A Fun Old Fashioned Family Christmas

I love the movie National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. My brother and I will often quote it to each other throughout the year, not just at Christmas. This year for Christmas we had Colin's parents visiting from Oregon, and also Colin's cousin Dustin and his wife Sandra and their boys Leif and Kieran from Vermont, so we had our very own fun old fashioned family Christmas!

We kicked off Christmas Eve with the Battersby tradition of Hors D'Oeuvres. I have to look up how to spell that each time, so from here on out, I'm changing it to appetizers! We just aren't that fancy! Our friends the Petrie's came over for Christmas Eve, and we all had fun visiting and eating lots of good food.

Grinch Punch- a Pinterest Find and very yummy

Nothing beats brown sugar bacon wrapped lil smokies-especially since we made Dustin roll them!

Santa came

It was fun for us to have kids in the house at Christmas and share in their excitement. We tracked Santa online on Christmas Eve. The adults were up before the kids on Christmas morning- go figure!

The boys coming down the stairs on Christmas morning

Leif getting his first look at the presents

Kieran was a little excited

It was an Apple Christmas because the boys got iPods from Dustin & Sandra

Dustin got an iPad from Sandra

Colin's parents got an iPad from us

The Jurgenson's on Christmas morning

New watch on one wrist, new bracelet on the other

Colin got a new GPS

We took some family pictures

Colin did a great job on the prime rib- another Battersby Christmas tradition

We taught the Jurgenson's about Christmas crackers and crowns

We loved our fun old fashioned family Christmas and are so thankful for the family we had here to make it happen. It was the perfect ending to 2012. Bring on 2013!

Toronto

Several months ago we found out that Colin's beloved Seattle Seahawks would be playing the Buffalo Bills in Toronto in December. Our friends Betsy and Matt are Bills fans, so the four of us thought it would be fun to go to the game. Colin and I were looking forward not only to the game, but also to going to Toronto because we had never been before.

We stayed at a hotel in downtown Toronto so we were able to walk around and explore the city. This was the view from our hotel room.

Our original plan was to also go to a Toronto Maple Leafs game while we were there but the NHL strike got in the way. We did go to the Hockey Hall of Fame and had a lot of fun there. Colin got to be a goalie and try and stop some pucks. He made 4 out of 5 saves. I think the Monarchs should put him in net!

We saw the Kings/Monarchs display.

I was a little under the weather with a cold while we were there but Colin took care of me.

The day of the game finally arrived and we were all decked out in our Seahawks gear.

We had pretty good seats.

We were all smiling before the game, but only Colin and I were smiling after the Seahawks beat the Bills 50-17!

Colin and Betsy work together and had a friendly wager that if the Bills won, Colin would have to wear a Bills shirt to work, and if the Seahawks won, Betsy would have to wear a Seahawks shirt. Luckily for Betsy, her last day at work was right before the Toronto trip because she and Matt are moving to Ohio so she didn't have to wear the shirt to work. We did however get a picture of the newest Seahawks fan holding the shirt she should have had to wear. Looking good, Betsy!

Thanksgiving

In an effort to try and stay caught up on the blog, I told myself I wasn't allowed to mail out my Christmas cards without first posting about Thanksgiving. So-check your mailbox for Christmas cards later this week! :)

We had a great Thanksgiving! It's always been one of our favorite holidays. We both like to cook (and eat!), and so even when it is just the 2 of us for Thanksgiving, we still go all out. This year was even more special because Dustin, Sandra, and the boys came down from Vermont to spend Thanksgiving with us and we got to have some fun cousin time!

The boys (older and younger), had fun entertaining themselves with video games.

They did take a small break from the video games to watch some of the Thanksgiving Day Parade.

The weather was gorgeous for this time of year and not too cold which allowed for some relaxing on the deck and backyard football.

Wally & Skittles enjoyed begging for food from new people!

Colin showed the boys how to baste a turkey.

All the food turned out great. Leif said it was so good that we should open a restaurant! He's welcome anytime at our table! HA!

Sandra made pies and homemade whipped cream. YUM!

We are hoping Dustin, Sandra and the boys will be able to come down for Christmas when Colin's parents are here. Kieran is slightly worried Santa won't find him at our house but he said "you can still buy me a present!" Too cute! And we definitely will!

It's November Already!

Wow. It's hard to believe that we are only a couple weeks away from Thanksgiving. This year has gone by so fast. Here's a little catch up on what we've been doing the last couple of months.

In September we went to see Eric Church, Kip Moore,and Justin Moore in concert in Springfield, MA and made a weekend of it. We stayed overnight and went to the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield. We really enjoyed it. It's no secret that I love love love Duke basketball, and Colin is a Portland Trailblazers fan from his childhood so we had fun seeing all the memorabilia. One of the displays there was a wall of the American flag made out of red, white and blue basketball shoes. It was impressive.

Hockey season has started so we have been busy going to the games to cheer on our Monarchs. We go to every home game, and we try and make it to the away ones that are within a couple hours of us. With the NHL lockout, there are a few players that played on the Stanley Cup winning LA Kings team last year that are back playing with the Monarchs until the lockout is resolved and it has been fun to see them play. Speaking of the Stanley Cup, as season ticket holders for the Monarchs, we got to have our picture taken with it! It was a neat experience and one we won't forget for sure!

We celebrated Colin's birthday in October in Maine. He is finally as old as me again- for another 6 months anyway! Then I'll go back to being his "cougar". lol

Now for the event that I know you've been waiting all year to hear about- The Battersby's Annual Christmas Tree Tagging day. It happened the weekend before Halloween this year. As is our tradition, we went out to breakfast first and then headed off to the tree farm on the first day it was open. It took an hour and a half of searching before we found "the one". We may have to start going to a different tree farm because this one is getting to be slim pickins! The tree isn't as full or "fat" as I like them, but it's still a pretty tree.

We have still been working out, although as of late, we haven't followed our weight watchers "points" so well. All in all, I've lost 60 lbs since March, and Colin has lost around 50. We would both like to lose 20 more. Realistically, with the holidays coming up and all the good food we plan on eating, it's probably not going to happen until after the first of the year-and that's o.k. We are both happy with what we have accomplished so far, and will be glad to just maintain that through the holiday season.

We had family pictures taken for our Christmas card, and also just because we haven't had one taken in forever! We had our friend Meghan take the pictures and she did a fantastic job. It was so much easier to have her take them than to have Colin jumping up and down to reset the button on the camera between every picture. Here are a few of our favorites.

Last week Hurricane Sandy blew through here-literally. I don't know what it is about us and the weather, but after going through 3 hurricanes in Florida in 2004 where our power was out for a week at a time each hurricane, and then the 2008 ice storm in New England that knocked out our power for 8 days, along with other crazy Noreaster storms that blow through here, I have to say I get more than a little stressed anytime I hear of a storm coming our way! We were very fortunate that we didn't lose power through Sandy. We were one of the lucky few. Many of our friends did lose power. I keep reminding Colin that they don't have this problem on the west coast!

Dustin, Sandra, and the boys are coming down from Vermont for Thanksgiving. Lots of yummy food will be consumed and a good time will be had, I'm sure! Colin's parents will be out for Christmas this year and we can't wait to see them. They are going to babysit the dogs for us while we go to Toronto for a weekend to see Colin's beloved Seattle Seahawks play the Buffalo Bills. Wally and Skittles will be spoiled beyond belief (because they aren't already-HA!) and probably won't care if we come home at all!

If you're still reading this, you're a better person than me! I guess we did more in 2 months than I thought! :)

Labor Day Weekend in Vermont

We spent this past weekend in Vermont with Colin's cousin Dustin and his wife Sandra and their boys Leif and Kieran. Colin and Dustin grew up together in Oregon, and somehow they both ended up on the east coast living just 3 hours from each other. We don't get to see them nearly as often as we would like because life gets busy for all of us, but it's always a fun time when we do get together.