Christmas Puppy

The kids woke up Christmas morning to a strange noise coming from inside this package! At first they couldn't figure out where the noise was coming from.

Soon they discovered the package, and tore into it to find.....

A cute little Puppy!
The kids couldn't believe it! He is a Shitzu-Poodle mix and we named him Chewbaca or Chewy for short! And yes, the kids have matching Sponge-Bob jammies! Not the cutest, but they all loved them. Natalie did later mention that she wished she had princess jammies too!
The house has now been baby proofed, oh, I mean puppy proofed and we are working on potty training. Yes, I think we are a bit crazy! But the kids absolutely love him and so do I. He is a very good dog and has survived the week of being loved to death.

Christmas Eve #2

We spent Chrismas Eve at G&G Delahunty's this year. We had a fun time doing the yearly traditions: The Nativity, Bubble Gum Blowing Contest, and the Ice Cream Snowball.

Nate took home the trophy this year! Way to go Nate!

Grandpa and Natalie!

The Happy Angel Emma!

Three adorable lambs for the Nativity! One, not so happy.

Aunt Whitney and Natalie. When we got to Grandma's, Natalie was a little nervous about coming in to see everybody. I was busy carrying all the stuff in and saying Hi to everybody. Whitney kept asking me where Natalie was, and I knew she had gotten out of the car with us, and was probably running around somewhere. After about 20 minutes, Whitney asked me again where she was. We couldn't find her anywhere. We finally found her hiding in the back of our car. Thankfully aunt Whitney wanted to see Nat and she wasn't out there longer! Love you Aunt Whitney and can't wait to see you guys more often!

Nick and Ira. Two peas in a pod, both missing there two front teeth!

Natalie and Nori. Both a little grumpy and sat on this couch being grumpy together.

Nativity #1

We had Christmas Eve festivities a bit early this year with the Bradley family so we could celebrate the Delahunty fam on Christmas Eve. This is Luke, Houston, and Mckay- the three musketeers who frequently have discussions about who is the 'favorite' cousin.

This is Grandma and her beautiful Christmas Eve Table.

The girls!

The Nativity. Nick was excited this year to wear the new Roman Soldier Costume.
Natalie and Scarlett were the Angels.

Mckay was a Wiseman. A very cute wiseman I might add!

Baby Eli was the cutest baby Jesus and happy the whole time!

The three wisemen!

SLedding

We went sledding up to the school. The kids loved it! I loved watching the boys help Natalie get on the sled and hold on tight to her as they went down the hill. Natalie is a lucky girl to have big brothers!

Paris

On the way home from Athens, we stopped in Paris for a day. It was one crazy, amazing, long, day. I am amazed at how much we were able to see. Our flight got into Paris around 11 in the morning. We quickly got checked into our Hotel, and then got on the train out to Versailles.

This is the back of the Palace of Versailles. It was truly amazing and huge! It was originally built on 37,000 acres of land and has 700 rooms.
Looking into the Hall of Mirrors. Nate, admiring King Louis.

The front of the Palace of Versailles.
After the Palace of Versailles, we got back on the train and stopped at the Eiffel Tower. It was so neat to actually be there, and see it in person. They do a light show at night. So beautiful!After many hours of walking around, we finally found LADUREE. So yummy!

A few things we learned while in Paris:

1. Call your bank before you travel out of the country so they don't stop all of your Credit Cards due to fraud protection programs.
2. 100 Euros is not enough cash to have for an afternoon in Paris.
3. Riding the train around is kind of expensive. Probably should have looked into getting a pass for the day, if they sell one.
4. The Subway starts shutting down around 10:45 at night.
5. It helps to be kind to a large group of Mexican guys who are lost as well. Even if you are a single white female with no husband around. I felt a bit safer with a large "Posse" with me at 2 in the morning in the middle of Paris.
6. The Paris Airport is basically shut down at 2 in the morning. No people. No Taxis. No Shuttles.
7. The Hyatt Hotel has great customer service and came to our rescue. I would highly recommend them!
8. They sell LADUREE at the airport. So, if you can't find it while walking for miles and miles, don't worry. Just get it on your way home.

Greece!

Nate and I had the opportunity to go to Athens, Greece, and visit my sister and her cute family. We has such a fun time. It was truly amazing to be there and see such an ancient part of our world. Thanks to our families for making it possible for Nate and I to go with out the kids. We spent a week in Greece, and then flew to Paris for a day on the way home.

Athens is so crowded everywhere you go. I am so impressed with Lindsey that she dares to drive anywhere, and how well she does it. I think if I had to drive there, I would be stuck inside all day- or just walking. The streets are so crowded with card parked on both sides and motorcycles everywhere. In just the week I was there, we hit a car when turning a corner, and got hit by a motorcycle while driving down the road. We just kept going in both cases!

We went shopping at the Plaka a few times. It is streets and streets of shopping in the shadows of the Acropolis.

We went to the ancient city of Corinth. There was this amazing castle built above the city.

These are the old pillars of the Temple Apollo.

Nate had has most favorite Gyro in Greece at this cute little cafe, Gemelos. The owner was there and his name was Nick-o. He gave us a large bag of clementines to take with us.

This is me with little Scarlett at Syntagma Square. Every hour they have soldiers do a routine and a solute to the 'lost soldier.'

Lindsey and I at an old church on the side of the Acropolis. The acoustics in this church were amazing and I couldn't help but start singing. You know, the Ariel type of song! There was a man posted outside the church who quickly came in, and asked Nate what I was doing. He replied, "singing." The man asked "why? Is she a singer." Nate said, "nope, she just thinks she sounds pretty." Lindsey and I couldn't stop laughing. The man wasn't very happy with us!

Nate and I on Mars Hill. This is where the Apostle Paul taught his famous speech about "the unknown God."

Sitting on top of the Acropolis looking over the city of Athens. There are 6 million people just in the city of Athens.

The Parthenon.

The stairs to the Propylaea

Looking over a beautiful Ampitheater.