Post-Christmas Family Time

Redding always has some gorgeous days around the holidays.

Grandpa Steve gave the boys their first scooter rides.

They played with their new bow and arrow set for days until they lost some arrows on the roof.

Jude ran out into the field and hid from me in the tall weeds. Had to take a picture because I was surprised I even found him! That TMNT hoodie is good camouflage!

These two sisters think they rule the roost, and they're gonna teach the babies everything they know.

I'm pretty sure Steven would have a Bjorn on him permanently, if he could.

The Dixons brought over their famous cinnamon bread. We fight over it every year.

Movie night with the aunties!

Just so you can see my parents embarrassed about their morning faces.

For some reason, my mom really, really, really wanted a good picture of the babies' feet. After a thousand tries and lots of whining, we decided it was impossible to achieve.

We took the kids to the mall for Christmas returns. Obviously that meant chasing Jude around while he jumped on all the furniture he could find. 

Here's super-uncle working double time.

We stopped by the Spaffords' one night to say hello and see our former neighbor Sydney. There were so many babies around! But this one was the cutest... 

(Adele, don't be jealous. You were home in bed.)

For the boys, Grandma's house means games, games, games, all the time. They got a Superman bean bag game, a TMNT pop game, and played Sorry and Allowance almost every day.

There was a lot of yoga going on over Christmas, and I felt great because of it! Need to get back into that. Julia came with me to a new Buti yoga class, which is faster with more dance-type moves and core isolation. It was so hard, and so fun!

Before everyone left that week, Julia had a solo piano recital. I was her page-turner, so I got to follow along with the music and actually listen instead of wrangling my kids. She is amazing!

All five of us took lessons from the same teacher, Jaci Voelz.

After the recital, there were sugar cookies and a little friendly game of knock out, in which the lady of honor whooped her friend-boy, even in a skirt. She's multi-talented, and a bit of a show off.

Here are a few behind-the-scenes shots from family pictures that day.

Most nights looked like this -- together as much as possible before everyone parted ways. We're so glad to live a little closer now so we can see these weirdos more often!