Kevin and Alison

For our 10 year anniversary, we went on a cruise! Well, we decided to plan a cruise for after our (November) anniversary and it ended up being a perfect time to go - we escaped the cold weather for a week! My last plane ride was 10 years ago....for our honeymoon :) We got on the ship and this was the view from our porch area.  It overlooked the "Central Park" on the ship.  I told Kevin it was the perfect room! To give you an idea of how big the ship is, here is Kevin....he's wearing yellow....and looks quite small next to this HUGE boat!! We spent the rest of the afternoon and evening checking out the rest of the boat and eating dinner. Monday was spent in the Bahamas! Look at that water! We spent some time on the beach and checking out the town. We also stopped in the straw market and got some cute things for the kiddos :) That night was a formal dinner night....and here's our formal picture ;) and what's dinner, withou...

Peter was pretty unsure at first.... He didn't really love his hat....or snow pants....or boots....or mittens.... Once he got outside, he changed his mind :) Big sisters were having fun too!!

So, last (but maybe most anticipated?) we got to visit with the Hoffmans.  Connor had to finish one last carrot before dessert....so he wasn't as happy when I took this picture :)  Everyone else was all smiles! This is pretty much the only picture I took during the exchange!  Sweet Brooke in her mama's lap! What have we been up to since then?  This boy is a natural with the train track building.  He put these 11 pieces together all by himself!! it also finally snowed, so we had to go out in that of course! Peter was happy to stay in :)

 We got to have multiple Christmas celebrations this year - starting with our family of five at home on the 23rd.  We had a fun morning opening gifts, but Peter was a little under the weather....he had a good time napping on and off throughout the day :) This is what our couch looked like:  Because Peter wasn't feeling very good, my parents, sister, and brother-in-law decided to come to us (with lunch!) on Christmas Eve instead of us coming to them.  How wonderful.  Their gifts also provided some Christmas cheer for Peter: We all felt better on Christmas morning and made the drive to Kevin's grandparents.  It's not every year that you can take a stroll with the youngest on Christmas Day! It was really quiet and he actually fell asleep while we were out! The gift exchange is always chaotic, but it was still fun! This scarf was part of an outfit from Mimi -- she put it on and hasn't taken it off.  ...