So far behind...

So, Thanksgiving was the last you "heard" from us - oops!!!!

We've been blessed with MANY family gatherings between then and now.

December:
We had Christmas with Ron's family on Christmas Day (as tradition) and were able to spend the whole day with Ron's family.  Ron and I did our gifts on Christmas Eve while watching "A Christmas Story" (tradition after church) so we were able to sleep in Christmas Day then get our free coffee at Sheetz and head up to Hadley before the chaos began!  We had so much fun with everyone and was blessed by everyone and everything!

I didn't make as many cookies this year...so we didn't have a TON left.  I only made one batch of sugar cut-out cookies and M&M cookies.  For the Cosgrove Christmas I made dessert and a relish tray (my homemade veggie dip was  a HUGE hit) - the dessert was my first attempt at Red Velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting.  They were delicious!  (not very 'red' though...)

January:
We had Christmas with my family on New Years Eve afternoon due to schedules.  As always - what a blast we all had.  We didn't ever feel complete though without Jason and Kerby.  Jen and Mike got a Kinect for Christmas so we all played with it.  We played games after the kids went to bed with snacks of course.  We did get to chat with Jason and Kerby in Costa Rica on Skype to have them there with us.  There are always many laughs and creativeness with all of our gatherings!  I decorated Mom's table for her for the "Christmas" dinner Friday night.  We celebrated Caleb's birthday Friday night as well.

~Caleb's drum cake Neena made, the boys sitting in Poppa's chair playing with something

~All 4 kids with their AE clothes from us, my candle centerpiece

~Everyone's first initials for place settings, the finished place setting

~Chatting with Jason and Kerby on Skype after dinner

On January 2 we had Ron's family down to celebrate Pam's and Ron's birthdays and to say goodbye to his parents before they left for Florida.  We always celebrate these events on New Years Day but this year it was the next day.  I had the traditional pork and sauerkraut, Linda made the traditional homemade ice cream, and Stacey brought a very delicious, very rich chocolate cake.  And of course we enjoyed watching the Steelers beat the Browns!!!

~Rachel and Linda on the futon, Everyone watching the game

~Stacey and Matt, Erika and Austin

~getting ready to sing Happy Birthday, the delicious chocolate cake

~Ron and Pam blowing out their own candle

Ron and I used our Christmas money to get our Kinect and a few games after Christmas (THANKS GRANDMA, MOM, and DAD!!!)  We use it almost everyday and is a HUGE benefit for our Biggest Loser friendly family competition.

And that should get us caught up... :)

One last picture - our tree (with Zelda on the back of the couch)!