HAPPYYYYY NEW YEARRRRRRR!!!

Each year the kids get a little more excited and more determined to stay up till the ball drops on New Years Eve! This year was no exception especially since Amanda, Chris & the kids joined us! This also meant more fights over who gets to hold Baby Barrett! Another fun holiday with our Doellmans!!! LOVE YOU GUYS! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

 Breakfast on New Year's at Cracker Barrel! One of our favorite Doellman/Bowman spots!

And a random picture of Rich brushing his sweet beard with a Barbie brush he stole from his 4-year-old :) HAHAHA!

IT’S THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR... IN WICHITA!!!

What to do for Christmas… Mitch & Faye had a perfect solution this year!!! Christmas at their place in Wichita!!! We were RIDICULOUSLY EXCITED!!! I could hardly wait to hear Melissa, Colton, & Oren yell "AUNT SHELLY!!!" In the cutest little British accents ever when we walked through the door! Almost all of the Smith crew got to come to Mitch & Faye's place at McConnell AFB in Wichita except for Mikey, Ragen, & Hunter, and of course Matt. We missed them so much but Christmas with part of the fam is better than none of the fam any day! 

We drove through the night and got in Christmas Eve morning! It was only a few day stay but it was one we will never forget! It was so heartwarming watching my kids make Christmas memories with their cousins just like we did so many years as kids! 

Christmas eve day we walked with the kids to an awesome playground in Mitch’s neighborhood. They actually all (semi)cooperated for a picture or two!

Baby Barrett was a huge hit and all the kids fought over who got to hold him. I know the pics look like he is 8 months old… nope! Still under 3 months! This kid is MASSIVE and so freaking cute!We had a blast playing with little Oren too :)

This picture cracks me up! Oren was NOT sure about Uncle Rich at ALL!      

For Christmas dinner Mitch bought what looked like an entire half of a COW in brisket form!!! I got to spend a good chunk of Christmas Eve with my Dad in the kitchen… talking, laughing, and learning the secrets to his famous marinade. (Don’t forget the entire jar of maraschino cherries and juice minus what Dad and I popped in our mouths!) It has been too long since I spent that much time with Dad in the kitchen. THAT was my favorite Christmas present! Thank you Mitch for the meat and thank you Dad for teaching me your magic and hanging out with me!

For Christmas Eve we went with Faye’s tradition which was so fun! One giant wrapped box for ALL the kids to open together filled with PJs for everyone, Christmas books, Christmas movies, treats, etc. So cute! Such a great idea!

After Christmas cookies were decorated (fingers stained with red and green frosting of course) it was time to wind down and hit the hay before the BIG MAN came our way!!!

SANTAAAAAAAA CAAAAAAAAAME!!! Big surprise… all the kids got spoiled ROTTEN!!! The loot for our kiddos… Bug and Kenzie got BETTA FISH! Terrible idea Santa… Now we have to get them back to Illinois without killing them! But the girls were ecstatic! Braxton got a light saber builder set that was sold out EVERYWHERE! Good thing Santa has elves to figure that stuff out!

 Ri, D, & Baby Barr's loot!

 Melissa, Colton, & Oren's Santa presents!

Mitch & Faye had a genius idea to keep little naughty hands from ripping into the presents before go time… Giant baby gate fortress of presents! They still managed to stick their fingers through the holes and rip a few of course.

My favorite part of present opening is snuggling my kiddos and Rich and my nieces and nephews. I think that was Rich’s favorite part too!

One of my favorite pics of the whole trip!!! Bug was TICKED because she wanted what Kenzie got! HAHA! LIFE LESSON KIDDO!

I absolutely love this picture of mom & dad! They look so comfy!

Absolute BEST part of the day though?... WE GOT TO SEE MATT ON THE BIG SCREEN AND TALK TO HIM ON SKYPE!!! Reading his emailed every week and hearing how great he is doing is one thing but SEEING how happy he is for myself really helps my big sister heart! PERFECT Christmas present! I might have been crying through most of it – just so proud and excited for him and missing him too but mostly happy tears!

It was an incredible Christmas vacation! Thank you SO MUCH everyone!

Once we got back home we had our own little mini Christmas…

The BIG boxes that they were so excited for... RAZOR SCOOTERS!!!

Merry Christmas from the Under Armour Kids (Thanks to Uncle Mike!)