We spent the 23rd in Fall River and the kids were spoiled! They got toys, jewelry and some beautiful clothes! While we were there, Santa even payed us all a visit - and Matthew went on talking about the "Big Santa" for 3 days after! They enjoyed playing with their cousins and eating all the food! Matthew even got into the bowl of strawberries and I think he devoured 10 of them!
Mimi and I also decided to have an all out war...cupcake war that is! We didn't tell anyone what type of cupcakes we were making and all of our nieces and nephews were the judges! They judged based on creativity, taste, moistness, flavor, etc. After a close race...I won! (are you surprised!?!) J/K - it was a very close race - for Mimi's first time baking she did a pretty good job! This is a new tradition we have started - and it will be even more exciting next year!
Christmas Eve we went to David's Aunt April's house. We had a delicious meal of shrimp, calamari, salad, lasagna, and a pasta dish with all sorts of seafood in it. The kids had fun seeing their cousins and spending time with Dominic.
Christmas morning was a blast! The kids woke up and were looking for Chippy the elf, but we told him he had flew back to the North Pole and Santa had come! They were so excited to go downstairs and see all their presents from Santa! Matthew was so funny - he ripped through all of his presents and kept saying I want to open more! I think he like ripping paper more than anything! They got lots of neat new toys - Including a Mickey Mouse Rocket Ship and a Princess Doll with the matching outfit for Arianna! That's the only thing they asked Santa for the past 2 months! After we opened presents, played a bit, showered and got dressed we headed across the street for Vinnie to cook his annual Christmas morning breakfast! Matthew was a bottomless pit - with 8 pancakes, 4 sausages and 4 slices of bacon! He definitely got his appetite back after having the stomach bug the week before!
After breakfast, we headed to Grammie & Grampa's house. The kids got some great toys, clothes and games from everyone! Uncle Brian got the kids the most adorable outfits (which will be their 3 yr photos!). The kids had so much fun and at dinner they wanted nothing to do with David or I...they both needed to sit next to Uncle Brian! Maybe because he's the crazy uncle who runs around with bowls on his head and the kids on his shoulders! LOL We had a nice Italian dinner of stuffed shells, chicken parm., Antipasto, some veggies and a calzone.
We stayed over grammie's house that night - so the kids could sleep a little and then play with their toys for a bit. Arianna had fun playing dress-up in her new outfits!
Overall it was a great 2011! We were very busy with the kids, but looking forward to seeing what 2012 has in store for the Manz. Family!! Happy New year!
