Chase wanted a kicking net.  Once we set it up in the living room we weren't sure how it was going to get outside!

 Despite the fact that we got up at 4am on Christmas Eve, Chase was still up at 5am Christmas Day.  We made him wait until 6 to wake Taylor up!

 Everything was exciting!  That's what makes it hard to stop shopping!!!

 Dak Prescott jersey.

 Pencil sharpener and a white board!  The excitement continues!

 Even daddy got a gift.

 No need to take the net outside.

 Allie making herself at home in what she thinks is her beanbag!

 Headed to my parent's house for Christmas breakfast and more presents. 

 We gifted Jason a box of cereal. The slogan was "no more cereal to get in the way of your marshmallows."  He once gave me a hard time about my kids eating the marshmallows out of their lucky charms.

 I tried to take pictures but I didn't do such a hot job after this stop! Went to church, then my grandmother's for lunch and then to my grandma's for dinner before calling it a day!

 Back at home making snow cones with her new machine from Megan, Carl, and Etta!

 The day after Christmas we took the kids to see the movie "Sing".  We literally ate breakfast, drove to the theater, bought popcorn and coke....not my idea! Taylor said, "that's why it's good to have a daddy."

 The kids had a sleepover at my parent's house with Bryce and Emmy and the next morning I took them all to the park and then we went shopping and to lunch with my dad.

The kids had too much fun "helping" PaPa shop for a new recliner!

Christmas Vacation: Cancun!

We had often talked about a tropical winter vacation but had never made it happen. After last year's Christmas vacation that included a hospital stay, catheter bags, and sitting still.....we decided this was the year to make it happen!

 We got to Cancun around dinner time on the 20th and headed straight to the beach!

 We immediately decided we had made a great decision! Can't beat palm trees with Christmas lights!

 The kids wasted no time checking out the pool and the beverage service! Many Cokes were had.

 Sunrise out our window the first morning.  You can't beat a 7:15 sunrise!!

 Our neighbors! We took MeMa and PaPa along and they had the room next door.

 Perfect little beach bum!

 My phone had been having trouble with enough space for pictures so I got a new phone before the trip and made sure to take advantage of it! The kids were good sports about all the pictures...especially Taylor!

 Rough life! And more Coke!

 Dave tried out the water aerobics class.

 The food was quite a sight! Unfortunately it always looked better than it tasted! We certainly didn't starve to death though!

 Fancy food just confuses me. The mashed potatoes were delicious. All 3 bites of them that someone wasted time rolling up into my carrots!!!

 prettiest water I've ever seen!

 We decided this is the best type of Christmas tree!

 "Bad as I guana be!" 

 Chase entered the basketball competition!

 The entire lobby was open air. No front door at all, just wide open!

 Hotel pets!

 We never left the resort until the last afternoon we were there. We had bought tickets to swim with dolphins and it turned out that it was at an aquarium at a very cool mall just a couple of miles away.

Definitely a cool experience!!!

 Poolside with snacks to round out the day!

 A little tennis before dinner to burn some calories!

 Taylor enjoyed that you could ask for whatever you want and it would appear! This was hot chocolate in a fancy cup for the "princess" as our waiter said.  Back to reality now, making her own hot chocolate!

It was an awesome trip and the perfect pre-Christmas tradition to start, in my opinion!! We got home Christmas eve at 3pm and hopped right into the normal Christmas festivities!