Since we last spoke...

Christmas came, and went. Here's a recap of our holiday:

The kids collectively decided they wanted a dog for Christmas, and Noah and I actually let them get one--from the pound. Say hello to Egon:

The dog was the big present this year, but thanks to grandparents and uncles and aunts, the kids got spoiled rotten.

Christmas Eve was spent with Noah's Uncle and Aunt who live near us. Every year, they host a "Bethlehem dinner" where they eat Middle Eastern food with their hands. I love the idea, and the evening was super fun.

Christmas morning, the kids lined up on the stairs after opening their stockings:

Noah and I were a bit sneaky this year. We only put a few presents under the tree, leaving the majority of them in the basement where Santa also left a PING PONG TABLE!!! I was worried the kids might throw fits when they didn't see piles of gifts, but they surprised me. They were happy with only a few presents.

One of the presents under the tree was a Wii game from Uncle Zach, which we had to try out and since our Wii is in the basement, the kids filed down.

And what do you know, there were more presents! Here are some highlights:

Gabby and Alex each got Rollerblades this year and pretty much left them on for the entire Christmas weekend.

Alex loves showing us his fighting moves, so we decided to encourage that by getting him some boxing gloves:
Oliver Kenevil got a power wheel. After figuring out how to work the thing, he lifted it up on a platform Noah built for the kids to play ping pong, and started jumping it. It was perhaps Noah's proudest moment as a father. In the past week, Oliver has continued trying daring stunts, such as: riding backwards, riding while standing, and holding onto the handlebars and dragging himself behind it (the Superman).
Gabby wanted accessories for her American Girl dolls so she can keep up with her friends.I outdid myself and got Noah a new Casio Pathfinder watch, which he LOVED. And he gave me the cutest purse ever (not pictured because I was behind the camera).
The highlight of Christmas though was that my life-long BFF, Adrea came over with her family. This is her son Henry:
We made Gingerbread houses, ate a fancy dinner, and partied all night long and since that wasn't enough, we kept the party going through the next day too.
Adrea made a Yule Log which totally impressed me:

One of our main Christmas traditions is that we buy ornaments that have something to do with events of the past year. We always wait to buy them until a day or two after Christmas because they're all on sale and we're cheap. Here's what we picked up this year:

Noah and I got an ornament commemorating our 10 year anniversary--I didn't blog about our anniversary because I didn't have a working camera but it was simply awesome! Noah's parents came to town and Noah and I had our first romantic overnighter EVER. We hit up Cincinnati, stayed at the Hyatt, explored the city without kids, got tacos from a street vendor, drank hot chocolate, almost watched the lighting of the down town Christmas tree (we got bored and left before they actually lit the thing), and hot tubbed. It was without a doubt one of the funnest times I've had in my life.
Gabby got a Hermione ornament this year because she has become a book worm, she loves Harry Potter, and she's a know-it-all [like Hermione].
Oliver loves Snoopy and requests every night to be read a "Moopy book." This year, he got a tap dancing "Moopy" ornament.
Alex learned how to read this year. One of his favorite books is Green Eggs and Ham, so he got this ornament:

Well, Happy New Year everyone!