Back up and running!

Happy New Year everyone! I am excited for 2007. Lot's of things to look forward to. First of course is a new grandbaby! Another is a trip back east to see Ty and Ash and Phili and the new condo (yes NYC is also involved and probably a Broadway play). Tiff and Tiana are going with me on this adventure. At some point (or several points) I will be heading to Portland to visit little Madi and her parents too! Ted can't earn those frequent flyer miles fast enough.
Here is our recap on Christmas. We had a really fun Christmas break with everybody home. On Christmas Eve we had the infamous gingerbread house contest. (please look on Trev and Summers blog for pictures) Ty and Ash won first place this year for the first time and they were thrilled. We actually had many categories to win and then an overall. Tiff and Derrick added quite a bit of surprise to this years contest....with the announcement of them being pregnant. Everyone knew but Ted and I and it was very sweet when we came down to judge and there was an announcement at the gingerbread manger scene. We had to go through a process of elimination of who it could be and hoped it was them! We had categories like "best use of color, best use of chocolate, best use of a fish" It was hard judging as each year they get better and better. Trev and Summers was the North Pole and they had an assembly line of toys going out the door and right up into Santa's sleigh! Tiana and Matt's was crazy with a sail boat and a fish in a pond out in front. They all walked away with some $$$ and some fun awards, but this is hard on the judges:) We have to get more and more creative each year.
Christmas morning we enjoyed a real live treasure hunt and the extra fun of Casey bear loving all his Christmas. He is really into Pirates right now (thanks Backyardagins) and so we got him a Dora pirate playhouse for our backyard. We loved watching him play in and around it and saying ARGHHHHHH as much as we could coax it out of him. Madi was awesome and let everyone hold her and play with her. She was a trooper as Trev and Summer went back and forth between both families. There was a "pool whiffle ball" game that of course ended in some players in the water. I think Ty was the first one in. Derrick and Matty beat the home boys and now the contest is on for the future. Nobody has beat Ty and Trev at their own game before! There was lot's of golf, games, food and Dr. Mario. After Ted and Trev left for Portland we went bowling and everyone had fun.....except maybe Tyler.....he had been sick all week and is arguably the best bowler of the bunch, and so a bet was made and Ty lost and had to jump in the pool at 10:00pm and bless his heart....he kept his word.
I think there is a Berenstien Bears book called Too Much Fun and talks about just that. We might have had a little of that towards the end. We had all stayed up too late too many night's in a row, eaten too much of the wrong food, been exposed to too many cold and flu germs and were pretty much just tired out by the end. Looking back though, I wouldn't change a thing, cuz it all was great. One big happy family who loves each other. Thanks everyone for spending time here this Christmas and I hope someday we'll have everyone here again.