Janay Hansen

A new year! Crazy. Life seems to go faster and faster every year. We had a fabulous time over the holidays with family. There's always a mixed feeling of sadness and relief when the holidays are over. True, the holiday season can be overwhelmingly busy, but it is such a joy to be with family day in and day out. It's always hard to get back to regular life.

The parties began with Dan and Jessica's wedding on the 17th. It was such a beautiful day -- as all weddings tend to be. We loved being a part of such a wonderful event.
Lucky for us this was only the beginning of the fun. We spent the rest of the month going between parties with the Hansen and Castleton families. Christmas day was an adventure this year with all 4 kids being participants. Yes, even little Sky loved playing with the toys the other kids got in their stockings.
Since it's been so long I'll just give picture recaps, but know that we had the funnest month ever!

With the Castleton's
The day started with "sledding" at the secret slide park by Mom and Dad's house. Unfortunately, there wasn't enough snow for our original sledding plan, so we just played on the playground and had hot chocolate and cookies. The kids had just as much fun and I was saved the work of having to pull kids up the hill on sleds -- or Jon was, but I'm sure it would have been exhausting just watching it.
Sledding was followed by a re-enactment of the nativity by the grandkids. If you're wondering who the green-shirted Joseph is, it's our cousins son. They made a surprise visit at my parents house on the 23rd. Pretty fun. Kale started out as Joseph, but then decided it would be way cooler to carry around a special treasure, so switched to the wisemen's team.
Cute matching Christmas pj's from Grandma & Grandpa.

And finally, time for the annual program/sing along. Rachel and Hallie both played a fabulous Christmas solo on the piano.

With the Hansen's
This was the easiest party ever. All I had to do was open my door and the party was brought to us. Anita brought all the food, games, and gifts. It was so much fun!
These stockings were filled to the brim with things for the kids. They each got their own stocking and they loved it so much!

Aren't these little princess dresses adorable? The girls absolutely loved them -- they came complete with their own crowns! They'll fit just in time for next holiday season.


With our family
Christmas morning
You know those things you hated growing up and swore you would never make your kids do when you were a parent? Well, I have one of those and I did not follow through with not doing it. Even though I always looked back at the pictures of us lined up on the stairs and hated how I looked every time, I still make our family have the stair picture every year.


Classic Skating
We met up with the Snarr's, Lee's, and Brian's brother and wife at classic. It was our girls first time roller skating and they loved it so much. They brought their scooters and Kale brought his bike and then they all switched off between bikes, scooters, and skates. It was so much fun to see them with their cousins.