New Year's Eve 2014

Kev wanted to host a small party at our house for NYE. Since December had been filled with nothing BUT hosting parties, I figured, why not??

We invited a few families from Kevin's work and kept it super simple and low key with tons of finger food and games.

The Hiatts, McBrides, and Skoys

There was an over-abundance of food but isn't that what the holidays are all about?

Melissa, Livvy, and Nikki

Kids were getting restless and tired so we rang in the New Year about 11 pm. I found the King Julien countdown on Netflix and led the kids in the chant. It was so cute to see them so noisy and excited.

After everyone left there were 10 minutes til actual midnight so Tucker, Kyan, Kev and I rang in the new year then crashed.

We had a super yummy breakfast with leftover "sparkly apple juice" and Tucker was still in a party mood.

Nikki gave me this dope mug she made and it made me decide that my one resolution for 2015 would be this: be happy, and do it like a boss!

Happy New Year! Here's hoping 2015 is the best yet.

Christmas Movie Party

My amazing, awesome, traitorous lovely friend Emily was moving to Houston right before Christmas and I knew I'd go through Emily withdrawals once she left, so we were squeezing in bits of time together wherever we could! Movie nights had kind of become our thing lately. I'd put the boys to bed and she'd come over and we would attempt to watch a movie between all the talking. One week she spent more time at my house than Kevin did, and he supposedly lived there!

I thought it would be fun to have her whole family over to watch little Christmas movies and have snacks so that's what we did. I think we watched three or so movies including Disney's Prep and Landing and munched on popcorn and M&Ms and Christmas crack snack mix and the leftover hot cocoa from the cookie swap we moms had earlier that day. I told everyone to wear their pjs and they all obliged! The kids cuddled up on blankets and pillows and we all got into the Christmas spirit. I didn't want it to end because I knew it would be one of the last times our families would be together.

 We ended the night with a showing of the new Christmas tree that synced up to my phone and flashed the lights in time to Christmas music. The kids all loved it. When are you coming for Christmas movies this year, Emily???!

The Second Annual North Dakota Cookie Swap!

December in my house always means cookie swap time!! I invited a bunch of friends over to decorate sugar cookies that I made and to swap cookies and goodies that we all brought to share. Our group this year numbered at a cozy six since quite a few gals ended up not being able to make it. We still had a blast though!

Julie Nazer, Lindy Mabeus, Maren Mattson, Nikki McBride, Emily Merkley, and me

We had yummy snacks like Christmas crack, Chex mix, and decadent crock pot hot cocoa, but I only got this photo...boo.

The cookie everyone brought were so cute and tasted even better than they looked!

After everyone left, I let the boys finish up the remaining sugar cookies. They did such a...creative...job!

And it wouldn't be a party without a mess, right??

Thanksgiving 2014

We decided we were not going to make the drive to Utah for Thanksgiving. We went last year, so we planned to go for Christmas instead. I was a little bummed to be  missing all the fun stuff back home like Black Friday shopping with the sibs and Holly Days, so I asked Emily if they would be around, and we decided we would do a group "Friendsgiving" together with Stephanie Colton and Anneliese Fix and their families.

We talked about it a lot but never really planned anything til about a week before. We decided to have dinner at our house because it has the "most" room. We divvied out the food responsibilities and prepared to party.

The boys wanted to start the festivities off that morning with a bottle of sparkling apple cider. They could bathe in that stuff.

I started the turkey that morning, low and slow, in my brand new electric roaster Kev bought for me. Sadly, no beautiful turkey photos. Don't know why...

Also made my most favorite (and easiest) cranberries from Tyler Florence's recipe.

I was in charge of the turkey, stuffing, gravy, apple tarts, and cranberry punch; but can never resist making cranberry sauce because I love it so much.

I made these yummy little apple tarts courtesy of Ina Garten. Big return for minimal effort.

Apple tarts after glazing

Because watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is so exhausting...

Parade lounging

There was mass pandemonium and hysteria in the streets when a Skylander balloon was spotted in NYC. Back to you, Matt.

Of course it snowed and snowed that day. Kev got the drive and sidewalks all shoveled off and then it was almost a blizzard.

So, I took this photo as we were getting all the food set out and the kids arranged at the table. I realized later...much later...I had never taken one with the food uncovered. Maybe Emily did....lol.

There was no shortage of food and beverage, obviously

The kids were so cute! They barely squeezed around the little table, and Declan and Branson had to sit elsewhere, but they had so much fun.  I had to post three similar photos because Edison looks less and less thrilled in each one.

Clockwise from top; Tucker, Cael, Dahlia, Evalet, Kyan, Jaxon, Edison,and Alex

The adult table was so "fancy."

I should have taken a ton more photos but I was too busy eating, talking, laughing, and having fun. The guys congregated to the living room to watch football and us girls just talked around the table while the kids ran amuck and caused the usual chaos. Stephanie brought supplies for a cute turkey day craft and the kids loved it.

Us girls! I thought we threw a pretty good Thanksgiving together!

Emily, Stephanie, me, and Anneliese

Kev had to go into work due to some ridiculous emergency (boo) so the kids and I wound down the evening with a family tradition; snacks and A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving.

Yep, Kyan's "snack" was the entire container of leftover mashed potatoes.

The next day was Christmas tree day. We were planning to be in Utah for Christmas so I wanted the tree up ASAP so we could enjoy for as long as possible. Kev helped us put up the tree. He hardly ever gets to help us decorate so he took advantage of the smidge of free time he had and joined in before heading back to work.

We give each kid a new ornament for the tree every year. It's a tradition my mom did when I was growing up, and now I have quite the collection of ornaments, and I love doing it with my kids, too.

Figuring out the  new tree via the iTwinkle app. Kev snagged the tree on sale last year after Christmas. The lights can be programmed to music and all kinds of flashing patterns. It's pretty cool!

Horribly unflattering photo of me, but Kev says I'm always taking the photos and never in them so  he was going to fix that.

Blue watched with great enthusiasm. It was about -4, so all he wanted to do was hunker down and nap. Can't say that I blame him...

Kev was headed out to the field again to try and solve frozen pipe issues, so I packed up some T-giving leftovers in my trusty Easy Lunch Boxes and sent him off.

The boys and I finished up the tree and sat back to enjoy the view. The did a great job of trimming the tree!

Hiatt Christmas tree 2014