at the closing of the year...

Well, the end of December was every bit as busy as the beginning, and I never did get a chance to post photos before 2010 was over.

On the 14th, we went to Nick's first band concert, held at the high school. This is his band director:

Nick and "his" clarinet (which really belongs to our friend Karen):
I believe it was the 16th when our silly bird Ickie escaped from her cage (Nick was filling her water dish and left the little door open ~ Ickie fit right through it!) We were able to contain her in the boys' room, but she had fun checking everything out before we got her back in her cage, LOL:


On the 17th, Ben's preschool class gave their Winter Concert. It was so cute!


After the kids sang, Santa came out and talked with each of them...
then handed them a present to bring home. Ben received a monster truck and boat set:
The kids started Winter Break after school on the 17th. The following week, the boys dipped holiday-shaped pretzels in chocolate to give as gifts (Emmalie knitted potholders, but I forgot to take a picture of her working on them):


On the 22nd, I took the kids to North School Park to see the lights:

On the 23rd, we made eggnog cookies, yum:






That night, we set out cookies and eggnog for Santa, who came to our house a day early:
The next morning, the kids hurried into the living room to see their presents!
A Pillow Pet!



Ben with his gifts... stuffed animals, plastic animals, cars, and games:
Nick with his gifts... stuffed animals, plastic animals, a cookbook, wildlife food:
Emm with her gifts... Harry Potter items, a game, and a camera:
George with his gifts... Pirates of Penzance DVD and a drawing from Ben:
Me with my gifts... an ornament made by Emm, a drawing made by Nick, a Glee CD, and cardstock from my friend Cheryl:
Later that afternoon, we went to the Christmas Eve service at church, and listened to Ben's choir sing "Go Tell it on the Mountain". Again, very cute! :o) This is Ben after the service, by the church's Christmas tree:
On Christmas Day, we drove to my grandma's, to spend a couple of hours there:
I was happy to get this shot of the kids with their great-grandma:
History was made at Grandma's this year... because my parents and Aunt Bernice were not there, there was some extra room at the "grown-ups table", and so my oldest cousin Steve and his wife got to sit upstairs with Grandma, my aunts, and my uncles:

All the rest of us ate in the basement, at the kids' tables, as usual. LOL!

The kids had fun playing with my cousin's little boy, Ayden. He is such a cutie!

Around 2:30 or so, we got back in the car and headed to Ames, finally arriving around 8pm.

The next day, we opened gifts with Mom, Dad, Christine, and C's friend Leah. Emm tried out her new camera:





Ben was a little shy at first, but quickly got over that and made himself comfortable on Leah's lap, LOL:
After presents, we played some games, like Bingo:

Leah, Christine, Emm, and me, huddling around the portable heater... we were c-c-c-cold!:
George and Ben playing with Ben's new Legos:
On the 27th, we went to my mother-in-law's, and opened gifts with her:

That night we all went out to eat at the Mongolian Buffet, and met up with my brother-in-laws, Nathan and James, there:
We returned to Fran's for awhile and played with her cat, Sasha:
Nick, imitating Sasha's every move:
On the 29th, the boys played in the snow with George and their Grandpa Rick:

while us girls did some shopping. On the 30th, we drove home, stopping in Dubuque for a few hours to spend time with friends. After leaving their house, we ran into some very thick fog, and it was a tense ride home! We didn't even get back here till 11pm....