A New Year's Eve Feast

After all of the traveling and craziness of Christmas, Ryan and I decided we wanted to lay

low for New Year's Eve.  We were just going to order in, watch a movie and relax, but then

I decided that I felt like making us a special dinner.  Although pictures don't always make

food look super appetizing, I couldn't help but capture a few of our dinner.  Mostly because

it was such a process that I wanted to have it documented somewhere.  ;)

To start we had a Zesty Lime Crab and Avocado salad.

Followed by Roasted Beef Tenderloin with a shallot and porcini mushroom sauce.

Sides of sauteed kale and Ryan's famous mashed potatoes. 

And last but certainly not least, Apple Dumplings with ice cream.

 

 

Happy New Year to Us!!  :)

The Christmas Finale

And the finale for our nearly week long celebration was Christmas at my Dad's house.

 

It was the perfect way to end our amazing and memorable week of Christmas festivities.

Christmas at Grandma's House

We continued our Christmas celebration in Wausau at my mom's house.

Owen was so happy to be with all of his cousins.

 And he was really excited to have another whole set of presents to open.

Owen had a little help trying out some of his new toys.

Uncle Alex showed him how to give Captain America a ride in the ambulance.  
 

Then Alex and Jill decided to help Ellie break in her new baby doll.

 Turns out that Marley is the only baby they need these days.

One off the highlights of the day, and perhaps the gift my mom was most excited to give

was the gift each family got from the clown shop.  Yes we are now all the proud owners 

of basketball hoop hats.  I have to admit, it's harder than it looks!

One of my favorite gifts was this cool recipe reader my mom saw on the Meredith Viera
show.  You load all of your recipes on it and it sits in the kitchen.  Much more convenient
than running into the other room to check the recipe on my computer after every step.  
I can't wait to use it.  What a great idea!

Here are a few snapshots of the craziness and the aftermath of the kids opening their gifts.

 

And of course a few family pics.

 

Thank you for everything Mom and Larry!!

 

 Merry Christmas everyone!!