Happy New Year!

We spent New Year's Eve with friends, the Phillips family (Paul, Misty, Lauren, & Jackson) and the Kocher family (Jared, Courtney, Christian, Ian, & Ella). Curt, Misty, and Jared went to medical school together, so we have known each other for almost ten years. Wow! We each took turns adding little ones to our families, starting with Lauren who is six years old and ending (for now) with Ella who is ten months old. All of their birthdays are in the first six months of the year, so we will be seeing a lot of each other in the upcoming months. Misty and Paul hosted the get-together and made a delicious meal. A great time was had by all!

Here is Lauren teaching Cole how to play the piano.

Caden loves playing with the Kocher boys. Here they are having a great time with Jackson's new racetrack.

Curt and Ian compared Jedi powers all evening. I think Ian might have won this round.
Cole entertaining the crowd with some tunes
Lauren and Caden playing Mario Kart with Courtney and Christian in the background
Paul and Jackson checking out the Mario Kart competition
One of the highlights of New Year's Eve was meeting Ella Kate Kocher, who came home to her family shortly after Thanksgiving. She is absolutely adorable! What a joy! Here are Ella and Mama Courtney.

Post-Christmas Family Time

We enjoyed lots of Ellis family time in the days following Christmas. We played game after game after game, assembled and played with the new toys, and watched movies.

Aunt Shannon was able to stay for a couple days, so Cole shared our Disney pictures with her.

Nana and Papa stayed for the weekend following Christmas. The boys got very used to having them around. Here is Cole taking a snooze on Papa.
Caden jumps at the chance to play the Wii. The boys have a lot of fun playing the new Mario baseball game. Here is Caden up to bat with Curt pitching.
The boys love their Millennium Falcon! Santa made a great choice.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from the Settlemoir Family! We had a wonderful Christmas and hope you did too.

Santa landed the Millennium Falcon in our playroom. Here is Cole jumping up and down in joy. Caden (and Curt who remarked that the boys' Falcon is "much cooler than mine was") couldn't believe all of its features. Santa also left a fun game, Kerplunk and a couple movies.
Santa stuffed the boys' large stockings with lots of goodies too. Here is Caden trying to shake out his presents.
Here is Cole showing off his requested Spiderman paint book that caused a meltdown in Kohl's just a few weeks earlier.
Let the present opening begin! As predicted, it was a very Star Wars Christmas.
Here is Clone Trooper Cole.
After Round 1 of Christmas Day present opening, Nana and Papa arrived with more presents.
Nana and the boys
The Planet Heroes Solar Headquarters from Nana and Papa was a big hit.
Cole enjoying his Christmas tree sucker from Santa before Christmas dinner
Aunt Shannon (Kelly's sister) and the boys
Here are ALL of the boys enjoying the remote-control motorcycle from Aunt Shannon.
A serious game of Operation--one of many board and video games received by our family
The four of us at the end of a wonderful Christmas Day

Waiting for Santa

We stayed busy in the week before Christmas. The boys were getting very excited for Santa's arrival. Caden and Cole made a gingerbread house with Mommy's help on the main construction. Most of the candy made it onto the house, but both boys were caught sneaking gumdrops. I think Caden is in mid-chew in this picture.
Here are Caden, Mommy, and Cole with the finished product.
Uncle Jason stopped by for a visit. He brought presents, so Caden and Cole were thrilled to open them before Christmas. It had been a year since our last visit, so it was great to spend some time with him. Here are the guys trying to get through the plastic, so the boys can play with the Incredible Hulk and Star Wars characters. Uncle Jason also brought Caden a V Smile Pocket, which is a huge hit.
On Christmas Eve morning, a delicious package arrived at our door. Here is Caden enjoying one of the snowman cookies sent by Kelly's Uncle Brad, Aunt Brenda, Brandon, & Brittany in Maryland. Yum!
We enjoyed our Christmas Eve traditions again this year despite Cole's first ever ear infection. In the late afternoon, we attended our church's Children's Christmas Eve service. Just two years ago, Cole, Curt, and Kelly played Baby Jesus, Joseph, and Mary during the interactive service. Where has the time gone?! After church, we opened our Christmas ornament presents and watched a Christmas show. We were ready for Santa!

Here is Caden with his treats for Santa (red velvet cookies and chocolate milk with a candy cane) and his reindeer (a carrot and oatmeal with sprinkles). Cole is not in the picture because he was in the middle of a meltdown. He was afraid that Santa would eat all of the cookies. FYI, the beer was not left for Santa. He was driving after all. :)
One last check of NORAD's Santa Tracker before heading to bed--If I remember right, Santa was in Canada. Amazingly, the boys fell asleep quickly. They were so excited!