Post Christmas at the Bryan's

Beautiful backdrop at the Bryan's.

Ben climbed up next to his cousin Austin on the couch a couple of times so they could do some serious business on their ipads

Grandma had some serious business too.

The older kids played outside quite a bit...you can see their colorful coats way up on the side of the mountain.

They also found a stray dog that Abby took to.

Exaggerating the height difference between me and my two, cute sisters in law.

Jenny, Lyndi, & Nancy.

Love those ladies!

We didn't plan the color coordination.  We just noticed it and decided to take pictures.

My color was a little bit off but they were kind enough to include me anyway :)

Of course, as always, the cousins were so kind to indulge Ben in several games of "Ba, Ooh", or, as it is more commonly known, "Duck Duck Goose".

They are seriously so good with him...especially Tom.

See if you can spot Ben being the "Goose" in the next two pics.

He LOVES it!

Christmas Morning!

It was quite iffy for a while whether or not we would have a white Christmas, the next morning we woke up to a fresh, clean blanket of white...so perfect!

I can never get Ben to pose with the other kids for the first picture in the morning.  I was just happy we got a smile from the sleepy guy.

This year, we wanted our kids' main presents to be experiences.  Andy's going to help Josh learn how to build apps, Abby is going to learn how to sew with some fox fabric I've collected and Matt got a month pass to a rock climbing place.

Ben got mostly trains this year.  His experience can be playing with trains :)

When the kids had finished opening all their gifts and they were kind of waiting for us to finish up I "found" one last gift for all the kids.  When they unwrapped a guidebook to owning a pet rabbit, Abby immediately said, "I knew it!"  All three of them were very excited as I brought out the cage from the guest room.  I had been worried that they were on to me a couple of weeks before Christmas but I wasn't sure.  It surprised me that Abby was the only one that suspected.

This picture is me obviously giving some serious instructions and rules about our new pet.

When I told the kids that she came from a a place called Honeyville Matt immediately suggested we name her "Honey".  It sounded good to everyone.  While we were eating breakfast, Abby said she thought Ms. McFluffins was a good name.  I loved it so we combined the two and she is officially Ms. Honey McFluffins Bryan :)

Andy loves her too :)

He's told me several times that I picked a good one.  On more than one occasion he has gotten her out of her cage to cuddle with her.  It's pretty cute to see that side of him.

{Since Christmas we have learned that it's not the best idea to bunnies on their backs but at the time it seemed like the most comfortable position for her}

We brought her along with us to my parents' home for Christmas brunch since they were going to bunnysit her for us while we visited the Bryans for several days.

                                     

I suspected before we got her that Ben wouldn't really pay her much attention.  I was right.  He hardly ever acknowledges her.  This is one of those rare moments that he did (although I think we had to tell him to pet the rabbit for the picture)

Bapa and Ben watching Wheels on the Bus (which is a tradition every time we go to their house:)  Dad's a good sport!

Mom took these next few shots while she was watching her for us.

My brother James took to her.

In her playpen getting some exercise...

Such a ball of fur!

Here's a pic of some of my Christmas morning surprises.