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What better thing to do on a snow day than update my blog? (Actually, we did A LOT of other things today...but this was the very last thing left on my to-do list!)

We've had a lot of celebrating going on in this house...birthdays, anniversaries and about a zillion Christmas gatherings.  Here's a whole bunch of my favorite memories and photos from the last month!

Cary's Birthday (yes, in November!) - While he was at the gym that morning, I asked the kids what we should make him for breakfast. They said (without prompting from me) a protein shake, an avocado, and coffee.  They hit the mark on this one!

Happy Birthday, Dad!  33 looks pretty great on you!!  

Coppola Christmas - Since more of the family lives out of town this year, we celebrated when everyone could make it back to Des Moines, which happened to be the first weekend in December. Joe and Holly's family had been sick that week so we had Tony and Kelly's family and Bobbi and Joe stay at our place that weekend.  It was really fun to have everyone here and I was excited to get to host the party! We had two extra guests - Emily's mom and Grandma Farm.  So 12 adults and 9 kids...that's what I call a party!  I thought I actually took some photos of the cute centerpieces, table settings, and food (which was a joint effort from all of us), but apparently I didn't.  But I did get a group shot of our sweet kids!

Brynn in one of her Christmas dresses.  

Carter opening his first new toy of the holiday season. 

Sweet Baby Lia

All in all, the food was good, the presents were fun, but the company was great!  Poor Davis made an almost-trip to the ER due to a terrible headache, but he pulled through and the night was saved.

We sure love this group of people and were so happy to celebrate with them!

Priestley Christmas - This year we celebrated at my parents' house mid-December with my dad's side of the family.  My grandma Phyllis now lives in the nursing home, so it was special that she was able to be there.  All of the kids had a great time playing, coloring, and trying to open a box inside a box inside a box while wearing oven mitts.  :)  What was inside?  Candy for all!

Four Generations

Brynn's Christmas Program - Brynnie had a program on a Thursday afternoon and she did such a great job!  She really does so well in preschool and we're so proud of how mature she acts while at school.  Carter got to miss class to come watch his sister.  (He also had a program one evening and he was a shepherd. Unfortunately, I didn't great a good photo from that night.)  

Carter's 7th Birthday Party - Bobbi and Joe were back in town for Joe's second eye surgery on December 21st, so we celebrated Carter's birthday then.  Since we had so many holiday parties around this time, we kept it simple - pizza and ice cream sundaes.  Of course, Carter wanted it to be Minecraft-themed so I turned to Pinterest for a few SIMPLE and last-minute ideas.

Happy Birthday to you, Carter John! 

Look at all of those Legos!!!

Ice cream toppings

Creeper Gatorade bottles

Gold and TNT

Somebody loved every minute!!!

Just a random shot of our quickly growing baby.  

Echo Valley Christmas - This party is always the first one that kind of kicks off the Coppola-nonstop-week-of-holiday-parties.  It's thrown by Cary's dad's cousin and there's live music, a dance floor, open bar, a great dinner, and a visit from Santa - with (really good) presents.  It was a pretty early night for us, but it was fun.  Brynn and Saylor loved dancing!!! Carter liked the kids table that had games on it, and both kids liked drinking their Shirley Temples.  Lia got passed around all night long and was happy as could be!

Christmas Eve - (There was actually a Coppola gathering at Aunt Paula's the night before, but I didn't take any pictures).  So Christmas Eve we went to 4:00 church at St. Augustin, came home for hot chocolate (and to take this picture), and then went to Aunt Joy's for dinner.  Here's my favorite part about Christmas Eve...the kids went to bed in record time.  Seriously, the threat of Santa coming makes those teeth get brushed faster than I've ever seen.  :)

Nighty-night, little loves! 

Christmas Morning - The kids were so excited to wake up and see that Santa had come.  Favorite presents were Lego Minecraft sets and a soccer net for Carter, and a Barbie doll house and paint set for Brynn.  Lia, of course, loved her presents too...she just doesn't know it yet.

Christmas Day - After spending some time at home just the five of us, we went to Guthrie to spend the rest of the day with my parents and brother's family.  The kids, as always, played so well with each other.  They played for hours until dinner, then we opened presents and played some more. Mom made lasagna and we were all totally spoiled with so many great gifts.  Such a great night with some of our very favorite people!

Carter's Birthday - Although most families' holiday celebrations end on Christmas night, our's continues with C-man's birthday on the 26th.  He requested chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast.  He spent most of the morning putting together some of his new Lego sets.  Then we took his two buddies from school, Jack and Emmett, and cousin Maddox to the Science Center in the afternoon.  Mom and Dad stayed home with Brynn and Lia so it was fun for Cary and I to have that time with Carter and his friends.  The Science Center was actually the perfect thing to go do.  The boys loved making rockets and seeing who's could go further.  They built Lego cars and raced them down a ramp.  They threw balls at the ball wall, stood in front of the green screen, looked at the reptiles, checked out the dinosaur exhibit, and watched a space show in the planetarium.  Afterwards, we all went to Zombie Burger for shakes and french fries.  I think Carter had a blast and we all went to sleep completely exhausted that night!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas week and enjoyed time with all of those favorite people in your lives! Bring on 2015!