Tuesday, December 27th
Here is Ashley working with her aquabeads set that her grandpa (my dad) got her for Christmas. She made Olaf and a snowflake.
One thing I like about the kids all being home is that they play together. This door goes out from kitchen to our utility / laundry room. My oldest son hung this hoop up the day after Christmas and the kids will go out and play mini basketball games. This time we had the door opened. Carlos was watching David and Ashley play while he was home eating on his lunch break.
The older boys were high school basketball practice, while this was going on at home. David actually made 3 baskets on his own! Daddy got in on their little game and helped David make a few more!
The boys had their friends coming and going all week-long. In fact, Carlitos was staying the night at his friend Alex’s house this night. This time it was Ashley’s turn to have a friend stay the night! Ashley’s friend Tayli came over. Here they are all set up in the living room. Emily got the Disney movie Beauty and the Beastfor Christmas, so we watched that before bed.
Wednesday, December 28th
Today, Carlos and I had a little date planned with Emily during David’s nap time. Emily is going to be Teddy Bear of the Week at her school next week. That meant we had an “All About Me” poster to fill out and color in. Emily was super excited for this time with Mom and Dad. There was a spot to fill in what you want to be when you grow up, and Emily picked to be a police officer! That was something I did not know about her. She also said that her favorite food is strawberries and that her favorite book is Pinkalicious.
Emily is coloring in the strawberry that Carlos drew for her. And this is Emily and Carlos with the finished poster. I love my little girl! Later she came and told me that she is nervous about being teddy of the week. I told her that she is going to do great!
Thursday, December 29th
Emily is definitely enjoying all of the free time at home. She did all these puzzles today at the diningroom table.
Friday, December 30th
Today the boys went to open gym at the high school for a little bit. Then they came home and spent some time with their friend Mikey playing video games. Then I took Jose out to his friend Katie’s house. He bought her a blanket for Christmas, that still needed to be delivered. She lives about 20 miles from us.
That evening for family fun night we went to the YMCA. Carlos, the younger 3 kids and I went swimming. Carlitos played basketball with his cousin Edgar and some friends, and Jose was still at Katie’s.
David was super excited! He was saying, “agua, agua!”, before we had even made it to the dressing room.
They had fun. David enjoyed this little slide that was in the very shallow part of the pool. It was a nice evening. We went over to the lap pool to let Emily and Ashley practice swimming. Carlos kept the kids with him for a little bit, so that I could take a few laps.
Afterward, we went and picked Jose up. Then Jonny and Dylan stayed the night at our house.
Saturday, December 31st ~ New Year’s Eve
We were going to go over to the Peña’s house, but one of them wasn’t feeling well. They came to our house instead and it was a pretty good night.
There was lots of yummy finger food to enjoy.
The parents and the older kids played Train in the dinning room. Plus little David wanted to be with me, so he was there too. The younger kids played some other games at the kitchen table.
Squeals of laughter were coming from the kitchen when the kids had started playing Pie Face. I ran in to take a few quick pics and watch them play. Looking at these pictures and thinking about David’s face expressions while it was his turn and his reaction afterward, still makes me laugh!
Next we played The Logo Game.
After that, the Peña’s went home. Then we drank sparkling cider to ring in the new year with the whole family together, before I put the girls to bed.
The boys’ friend Dylan came over to spend the night. David fell asleep in my arms right around until midnight! (He had a late nap that day) We played Train until about 1 am. I think it has been a few years since I stayed until midnight on New Year’s Eve. (lol) Happy New Year!