A Very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year (2015)

HAPPY NEW YEAR VIVA CINDY READERS!!!!

I

I hope you guys had a wonderful Christmas!! We sure did! We flew to Ohio the Tuesday before Christmas. The flights were open so we packed and were on our way, knowing it might be tough to get home.

These little guys are seasoned pros. Pulling their suitcases and racing down the concourse and handing their boarding pass to the agents. They picked a few toys (Imaginext Batman figures are THE thing right now) to play with and I brought a new "search and find" book that kept them occupied for a while.

Flying standby during the holidays is tough. Getting four seats together is nearly impossible (and hard on regular days too!). I knew I was sitting with Paloma in row 18. Ernesto headed further back to figure out how he would switch seats to sit with the boys. (We have had this happen to us several times and each time a nice passenger has volunteered to move before we had to ask.)

Paloma loved her first flight!!! She smiled at mami and the lady sitting next to us. She relaxed and then drifted off to sleep after a good sweet drink!

Yes, I think it's safe to say that she is my best Christmas present this year.

She was a hit, that's for sure!

The night before Christmas Eve we stayed over at my sisters house. My niece Kelli was guest teaching a yoga class in the morning and she had a lot of family support!

Great job Kelli! Boy that felt good too! (note to self: must get another yoga package when Erensto is done taking down lights!)

The boys went to bed easily Cristmas Eve and didn't wake up until almost 7am! Mateo sat up in bed and said "I wonder if Santa came". I told him to go check. I so wish I would've recorded his reaction to all the presents he encountered. "mami mami come look. Santa did come. Marceli wake up Santa came and brought lots of presents!"

Santa went a little overboard this year I would say.

Mateo scanned all the presents. There were two bigger boxes that had to be unwrapped first. (According to the boys) And what do you know, Santa brought the number one asked for present this year. A BATCAVE...one for each of them!

Yes, Santa heard them loud and clear. "WE WANT IMAGINEXT BATMAN EVERYTHING!!

Legos are ever popular in our house too...but they were Batman Legos of course!

This beauty modeled her new Christmas outfit. (Target you are the best!) How could I not buy that?! Yes her first Christmas and her first tutu. Paloma received a lot of cute clothing and a few little toys too. I think Santa must have known that she already has everything a little girl could want.

Grandma did her usual and sewed the boys something. This year Spiderman pjs.

Since there are so many of us, we all buy for the kids, but do a white elephant between adults. This is always fun! All presents sit in the middle of the room and everyone takes a number out of a hat. You can pick a new present to open or steal on that has already been opened. Lots 'o laughs!!!

Ernesto got me his usual gift of nice (but overpriced) underwear from Victoria's Secret and workout clothes (yes I'm going to need those!). I told him I really wanted a Cu Artigiana copper pot that I saw at TjMAXX, so like a good man, he gave me a gift card so I could pick it out myself.

Luckily the one I wanted was still there. OMG! It is so beautiful! I'm almost too scared to cook in it, but I will get over it. This will start a great tradition mi amor.... you will never have to wonder what to get me. A copper pot/pan please. Le Crueset is always a winner tambien.

My parents are up to 8 grandchildren now (Tyler and Noah not pictured)!! Notice the Latin lover in front with the disco shirt. Yep, he is mine!

We did the family shots around the tree, because that is what we do! I like documentation of how we are aging but more importantly how the kids are growing!

ShaffNers.

Arnolds.

In-laws.

Bruno. Not sure how tio Brrrian escaped the photo shoot, but Bruno was front and center. Probably because the poor baby cut his paw and was bed ridden. Poooooor Bruno, Brrun King, Bruni Brun!

Everyone! (There is tio Brrrian standing up!) We always end up around the table playing cards. Pass the Ace is a favorite and the kids are now able to play (with help) so it's really fun!

We also had some laughs with a new game called Pie Face. Have you seen this? Stupidest game ever, but seriously funny. It is really Russian rullet for whipped cream in your face. Spin the wheel to see how many times you turn the little clicker and the purple hand may or may not slap whipped cream in your face. Ha!

There wasn't any snow this year, which was dissapointing. I can't remember a Christmas where we were able to actually hang outside without coats.

There is that cute baby again! Look at that face!!

Oh my gosh,.....so pretty. Kelli too.

Of course we were missing Kyja and the Arnold's down in Florida. Oh maybe one day we will all be together! It was a great time as usual!

Flying home, just as we suspected, was going to be tough a few days after Christmas. Monday morning I was relaxing with my iPad and coffe when Ernesto told me "I rented a car." UGH! We packed up the next couple hours and in doing so I realized packing a car was so much easier than packing all that stuff for the airplane! Actually the road trip was quite easy. We left about 1pm and all kids were sleeping shortly after. Around 6pm we stopped for a quick bite to eat (and Bucky Bucks!).

By then it was dark so the kids drifted off to sleep after a while and slept until we reached tio Brrrians cabin inAsheville at 11pm. There was a storm moving through and it was raining so hard we thought it s best to break up the drive. Plus we were tired!!

Mateo woke up for a little bit, but Marcelo didn't even know we were at tio Brrrian's. He was sleeping when we brought him in and slept right through the transfer back into the car...at 4:30am. Yeah, I know! 430??? Erensto wanted to get home early because he had to take down a shopping center.

Just a couple more weeks of "single parenting" and I am home free...FOR ANOTHER 9 MONTHS! YES!!!

New Year's Eve was a neighborhood get together between three houses and one bonfire. Marcelo followed me in the house to feed Paloma (it was pretty cold out) and wanted to lay down "in mami's bed" so I feed Paloma there and Marcelo was out in 5 minutes. Paloma and mami were out shortly after. (1030ish) Papi and Mateo woke me up to say happy new year at 1230a. Whoops! Yep, this party animal made it! Maybe it was all the attention from the neighbor girls.

Hope you guys are having a great start to 2016. We are relaxing, Neto is golfing and my mom's Pigs in the Blanket are on the stove. Yum!!