Girls rule, boys drool

 So yes, I think I mentioned that Wisconsin is COLD.

But in the words of Elsa, the cold never bothered me anyway.

Well, I mean, it bothers ME, but I have some looney tooney family members who get out in this madness. So I guess that makes Elsa their spirit animal or whatever.

They didn't last too long out there, but much longer than I ever would.

After their adventures into the woods, all of us ventured out for some sightseeing.

But as you can see, I'm the smart one who remains in the warm car.

We stopped off to see this reindeer. OH WAIT, I MEAN ELK.

I kept calling him a reindeer, because hello, it looks like Blitzen, but apparently I'm wrong. WHATEVER.

Reindeer, Elk, whatever he was, he was ornery.

After we hung with Blitzen, we had to go see some cheese being made. Because, hello, it's WISCONSIN.

Kids get fed up with pictures, so I just roll with whatever these days.

Cheese being made, isn't exactly pretty. But cheese being eaten? THAT'S BEAUTIFUL.

After our fun with Blitzen and cheese, we had a Gingerbread decorate-off waiting on us at home.

BOYS VS. GIRLS.

Some thought they were so clever....

But I personally thought I was clever-er.

We worked very hard on our masterpieces.

And then it was time for the vote.

Girls finished product...

And the dumb boys.

We had a couple judges and they both said they boys were best, and now I'm not speaking to one of the judges (HI JO!) but I think they just wanted to be annoying.

Because obviously, girls rule and boys drool.

The land of cheese and colored lights

Okay, so maybe Christmas wasn't completely in the books, seeing as we still had to travel WAY UP NORTH so we could celebrate with Paul's parents. 

Pam and Tom have lived in Wisconsin for a year now, but we had yet to go visit them. And actually I had never been to Wisconsin, so I was pretty excited to see a new state. 

I've never been a delightful traveler, I moan and complain worse than the children. Especially when the entire state of Illinois is flat and full of wind mills. 

 This was as exciting as it got.

But finally we reached Wisconsin, and it really is a beautiful state. COLD, but beautiful. 

But who cares about the scenery, we were finally reunited with Meemaw and Grandpa!

It had been about four months since we had seen each other, so we were super excited to back together. And the kids wasted NO time and were asking if we could do our Christmas together.


Here's a little fun little factoid about the Bush fam, they do COLORED lights.

This whole colored/white thing has caused a few debates between Paul and I. (That sounds like a marriage from the 1960's) I grew up with colored lights, and I do think they are pretty, but somewhere along the way I decided white lights were for me. But I decided next Christmas we can do some colored ones, because I'm awesome like that.

But back to Christmas. 

We were still celebrating.

And we got some interesting things...

Exhibit A.

And exhibit B.

NOT EVERYDAY YOU GET UNDERWEAR FROM YOUR IN-LAWS.

Yeah, they were full of the jokes, but we had so much fun!

Kids were of course spoiled more than they should be, and our fun WAY UP NORTH, was just beginning.

In the land of cheese and colored lights.

Christmas 2014

It was the middle of the night, I was sound asleep, and and suddenly I was awakened...

Hope: Momma, Pierce is being mean to me!

Pierce: Mom, she won't leave me alone!

Hope: Pierce hit me!

Pierce: I didn't hit her, I just pushed her because she won't leave me alone!

Me: Wait. Someone hand me my phone, what time is it? 

Pierce: It's 3:00. 

Me: GO TO BACK TO BED NOW.  AND GET ALONG, OR WE WON'T CELEBRATE CHRISTMAS. 

And that is how our Christmas morning began. 

Thankfully with the threat of canceling Christmas, they did go back to bed, and then wake us up at a decent hour, like 7:30, which meant a civil mom and dad. 

As with every Christmas, we go downstairs first and set things up, and make the kids wait in anticipation before they can come down. I can always hear them upstairs giggling and then eventually they yell, CAN WE COME DOWN YET??

And then finally we give them the go ahead...

There is a reason there's a saying, "as excited as a kid on Christmas morning."

When you become a parent and get to experience excitement through your children?

Really nothing quite like it.

The expressions!

They are just so excited!

I always fret every year that we won't get them enough.

Which of course, it's not about that, but I still fret.

Pierce got lots of Patriots stuff, I-tunes gift cards, and a new Under Armour baseball bag.

And Hope got a little hodge podge of everything.

But one of her favorites from us, was her doll named Sydney Lee. How cute are they in their matching pajama's?

After we finished with our Christmas, we had time to kill before everyone else arrived.

A few games, and umpteen HOW MUCH LONGER?

But finally it was time for dad to read the story from Luke..

And of course, the round' the table photo.

I think it was about this time that I wanted a nap, seeing as I had been awakened at 3:00 AM

But instead I ate some more fudge and got myself psyched for the family showdown.

We always gather downstairs

And then the madness begins! (Don't worry, Paul doesn't plan on chopping my family up)

But it's so fun!

The ooooh's

 The ahhhh's.

And the squeals...

And that was just me!

I know I say it every year, but it was such a great Christmas.

The gifts are fun, the food is great, but I really love being with my family most.

Christmas 2014...

It's a wrap.