The Keyes!: Christmas, New Year's Eve, and Video 365

The kids got to see Santa at the elementary school the week before Christmas

And we got to make Christmas crafts

We did a candy cane hunt and it was cute seeing Nixon lifting Henry up so he could reach

One day before Christmas Henry and I did lots of puzzle together and it was so fun

I am not exactly sure what this is that Mason made

Grandma and Grandpa Bullock arrived two days before Christmas and Lyza read to them

Making a custom shirt for Lyza

Grandma did a lot of arts and crafts with Mason

There were lots of card games played

On Christmas Eve day the kids got to open their present from Grandma and Grandpa Bullock

New snow tubes

We took them to the hill and tried them out. They were awesome!

We had perfect weather: fresh snow and just below freezing. We knew it was going to get warm and rainy the next day so we seized the moment and had a great time on the hill.

We did a full turkey dinner that evening for Christmas Eve

The kids exchanged their sibling gifts and it was a really good experience for all of them

Nixon gave Lyza and owl pellet dissection kit

Lyza's gift for Nixon included a digital escape room followed by a scavenger hunt

He was very happy with the end product

The kids also got to open up new jammies/bath robes

Henry isn't so sure about a robe

Nixon and Lyza also played some Christmas piano pieces they learned

The tree early the next morning before any of the kids were awake ;)

Lyza and Nixon checking out their boots

Henry was happy with what he found in his boot

So were Grandma and Grandpa

Isn't she lovely?

Mason woke up last but his boot did not disappoint

Except for maybe the socks

Then it was time for Santa gifts

The morning was going pretty well by that point

The kids opened a couple of family gifts before it was time to think about getting ready for church

All ready to go

And my seductive pose...

Nixon's turn

After church it was back at it

Mason wrote and illustrated a whole book for his Grandma and Grandpa

Lots of Hotwheels for this kid

I am not going to caption every photo...

Tell me your name is Lyza without telling me your name is Lyza...

She has been so patient!

Fishing poles for the boys!

A compilation of some of the gift opening

They had to try the cars outside

A late brunch after the gifts were opened

Lyza with the owl pellet

First photo with the new phone. I think it/she is a keeper

And a delicious dinner

We ended the night off with some games

The next day we walked down to the river to test out the fishing poles

More RC cars on the ice

Henry's Santa gift (this marble run) has been a hit

We played lots more games while we still had Grandma and Grandpa

These cars are amphibious so the wet snow and ice hasn't slowed them down

After Grandma and Grandpa left we all went to the church to get some energy out and play with some new toys

And read...

We got to play some basketball too

This is a Google Photos creation

More games

More fishing

Nixon and I went skiing on Friday (during the day!) with some of my coworkers

There was so much snow!

Because we were skiing during the day (which we haven't done before) we could go anywhere on the mountain so we spent some time on the backside of the mountain exploring some new runs. It was fund and EXHAUSTING. This is the Sky House at the top of the mountain.