So long, 2013! Our Christmas Recap...

The Christmas season is always a magical time of year, and this year was no exception.  An ice storm made for craziness and lots of power outages heading up to and through the holidays (we lost our power for a few days but thankfully got it back on Christmas day- yeah for our generator!) but man did it make for a enchanted landscape.  What beauty!  Auntie Kim snapped this photo of our driveway & front yard.

Every year for Christmas, we go to Church on Christmas Eve with the family and then go to Andy's parents house for dinner.  Christmas morning is at home, and Christmas afternoon until evening at my mom & John's house.  We are very blessed to have family living close by so the commute is a non-issue.  My sister Kathy came to visit with her 2 daughters from Texas this year and it was SO NICE having them visit!  Here are some photo recaps of our Christmas & holiday season:
Christmas Eve @ Niemeyer's

Our family has grown over the years and no longer fits into just one pew at the in-law's church!  By the way, Andy was not happy at me here because I snapped a picture in church.  He knows me too well- I wanted to capture the moment for the blog!  I mean, it was Jenna's first time holding a real candle at church, singing Silent Night!  Awwww....

The grandkids/cousins at Mimi & Papa's

Papa, Tanner in his Christmas pj's & Mimi

~cousins~

The quads all looked so cute in their holiday gear, but getting a shot of all 4 is impossible!

Christmas Morning at Home

This was the only picture I took, then it got a little busy and I forgot to snap more photos.  We don't do too many presents, being on a tight budget.  However, there are always fun goodies in stockings and a neat tradition passed down from my family.  If you have been good for the year, you get an apple in your stocking.  Fairly good, you get something like an orange, pear, or banana.  If you have been a little naughty, a potato or even an onion might be in the toe of the stocking.  You definitely don't want that.  Or-- if you were just awful-- you might find a lump of coal!  Total humiliation.

Thankfully, Jenna got an apple!  So did mommy (who may or may not have been stuffing stockings).  The babies got bananas & pears.  Daddy was being a little bah-humbugish the night before Christmas and so he got... a zucchini.  Not sure what that means exactly, but mom & dad sure did get a kick out of it.  Jenna thought it was silly, too!

Christmas at John & Mom's

Like I said before, it was great having Kathy visit with her two daughters, Autumn & Allana!

The family, minus the husbands!  Back row are sisters/mommies Cindy, Becky & Kathy.

Hannah kept on dancing to the music from this new toy.  It was hilarious!

Christmas Craziness.  But so much fun!

Allana in hat & Jenna were so excited with every present under the tree!  

Grandpa, Grandma & grandkids

"Christmas cookies, please!"

Post-Christmas Fun
With Kathy & her girls in town, my mom sprung for her to stay a night at a hotel with a pool/waterslide.  The kids, along with some extra friends and cousins, joined grandma & mommies for some water fun!

There was absolutely no need for me to ask for help holding babies: as you can see, I had ample offers for help :)

I did not see Jenna much this night- all she did was go down the slide over & over & over & over & over over & over & over & over & over & over & over & over....

  

 

As for how the babies did, they all liked splashing in the water but after about a half hour the boys' lips turned blue and they were clearly DONE with the water.  We went in for a hot bath and the girls joined us shortly after.  At least everyone slept well that night (Jenna & Allana snuggled on the floor together)!

Sisters!

Hope you and your family were able to close out 2013 well, whether it was a year filled with joy, sorrow, accomplishments, frustrations, or failures.  Perhaps it was little bit of everything.

For me, it definitely was a busy year but one filled with lots of joy among the inevitable struggles of raising Jenna + quadruplets.  It was a year where we started 2013 just trying to figure it all out, and although life has been difficult & VERY busy, I can honestly look back at the last year and feel happy, content, and extremely blessed.  Extremely blessed.  God has given Andy & I five healthy, happy kids.  I have a husband who I will celebrate 10 years of marriage with in two days, and he is my best friend.  We have grown stronger with every year, every step together, and I love my man so much.  We have amazing family and friends.  We have jobs.  We have a house.  And we humbly serve a God who blesses us far more than we ever could deserve.

Thank you so much for living the last year with us...

I wish you a Very Happy New Year 
& I hope 2014 is full of many 
joyful, cherished moments for you!

Hugs!

Becky