Vandervaart Family: January 2012

December was a wonderful month for our family! Of course, it was busy but I believe everybody's December is busy! We started out the month by watching our good friend's daughter, Ella overnight. She did really well and we were happy to give her parents a night off! :)

I went to 2 baby showers that first weekend and we joined the YMCA. We were going to wait until January to join, but what's the point? Pete and I each lost 10 lbs in the month of December. We have separate weight loss goals, rewards, and charts. We are excited for a healthier, more active lifestyle.

The following weekend we were able to go to a White Elephant Christmas Party at a local bar. It was a wonderful adult evening and we had a great time! We had our first random/non family babysitter (Molly, our neighbor) and it went really well! We are using her again this month to go out to dinner for Pete's birthday.

We went over the Mike and Sarah's (Pete's brother and fiance) on a Saturday night and played their Xbox Kineks (sp?). We had a nice dinner and stayed for a few hours.

Of course, what December wouldn't include holiday craziness? We started a few traditions when Claire was a baby. On Christmas Eve, we always make homemade pizza. Christmas morning, we make monkey bread. We went to a holiday party (child friendly) for Pete's work. The Vandervaart family came over on Christmas Eve and we ate, played games, and went to church. We had a wonderful Christmas morning at our house and the kids were in a great mood. The past 3 years, Claire has been crabby every Christmas morning! We spent the rest of the day at the Vandervaarts and had a really good time. We opened gifts, ate delicious food and played games.

The next day we travelled to Indy to spend sometime with my family. I went out the first night in Indy with some friends from grade school. It had been way too long since we had gotten together and we had a really great time!

On the 28th we celebrated Christmas together. The Wahman family came over and we enjoyed cards, gift opening, eating, and spending time together. It was great to see everyone.

We went up to Michigan on the 30th for a family wedding. Pete's cousin, Courtney got married. It was a beautiful wedding and everyone had a great time. Claire was a dancing machine! (Videos to follow)

We spent a very calm New Year's Eve at our house. Our friends, Matt and Erin Miller and Mike and Sarah came over and we had some BW3s and hung out and relaxed in our sweats! It was awesome!

Grace, Ella, and Claire in the tub

Grace giving Ella a horsey ride

Following are pictures from the Kinex (its a video game, controller free)

The following are pictures from Pete's work Christmas party

Cool chicks

The following are pictures from the White Elephant party

Cookie decorating with the girls

Jake was in a crazy position LOL

We had a family night. We took all three kids to the movie theatre (I know we are nuts!) but it went well. Then we went to Don Pablos for dinner and then drove around and looked at Christmas lights.