Herman Christmas

We celebrated Christmas with Dave's family on December 28th.  All of Dave's sisters and their families came home to visit.  Liam and Lilly had a blast playing with all their cousins.  Liam and Andrew Lockard really hit it off.  They have similar personalities and came up with imaginative games.  

Kusch Christmas

What an amazing Christmas!  The kids woke up at about 4:30am and we made them lay in bed with us until 6am.  Then, we turned on the TV and waited for everyone else to get up.  We finally let them get out of bed at 7am.  They got so many presents!  They had fun playing with all their new toys.  We enjoyed a great breakfast and supper, played games, and enjoyed being together as a family.  We made some great memories.

The kids on the way to Michigan -

My present from Dave was tickets to see Wicked. Mom and David watched the kids so we could enjoy an evening out.  It was a fantastic show!

Family Christmas

Merry Christmas!  Lilly woke up at 5am, so I put her back to bed.  Liam was in our room at 5:30am, so I sent him back to bed.  He came back in our room at 6:30am, so we turned on Disney channel and then finally started unwrapping presents at 7am.  Lilly joined us about an hour later.  After the chaos of opening presents, we ate a nice big brunch complete with organic sparkling apple juice served in plastic champaign glasses.  I think that was Lilly's favorite part of the day.  Then, we played with new toys, took turns taking naps, and snacked throughout the day.  We ended the evening with the family candlelight service at Emanuel.  Then, we loaded up the van and headed to Michigan, so we could wake up and do the whole thing again the next day.

Before opening gifts

Total Chaos

Liam's gifts

Lilly's gifts

December 23rd, 2014 - Our Christmas Eve

We are celebrating Christmas a day early as a family of four.  Because we are heading to Michigan for Christmas we decided to celebrate with our little family on Christmas Eve, so that makes the 23rd our Christmas Eve.  Growing up we always opened one gift on Christmas Eve and it was always pajamas and a stuffed animal (to help us sleep).  We have continued the tradition with our kids.  This year instead of buying a stuffed animal for them to open we decided to take them to Build A Bear, so they could make their own.  Liam picked a Batman bear and Lilly picked a brown bear, which she decorated with a white dress and silver dress shoes.

After making our bears, the kids and I went to Warsaw to get together with my Aunt Gloria, Uncle David, my cousin Jillian, and her two girls Lorelei and Lucy.  Jillian and I have always been close and our kids get along so well.  We try to get together at least twice a year.  The weather was so warm, the kids actually played outside a lot.  It was so nice to get some fresh air.

Liam with Lucy

Lilly and Lorelei

After supper we let the kids open their pajamas and then take a bath.  Liam got dinosaur slippers, which Lilly wanted to try on.

Daisy tried to help Lilly open her present