Christmas 2014

Christmas 2014 was a success!  We had many celebrations, saw lots of relatives, and survived!  Here are a few pictures and highlights!

We knew we would be traveling for Christmas, so we celebrated with the kids a few days early at home.  They each had 2 packages to open under the tree at home.  Of course, Delaney was less than impressed with her book and clothes.  This has been noted for reference next year!  

Here are the kids all dressed up before Christmas Eve Mass!  Church was a workout with the kids, but overall they behaved pretty well considering how close it was to normal dinner time!  

The annual family Christmas photo!  Notice all the packages under the tree...Grandma Tekamah went a little crazy!

Here are all the Bryant cousins on Christmas Eve!  Chase is 3.5 and Parker is almost 9 months.  He is bigger than his older cousin Cooper!  Next year will be a little nuts when these two join the other crazies running around!

Here are the Mencke cousins on Christmas Day!  Sydney is now in middle school and almost 12, Jaiden is 10, and Tyler just turned 9.  I can't believe how grown up they suddenly are!

A little collage I put together of some of the festivities!  

A big treat of the weekend was the First Annual "Friends that are Family" Bryant/Olson family dinner!  Everyone, but Chip and Lauren, were able to attend.  It was Nick M.'s idea, and I think an annual tradition has been born!  We will just have to rotate Christmas and Thanksgiving holidays to get everyone home at the same time!  The Olsons and the Bryants have been family for ever, and now that Jessica & Abby married the Mathistad brothers we are family!

Here are the kids with their great grandparents!  I never knew mine, so we try to take advantage of any time we can visit with them.  Grandpa is 90, and  Grandma is 87.  They are still living at home and doing well!

We have been home since Sunday, and I'm still in the process of putting away all of the new stuff!  SPOILED KIDS!  (And parents!)  We have started a big purging process.  Delaney is enjoying the thought of donating some of her things to another "little girl".  Out with the old, in with the new!  We had a great Christmas with all of our family full of lots of laughs, wonderful food, safe travels, and health!  So much to celebrate!  

Christmas 2012-Recap

Holy smokes!  I'm a bit overdue for an update.  We had an amazing Christmas holiday this year!  We were all sufficiently spoiled, exhausted, and stuffed by the time we made it back to Lincoln after our whirlwind weekend full of family, food, fun, and festivities!  We started off all the festivities by getting a couples massage the Saturday before Christmas.  In previous years, Craig and I have exchanged pretty insignificant stocking stuffers, so this year we decided to try something different.  Craig had never had a professional massage, but definitely needed a little R&R so we decided on a couple massage in lieu of traditional gifts.  In hindsight, although we both really enjoyed the massages I think it would have been a better Valentine's Day or Anniversay gift instead of Christmas.  I was a little sad when Christmas came and went and we didn't really exchange any gifts!  Live & learn....

We started off the marathon that was Christmas with the annual Hassler Family Christmas celebration consisting of Southern Comfort punch, homemade chicken noodle soup, grab bag gifts, and general shenanigans that inevitably ensue when you get all the Hasslers in one place at the same time. 

Craig started growing his "Stick it to the Man" beard on Thanksgiving, but we were pretty surprised to see the beard trend had infiltrated the rest of the Hassler clan. 

Delaney received some great gifts!  One of the best was a tote full of dress up accessories from cousin  Hannah!  She loves that stuff, and is in the tote almost on a daily basis!

Delaney also had a lot of fun with the catnip-filled rate toy Kayla brought for the kitty "Princess".  Something about seeing a little girl playing with a toy rat puts you in the Christmas spirit!

Since the Hassler shindig was in Lincoln, we had a sleepover that night with Grandma & Papa and Jess & Chase.  We love to have our house full of family...even if nobody gets much sleep!  The next morning we all got up early to head to the Bryant Family Brunch in Omaha at Aunt Jeanne's house.  We hadn't gotten everyone from the Bryant side at Christmas together in about 4 years, so this was a big deal!  All the second cousins got along pretty well, and we all had fun catching up! 

Delaney got a super cool magnetic dress up doll set!  It's pretty genius compared to the paper dolls of the past!   She has a lot of fun dressing up those girls!

Delaney is a little outnumbered with the "Bryant boys".  We grow them big in this family!  Nolan is 5 and Leo is 2 (he's about 5 weeks older than Delaney), so it's fun to see them all together once in a while!

Delaney wasn't much into the whole picture thing, but she warmed up at the end! 

As naptime neared, we hit the road again to continue our journey up to Tekamah for more festivities!  Sunday night was our only chance to be all together & alone with my immediate family.  We had a delicious meal of grilled steaks and twice baked potatoes, and then we exchanged gifts.  This year we tried something new by drawing names for all us siblings and spouses/spouse to be.  We drew names and the gift had to start with the letter "N", and Nebraska Husker stuff was off limits!  I think everyone had fun with this, so I'm sure it will evolve more and more over the years!

Chase is always such a smiley guy!  If you know his parents, this will be no shock to you!

I found this hat for Chase on Black Friday, and I made Grandma get it for him!  Isn't it perfect!?!

Thanks to some wonderful eye scratching I had endured, I was in glasses for all of Christmas.  Acutally, I just got back into contacts this week...no fun!

This was the year of the iPad.  My parents generously gave all of us iPads so we could all stay in touch more!  As you can see, they were a big hit with the boys (and us girls too whenever we get to play with them!)

Auntie Jess wanted a picture of her and Delaney's matching pink outfits.  Delaney was less than cooperative...surprise, surprise!

Once he got over the shock of the beard, Chase buddied up to Craig for some video viewing!

The annual sibling photo!  Yes I'm the oldest, biggest and shortest...

At this point Delaney was a walking zombie hopped up on all sorts of sweets and presents!

The entire sibling photo!

The next day was Christmas Eve.  We spent the day out at the farm trying to squeeze in a few naps here and there.  I watched White Christmas with Jaccie while Craig, Steve, & Delaney took afternoon naps!  After nap, we got ready and headed up to Tekamah for Christmas Eve Mass and more fun!  We had another yummy dinner...Nick made chicken cordon bleu, and it was wonderful! 

Jess and I dressed the kids in matching plaid without planning it, so pictures were a necessary evil.  Grandma & Grandpa coordinated nicely!  This was the best picture I had of this attempt...I hope Mom's camera or Jess's had better results!

A little quiet time with Papa and the iPad.  I swear these kids can work those things better than I can!

Papa and Grammy saved the kids big kids for Christmas Eve.  Delaney got a really neat kitchen set, but she was so tired by this point that she could barely stand!

We said our "Good-byes" and headed back to the farm to prepare for Santa and the Christmas Day festivities!  More food, fun, and gifts to be had!  Jaccie made the traditional feast of turkey and ham with yummy pies for dessert!  Talk about a food coma!

Here are Delaney's Santa gifts!

The theme with gifts this year turned out to be dress up and Princess.  This Princess castle is too cute and a big favorite of Delaney's!

Out happy girl on Christmas morning!

More castle time before the cousins come! 

Snuggling up with Grandma!

A family photo on Christmas!

Delaney adores her cousin Sydney!  I keep trying to convince Brent & Buffye to let Sydney move int our guest room!

Delaney has Papa right where she wants him...opening and playing with baby dolls!

Delaney and Sydney snuggled up in the too-small toddler bed!  Cousin fun!

Delaney was having no part of the cousin photo!  At least Brent's kids look cute!

So, as you can see we had a very full Christmas, and I wouldn't trade it for the world!  Thank to you all those that made it so extra special this year!  I hope you're was a amazing as ours!  Thanks for reading the longest post in the history of the blog! 

Catch up & Eddie

Wow, I've really gotten behind.  We last checked in before Thanksgiving.  We had a glorious long weekend full of family, food, football, shopping, and laughs.  I didn't take many pictures this year (Mom fail).  We spent time with all of Delaney's grandparents and great grandparents!  She loved all the spoiling!

We were all pretty exhausted by the time we came home.  Delaney slept the whole way!  I just wish she was a better sleeper when we traveled.  Actually, I just wish she was a better sleeper in general.

We came home and started getting ready for Christmas!  We set up Delaney's little tree first.  She is so excited by everything "Christmas" this year...it's already so much fun!

Craig channeled his inner Clark Griswold last Saturday and took care of the outside decorations! We've had a few messages from the neighbors...it does look a little a runway up our driveway! 

Then, Santa came a little early and brought Delaney her new big girl bed.  She has been rapidly outgrowing her toddler bed, so we took advantage of a Cyber Monday deal.  She loves her new bed, maybe a little too much!  She's been partying into the wee hours...

Her new big girl quilt came just a couple days ago, and it was as if she won the lottery! I think you could give this girl a box of rocks, and she'd be ecstatic!

We debated for a long time whether or not to start the Elf on the Shelf tradition this year, or wait another year.  At the last minute, we decided to give it a shot and Eddie the Elf showed up on our doorstep.  The first night, Eddie found a perch on the living room curtain rod, so he had a bird's eye view of all the happenings.  Delaney doesn't quite understand the "No Touching of the Elf" rule, so I think Eddie is going to have to stick with "higher" viewpoints!

Last night, the second night Eddie became "Super Eddie" and decided to "fly" from the living room ceiling fan with a little cape!  Delaney thought he was pretty silly when she found him this morning!

 

Craig also having a little "fun" with Eddie.  For more X-Rated Eddie the Elf shenanigans find Craig on Facebook!  You can also find Eddie--the nice version--on Instagram, you can follow me at cmencke4.  Until the next time...

Holiday Weekend

Oh, what a weekend it was!  We made the trip north to the homelands this weekend to spend the weekend with our families.  We laughed a lot, ate a lot, and we were spoiled every time we turned around.  Delaney didn't quite understand what was going on, but she had a great time running the show and getting lots of cool new stuff.  She even managed to last through half of Christmas Eve mass!  She would have lasted a lot longer if she new how to whisper.  This weekend Delaney decided talking non-stop was what the cool kids do!  She just doesn't have a volume control.


We spent Christmas Eve in Tekamah for dinner.  Then, I was up until 4 a.m. with Delaney who wanted nothing more than to party.  It was ridiculous!  I was at my wits end for sure!  I thought last weekend in KC was tough when she wouldn't sleep in her own bed, this was a nightmare!  She not only wouldn't sleep in her own bed, but she wouldn't sleep period.  I tried to keep her quiet so the rest of the family could sleep, but I don't think anybody got much rest that night. 

We were in Omaha by 10a.m. Christmas morning for festivities with the Mencke family.   We were all spoiled (as usual) by Grandma & Papa Farm.  Delaney had lots of fun with her new things and her cousins.  Delaney managed to hang in there pretty well considering how exhausted she must have been.  By 3 o'clock I had trouble staying awake.  We loaded up and headed back to Tekamah for the partially extended Bryant family.  Delaney squeezed in a little nap, and we fired up and ready to go by dinner time. 

So, we are back in Lincoln now with one day of work done.  To say we are still exhausted is an understatement, but it was definitely worth it to have such a fun Christmas!  All season long we've been saying that it didn't feel like Christmas.  Now that it's all over, it still doesn't feel like Christmas; however, it was a lot of fun and a very merry holiday! 

Oh, I had a total "Mom fail" and forgot to charge my camera after last week's trip to KC.  Oops!  I managed to get through about half of our festivities before it completely died on me! 

 Of course, Izzy enjoyed her stocking stuffers!  She's kinda hard to please with toys and treats, but I think we did pretty good this year!

 We had to do most of the opening for Delaney!  She didn't quite "get" it.

 D got some new dress up shoes that she thought were pretty cool until she tried to walk.  So far they haven't been on her little feet since...

 Here's Daddy with her new "copter".  He was more like the little kid on Christmas with this thing! 

 She showing off some of her loot here...can't remember what it was now...

 Here's what Santa left for Delaney at home.  So far, the picnic basket has been the favorite of the bunch!

 She has also enjoyed the blanket I made for her and her very own Camelbak bottle!  She has coveting one of these since last summer, and now she has one of her very own.

 Here's our little family after church on Christmas Eve! 

 Here's Craig demonstrating his helicopter! 

These two are addicted to each other!  It's so fun to watch them together! 

Here's Delaney with her Mencke cousins.  They are all getting so big all of a sudden!

Before my camera died, Delaney took Tyler's new drum set for a spin!  She LOVED it!  I keep telling her piano lessons first...

Hope your holidays were as great as ours!