The Weekend before Christmas

We went to the annual Livers Family Christmas celebration on Saturday night. It is a party for Travis's mom's side of the family (she has three sisters - so it is them and their families). Here is a picture of all of the cousins together -- it is great that Evelyn and Noah have so many playmates!! Noah and three of his cousins were all born within 5 months of each other (Noah was April, Lucas right next to him was July, Ellie in the purple was June, and Lola at the bottom right was August).

The following morning I headed out to run the 12Ks of Christmas. This is a race I do every year. It was a cold and rainy/misty morning (seems to be the case every year!) - but that didn't stop thousands of runners from dressing up and running 7.45 miles together. I wore a red shirt, black capri tights, and red&white striped knee high socks with white fur at the top of them :)

My favorite part this year was the kids participating in their first race!!! Travis and the kids came around the end of my race (so they didn't have to wait in the rain) - and the kids race began shortly after I finished. It was a 1K loop -- and the kids loved it! They even got to finish by running under the official big finish line awning -- and were awarded with a finisher's ribbon. I am keeping their bib numbers and ribbon for the scrapbooks!! Proud day for this mommy :)After I showered and thawed out a little bit, we put together our gingerbread house. I was SO impressed with how patient and careful the kids were this year. I did the frosting -- and they did all of the candy decorations. All of the presents have been bought and wrapped, I am now keeping busy by doing some baking, and just enjoying the season :)