{Greg's Dad, Greg, Liam and Nora all sledding down the multiple-decade old toboggan}
One really cool thing we did was go to the Art of the Brick, an art exhibit by Nathan Sawaya who creates masterpieces out of Legos! My sister-in-law found this and I'm so glad she did. Liam loves Legos, and it was great to get out and do something in the art field. The exhibit is coming to Kansas City in a couple of weeks, too, so if you are in the area - check it out!
At the end of the exhibit, the kids got to write their name on a lego brick and contribute it to the Omaha logo.
After the art adventure, we got to work making, decorating and eating cookies....
A tradition I have carried on from my own childhood to my children, is opening one gift on Christmas Eve. The last few years, those gifts have been Christmas jammies (Liam was enthusiastic about this gift... can't you tell?)!
And then we got to our other Christmas Eve traditions - Greg read "Twas the Night Before Christmas" and Tim (Greg's brother) tracked Santa on the Santa tracker (which really helped hurry the kiddos off to bed!).
Christmas morning was filled with loads of wrapping paper, gifts and PJs. My favorite part was watching the kids get excited to GIVE gifts (almost as excited as receiving... gets better every year). I had each of my kiddos pick out presents for each other and others this year (even more than last year) since they are at the age to really understand, and that helped get them excited to give.
My sweet niece was so funny - she's at the age where opening was the most exciting thing. She
{Nora might have won for Liam's favorite gift! She was so excited to watch him open it and even more excited that he was loved it - Pokemon Cards}
After all the gift opening, back out in the snow they went. I stayed inside/in the car this time (except to take a few pics), as it was even colder than the day before! Liam was a trooper. He loves the snow so much, he didn't even feel the cold!
{Another quadruple toboggan run}
By Christmas night all the kids were pretty tired (my niece fell asleep while eating - which was really cute/funny, and Nora took awhile to warm up again), but we had a nice dinner with some of my husbands extended family.
The girls loved matching most of the holiday! And my sister-in-law and I had fun picking out their outfits leading up to the time together. Their yellow velvet skirts HERE, and HERE is the kitty cat version of their sequin bunny shirts.
After Omaha, we continued to have lots of friend and family time back home in Kansas City, as Greg's brother and his family came to stay with us. It was great having so much time with them. After they headed back to sunny California, we had Christmas #2 with my parents (FaceTiming with my sister, too) over brunch followed by the kids playing with their new toys while I took an epic nap right on the couch. Holidays are exhausting. ;)
{My Dad is so cute - he loves spending extra time picking out little gifts just from him, that he's thought of, for each of the kids. They both LOVED their papa gifts.}
{Greg made two really awesome tables for the kids - one is a light up table and the other is a Lego table}
They sure love their Mimi.