It has been a crazy holiday! Today is the first day that I’ve had to sit down during nap time to do anything for myself. So you’re getting a quick recap in pictures of what we’ve been doing for the past month.
Unfortunately for us, the flu hit right at holiday time. The boys had to miss their birthday celebration at school, their Christmas program, and their classroom parties. Luckily, they both have teachers that are truly amazing and brought their goodies to our house. We tried to make their stay at home fun so they wouldn’t think about missing celebrations at school.
Right after Thanksgiving, we decorated for Christmas and began to prepare for all the company that was coming to our house.
Next on the list was to prepare Christmas goodies. I was planning to take these to school for the boy’s Christmas parties, but when they got sick, we shared with friends and kept them for our company. (More on these cookies later. I got such a great response, I am thinking of starting a little cookie business on the side.)
It wouldn’t feel like Christmas without our Elf on the Shelf party. Because the kids were sick, he didn’t arrive until the second week of December. In fact, the day Coco showed up, I wasn’t sure my oldest Piggy would feel up to a sweet-filled breakfast, but he proved me wrong.
Auntie Michelle and my brother, Uncle T, arrived from Dubai the day before the Elf. They got to party with us! Look at my poor Piggy’s eyes. You can tell he’s still recovering.
Daddy and Piggy 2 celebrated with cupcakes. Unfortunately, these were not good. I was trying a new recipe and they bombed. It’s a good thing we didn’t celebrate birthdays at school because these were the ones I had made for the party.
A few days later, more of Michelle’s family arrived from Australia to help us celebrate Christmas, and to attend their American wedding celebration. Here are a few of the Aussies that made it to our home in Georgia. Of course, everyone had to have an Alabama shirt to help us celebrate. 🙂 They’ve become quite big fans of Alabama football.
We were able to talk to Santa (Uncle D) via Skype on Christmas Eve…
And Santa came through with all the toys the boys wanted!
Two happy boys on Christmas morning!
Both boys received a dune buggy as a share toy. My littlest Piggy took to it immediately. For some reason, Piggy One is my cautious one, and he liked his Imaginext Space Rover the best.
We stick to a 3 present rule in our house. (This was something I had heard from a friend years ago and I loved the idea.) Our saying is, “If 3 gifts are good enough for Jesus, it’s good enough for you.” It sure helps cut down on the spending at Christmas time.
Here’s our gift list this year:
Piggy One Piggy Two Family Gifts
- Dune Buggy Dune Buggy Hungry Hippos game
- Imaginext space rover Thomas ride on train Go Fish Game
- Training Bike/helmet Brio Train Snap Circuit Science Kit
After celebrating Christmas with 11 people in our home and cooking Southern food for our new Aussie family like a crazy person, everyone packed their bags and headed to Birmingham, Alabama. My brother, his beautiful bride, all of her Aussie family, more of my Alabama/Colorado family, and LOTS of Alabama and Australian friends joined up for one amazing Great Gatsby themed celebration of love.
Here are a just a few pictures from the night:
Several of our new Australian family had to head home, but a few of them are still State side, celebrating New Years Eve in Florida. They will be back in GA for a few days to catch their breath, gather up their belongings and then head to other parts of the good ol’ “U S of Awesome”, as my new Sis-in-law calls it, before heading back to Australia and Dubai mid January.
As for me, the hubs and our Piggies, we are home, trying to get our house in order, getting ready for some Alabama football on New Year’s Day, and then getting back into a routine before 2015 runs over us.
2014 has been a hard year for us and for some of my family. The best part is learning new things from our trials, loving new family (which has been the best and easiest part), and counting our blessings in all of our journeys and adventures. We are ready for 2015! Bring it!!!!
God Bless!
Heather, Billy, and our Piggies
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