Christmas Celebrations 2024!

I am so happy that we have the ability to take pictures as I'm writing this blog, there are several things I've completely forgotten about, and it's only been 4 months!

Looks like we're starting with NYE. We had several friends come over with their kids. It was chaos, the house was a mess, and I loved it all. Usually we make (rather Pat makes) food for everyone, but this year we decided to order in, that way Patrick could enjoy the company and also help me out with our two toddlers as I keep getting more and more pregnant.

Ella and her family stayed the night and almost made it to midnight. We tried to put a youtube NYE celebration on early, but we kept getting distracted and missing the celebration.

At the top of the hour, I (tried) to let the kids pick a colored bag that had different toys in them. Some bags were filled with tattoos, harmonicas, light wands, ring pops, just random things to keep the party exciting for them. I forgot to do this a lot and ended up with lots of things for next year.

Conrad and baby Blake, so sweet!

Conrad really enjoys being in the kitchen. We asked him to stir this mix and he stirred it for probably 15 min. Since then, you can always find him pushing a chair up to help stir or do anything to help prepare a meal.

Meanwhile, you can find Branko jumping on the couch, nugget, or his bed.

Conrad also really enjoys dumping his toys in his crib and playing with them. I think he knows it's his safe space and nothing will get taken away from him.

We got to celebrate Graydon's 16th birthday a few days early. Graydon was a trooper and didn't mind that Branko and Bennett snuck in and blew out his candles. I wish I would've gotten a pic or video of the two toddlers high fiving each other after they blew the candles out. It was so cute and they were so proud.

Branko's not one to really wear pajamas, he just likes wearing a t shirt (sometimes) and athletic shorts to bed. He was in a short phase of wearing footie pajamas like Conrad.

Branko LOVES lions. He got this lion from Aunite Mary for Christmas.

Before going to my sisters to celebrate my side of the family's Christmas, we took the boys to the zoo. I have a feeling this will be our last time going for a few months. Halloween costumes were a must for these two.

Jodi made special drinks for the kids, Conrad LOVES juice.

Jodi also had a small craft table for the kids as well.

The boys got lots of new toys. I try to rotate our toys once a month or so to make them feel like their new again. Works everytime!

My sister Karen has given us a lot of super hero costumes and masks from her boys. Branko sure loves dressing up! She found this batman costume and Branko grabbed the Darth Vader mask.

The boys typically go to daycare on Thursdays, however, this day, we both were off of work and decided to take the boys to Shedd Aquarium in Chicago. We got there as soon as it opened, so driving there during the holiday week was super easy and we missed a lot of the crowds initially. Branko is really into animals and Conrad was more interested in the ipads that had the animal facts.

Conrad loves big cozy sweaters like this. I love it!

We celebrated Jodi's birthday at my sister Marys house.

The only thing Jodi wanted was a group photo. What the birthday girl wants, the birthday girl gets.

This was from Christmas (Eve) morning. We opened presents and celebrated Christmas with the four (five) of us on 12/24. Patrick made a great breakfast and it was a nice and slow morning with absolutely no agenda. My favorite.

New costumes fort these two!

Not only does Conrad like to cook, he also likes to vacuum.

All ready for the boys to wake up and open presents!

Our baby loving minion

Our lion loving Branko was in luck as the new Mufasa movie premiered during Christmas. I took him to see the movie and he did great! He even wore his halloween costume. I thought the movie was really good!

The weekend before Christmas, my sisters, nieces, mom, and my mom's best friend Mary went to the Christmas market in Chicago. We took the train down, had lunch, and did a little shopping. We went to Zara which is where I got Conrads sweater and Branko's walrus sweater. I couldn't pass them up! I thought about bringing Branko on this trip and thank god I didn't because the market was PACKED. He would've been really hard to keep track of as our small little group got separated several times.

Good night, sweet boy.

Not one, but two babies! I think he's going to love helping out with his new baby brother or sister!

Patrick took Branko to a UWM basketball game at the bucks arena. Branko's never been to a game, so this was the perfect test to see how he would do. Big space with not many fans, he did great! Patricks cousin, Tanner, is a freshman at UWM and he joined in on the fun. Branko still talks about it to this day and associates the bucks with Tanner.

In mid December, we celebrated Christmas with my mom's side of the family. I love having it at my cousins house as she has the perfect set up for the gathering in her basement. She also buys all the kids matching PJs. My aunt Maris does all the gift shopping for the kids/adults. We send her $20 per person and she throws in an extra $5 per person. The adults get a certain number of tickets to put in a bag for each gift and I won the jackpot this year. I won the $50 that was locked in a maze gift card holder!

For the boy's birthday presents, we got them Paw Patrol live tickets that was held in December. We went out to lunch at Major Goolsbys afterwards. I don't think I've ever been there where it was this empty, this early, or this sober.

Branko sat and enjoyed the show, Conrad was pretty restless. We started potty training Conrad and he never tells us when he has to go, but on this day, he kept saying he needed to go. (of course)