Christmas Eve 2012

Let me share with you some of the Christmas Eve excitement:

I know I keep showing a lot of cookies lately.... but I like to take pictures so I can see how I decorated them from year to year. Now next year I will have a guide and remember what I did.  Can you believe we have eaten almost all the extra cookies here at the Herdoiza house?  I have a New Year's dinner tonight, and a late Christmas dinner to host on Wednesday..... I hope I can stretch the cookies for 2 more nights.  I actually had to do some more baking yesterday to prepare for tonight.

Here are the girls after we arrived at Mom and Dads.  We went to church earlier in the afternoon and the snow started falling.  The drive to get to Grammie and Grampies was slow and scary.  The roads were terrible.  I was so happy when we actually arrived.  The cousins were not affected by the perilous drive one bit!

 It took both Aunt Annette and Uncle Leon a loooonnnngggg time to arrive.  They were the smart ones.... they packed overnight bags and planned to stay over at Moms.  It was great seeing everyone.

 Janina flew in from Arizona.... I'm sure she was loving the snow!  It was pretty for Christmas, but I hope it doesn't stick around too much this winter.  I love this picture that Aunt Annette took of us. 

 Crystal and Aunt Annette.... The two I chose to help with Nicholas's school project.  We will see who gets chosen by Nick's teacher.  They will need to teach the 3 rd graders a little something about the city they live in.

 

 Emmersyn and Gabby posing on the stairs....

 Trying to get some of the cousins together.... smiling... and looking at the camera... a difficult task

Then we added the rest of the cousins in the mix.. This was the best shot I got... check out Tyler.... he was totally tuned in with Aunt Nicole and so was Amanda... The rest of the kids...Gabby and Emmersyn were concerned that Melia was going to escape... Nick was looking at Aunt Mo Mo, and Cameron was checking out the Christmas tree in the great room.... I love semi-candid-trying-to-pose-cousins shots!

 The kids checking out the Christmas plant... Looking at my ugly ashtray ornament from 5th grade...

 Melia is so happy clapping with her Mom.... What a sweet, little girl!

 So precious!

 A quick shot of Steve and Gabby before all the unwrapping of presents began....

 The excitement...

 Nicholas got a box of crackers from Aunt Mo Mo... with a Wii game inside of course!

 Amanda looking cute in her Christmas attire....

 Gabby totally thrilled with her new clothing stash.  What kid is more excited to get dresses and clothes than actual toys???? Gabby!!!  I tell you... when this girl grows up she just might be a fashion designer.  She loves clothes (tutus, bathing suits, hats, dresses....) as you all know by now!

 Dad and Mom realizing that they were going to see Jersey Boys for Christmas.

Laura brought over a bunch of goodies from Sephora.  Steve took control of my camera and captured a bunch of pictures of the girls going crazy.  Everyone was swapping and hoarding make-up, lotions and potions, lip stick, glosses, shadows.... you name it.  Amanda and Gabby were even getting stuff out of the stash.... Tyler was not impressed.... he sees this stuff all the time.  I was shocked Aunt Annette was not into all the lotions and potions.  I grabbed all the wrinkle creams and hair serums.  Anything to make me look younger without frizzy hair!

I just found this picture funny.  Everyone was getting ready to say goodbye and Emmersyn had fallen asleep on the couch in the middle of all the make-up ruckus and goodbyes.  It's hard to see, but half of her body was on the couch and her feet were on the ground.  She had been lying that way for a good 1/2 hour.  So exhausted from the excitement.

What a fun night!  I love Christmas Eve.....visiting, eating, opening gifts, and just hanging out with my family.  Until later....

Nicholas's Ninjago Birthday

Before 2012 leaves, and we ring in 2013, I thought I had better post some photos from Nicholas's birthday.  We celebrated a Ninjago themed birthday party this year.   Nicholas loves the Ninjago series which follows a group of ninja Lego characters.  The party was planned for the Saturday that we arrived home from the Bahamas.  Talk about crunch time.... put in a few loads of laundry, make Lego cookies, and attempt to make a ninja cake.

Here are the Lego cookies...

My attempt at the green ninja, Lloyd, made from cake... Brad was making fun of Lloyd.... who he thought sounded more like an accountant than a dangerous ninja ready to take on evil...

I didn't get many photos from the party.... but I did capture Mo and Cameron

Nicholas and Lloyd....

Some of the party guests were playing the Wii... Check out Kaye and Amanda dancing....

Uncle Bob was telling some pretty amazing secrets...  Do you know that Lloyd didn't always have dreams of being a ninja? In fact he thought he was going to go to college and become some type of chemist or brainy engineer...

Then I gave up the camera to Crystal... which I said I would never do again.... except this time I got smart and deleted all the crazy close-ups she took.  Here we are singing Happy Birthday to Nicholas.

I have to say.... she did a great job capturing us... and not a close-up of my teeth or me doing some sort of goofy laughing...

Happiness after opening lots of presents....

Overall, I think Nicholas liked his party.  It is always a lot of work for a couple of hours, but I just wanted Nicholas to be happy and feel special about turning "8."  Well.... I better hurry up, only one more day to post in 2012.  Until later....

The Finale

We have finally reached the finale!  These are pictures from Saturday and Sunday morning before we began our trek home.

 Passing by one of the aquariums, there was a starfish stuck to the side of the glass.  It was so cool close-up.

Saturday night we chose to fore go our usual "Market Place" buffet dinner for something new.  Here is our table and hungry crew.

Earlier in the day, both girls got their hair braided on the beach.....  They look pretty cute!

We had an entertaining magician come to our table... he was working hard for "Kodak Moments."  Here he had pulled 4 scarves out of his hand and all of a sudden they were all sewn together.  Magic I guess....

Then he pulled a royal flush out of Steve's shirt... I wish I knew that trick for our poker games!

The kids thoroughly enjoyed the magician and all his crazy tricks!

Check out the banana split the 2 Herdoiza boys finished off....

A cool, enormous, turtle that you could see swimming by on the way to the pool...

I kept seeing this sign on my morning runs... It was right next to where we got our wrist bands...  I never happened to see lost children standing around the sign.... I guess If my kids became lost, they would head for the sign hoping to find other lost children waiting to be claimed by their parents...

Here we are trying to get a family photo on Sunday morning before leaving.    We had a couple of hours to play before we were shuttled off to the airport.  I wanted to get a photo near the ocean... but it was soooo windy!

The kids just wanted to get to the water slides for the final time.  Gabby once again wanted to be carried.  It was a recurring theme throughout the entire vacation..

Cameron and Gabby trying to warm up...

I must have been on the slides with the kids, because I didn't take this photo.  Steve got this cute shot of the two cousins together.

Our final trek back to the hotel... I finally got a photo of Amanda near the beach...

And finally.... the boys...

And after this final photo was taken, we were whisked to the airport at 2 p.m. and finally arrived home close to 12:30 at night and were in bed by 2 a.m.  It was an exhausting day of travel, but such a relaxing and fun vacation.  It is always fun to travel with Mo and Mohamed and the kids.  I can't wait to start planning next year's trip.  I'm sure Mo is already looking for a good deal.  Until later....

A Gingerbread House and a Candy Cottage

I just thought I would take a break from Atlantis photos.... so check out what we made last weekend.... our traditional gingerbread house.

 And a little mini, Gabriella sized house...

 She became upset when the kids began to decorate... she wanted to decorate her own house by "myself"... so this is what I made her...

 Nicholas hard at work...

 Putting on all the finishing, candy touches...

 Here is Gabby's finished candy cottage....  Do you want to know how I made it?

 That's right.... graham crackers and hot glue... The creation is not edible, but it was much more stable for her to work with and was ready in minutes.  The icing is fragile and takes a lot of time to dry... hot glue dries almost instantaneously.  She was so happy and she loved adding all the candy touches... that was the fun part! (Plus it is a great way to use up any left over Halloween Candy!!)

 Ta-da!!!

Nicholas and Amanda with their finished gingerbread house.  Amanda was not thrilled with the outcome this year, but I think it looks great!

So that was a nice break from vacation photos, right?  Only a few more Atlantis photos to go.  December is such a busy month.... with so much going on... I usually neglect the entire month because I'm so busy.  I'm trying to make a point to do better this December.  Until later......