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! 

A Busy Fall Weekend of Fun!

We decided to take advantage of the wonderful fall weather we've been having and plan a jam-packed weekend of fun things for Miss D!  We started off by heading out to Roca Berry Farm Pumpkin Patch in Roca (a small town south of Lincoln).  I had taken Delaney last year with her daycare, so this is becoming an annual tradition.  This year we went just the three of us, and we couldn't have had a better time!  We took a tun of pictures, so here are a few of my favorites!

 I think D was a little overwhelmed when we got there.  She was very serious, and just kinda took it all in for a while!  She did think the pumpkins were pretty cool though!

 Delaney rode around the pumpkin patch in style with her brand new wagon!

 Daddy and Delaney then got up close & personal with some animals, sheep specifically!  Delaney was a little unsure, and quote hesitant with the sheep and goats.  She did talk some  D sass to the chickens, which was pretty funny!

 Daddy & D then had some fun on the huge jumping pillows!  I stood on the sidelines due to my recent injury, but it was a lot of fun to watch them bounce!  I honestly think Craig had more fun than Delaney!

 Of course, we had to go for a spin on the "choo-choo"!

D enjoyed all the slides around the farm!  This was a little one she went down multiple times!  She even went down one of the big ones a couple time!  Such a big girl!

 Then, Daddy & D played on some hay bales!  D thought it was worthy of a round of applause!

 On our way to the hayrack ride, Delaney hopped through the Candy Land!

 Somehow I managed to not take any pictures in the actual pumpkin patch!  Ha!  Obviously, Delaney loves her prize pumpkin Daddy found for her!  She gave it kisses!

The morning was a huge success!  We all had a great time, and we had one tired little girl!  Here she is with all her pumpkins ready to go home!

Last night, we went up to visit the Reinhart Family and watch some Husker football!  We all know how that game turned out, but the kiddos had fun playing, and we had fun hanging out with old friends!  We put D down in Reed's pack-n-play at halftime, and she was out like a light.  After the game, we loaded her up and headed over to spend the night at Brent & Buffye's.   Obviously, this woke Delaney up!  We thought that we'd be able to get over there and put her back to bed.  Delaney had other plans!  After two hours of screaming, tears, and no sleep, Craig made the executive decision to head back to Lincoln!  So at 1:30 a.m. we were on the road!  Yikes!  That little stinker was awake until we were 2 miles from home, and then she crashed!  She officially got to bed at 2:30 a.m. and was wide awake this morning at 8!  Not cool!

We had made plans to go to the Omaha zoo today with Craig's entire family to celebrate his mom's birthday (which is later this week)!  Obviously, with our late night (or early morning) adventure we weren't going to make it to the Omaha zoo today.  We had no idea what kind of shape Delaney would be in, so we asked everyone to come to Lincoln instead!  They were all great and graciously agreed to come down here!  Delaney held up all day, and we were able to enjoy lunch at Famous Daves (YUM!) and a fun afternoon at the Lincoln Children's Zoo!  We ended the day with some birthday cake and put D down for a much needed nap!  A perfect way to end a fun weekend!  Here are some pictures from today...

 Delaney & Daddy fed the goats!  Delaney saw a lot of goats this weekend!

 She backed away and just laughed and laughed at them! 

 Then, D & Papa Farm checked out the penguins! 

 Auntie Buffye (or as D recently called her "FuFu"), D, & Cousin Sydney checked out some cute little guys hanging out with the wallaby.

 We attempted to get a picture of all 4 kiddos on the caterpillar...this is the best I got!  I think Grandma managed to get one!

 Tyler as a tree frog!

 Jaiden as a beautiful butterfly!

 Sydney as a very hungry caterpillar!

 Delaney was fascinated by the flamingos.  She kept running back over there to watch them!

 Delaney, Grandma Farm, & Sydney thought the pretty fishies were pretty cool!

We ended the trip by checking out the penguin show!  Delaney got a bird's eye view thanks to Daddy!

Now, it's time for bed!  Hope you had a fun weekend too!

Easter 2011

We celebrated the Easter holiday back home in Tekamah/Herman this last weekend with our family! It was a lot of fun to spend some time with everyone! We all came back stuffed full of yummy food and exhausted from all the festivities! Delaney was thoroughly spoiled (as usual) by all her grandparents (and great-grandparents)! She also started for-real walking over the weekend! I think we can official say we have a "walker" on our hands now! She also had a lot of fun hunting eggs with her crazy cousins! Izzy had quite the time on the farm as well! She ran and played outside as much as she could! She also got in a couple fights with the farm cat...Izzy lost! She came back with a bloody nose and blood dripping from one of her ears on two separate occasions! Such a sissy dog!

Here's Delaney finding her first egg! She became quite attached to this egg, and we "stole" it from Grandma's stash for posterity purposes!

Izzy had quite the time running around with the kids during the Easter Egg hunt! She wouldn't even slow down for a quick picture with her sister!

All smiles with her very special egg!

This is the best picture that I could get of all the kids! I'm hoping that Grandma got a better one, but this one captures the moment nonetheless!

Hope you all had a wonderful holiday!