The Frank Funnies!

So long 2014!

We spent New Years Eve in Mankato at Ashley's new place. We brought the kids and had a great time! The kids celebrated with a pinata and an ice cream Sunday bar and the adults celebrated in a different way. :-) It was a small gathering, but we had plenty of laughs, good food and good drinks!

Cheers - here's a great 2015!!!

Christmas at HOME

We spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Day at home this year - AND IT WAS NICE!!!! It was very relaxing and allowed us to enjoy our time as a family without having to rush off somewhere.

J sprinkling reindeer food out for Rudolph and the gang. Next year we'll have to remember to rake it up - she commented on how the reindeer didn't eat her food!

Before church on Christmas Eve

Jules is a pretty good photographer!

After church we drove around Hutch and looked at Christmas lights, including Candy Cane Lane (one of my favorite childhood Christmas memories!) and then came home for a lasagna supper. I set the time bake on my oven (first time for everything!) so it was ready when we got home. We had a nice meal by candle light, which the kids thought was pretty cool. Then it was off to bed....

Santa was here!

Will with his new tractor and ripper!

It was all things tractors and farm for Will this year. He loves his new farm set, complete with a semi, trailer, cows and 2 barns!

Julianne with her presents. Her big gift this year was a Leap Pad.

Not sure who was having more fun with the farm set - Daddy or Will!! It's nice to see them having fun together!

After Santa presents were over, my mom and dad came over to spend the afternoon with us. We had a meat and cheese tray and left over Christmas cookies for lunch and it was perfect! We played about 20 hands of Sequence with Julianne and just enjoyed a low-key afternoon. Nick's parents also stopped over later on their way home from Mankato. It was a GREAT Christmas!!!

Christmas at Grandma and Grandpa Loncorich's

The day after Christmas we headed to my mom and dad's to celebrate with my sisters and their families. Once again, we were spoiled with gifts and food!!

So many presents!

Even the big kids got presents!

Jules attacking one of her gifts

Yay! A new tractor shirt!! Now Will doesn't have to wear the same one over and over again!! He insists on wearing a tractor shirt most days...

Not sure what happened here, but this picture just makes me giggle. That's about how it goes in our house - Will runs the show!

Merry Christmas!!!

Christmas at Grandma and Grandpa Franks

After a rousing game of Fox and Goose, Grandpa and the kids came inside to get our Christmas party started!! Grandma had eggbake and all kinds of yummies for us!!!

Then it was time to open presents!! Will patiently waiting to open

Once nice picture...

before the craziness started!

Will with his new trucks

and Jules with her new sparkly notebooks!

And then... it happened... There was a knock on the door, we heard a ho-ho-ho and sleigh bells - Santa was here!! And he left presents for everyone outside the door! The kids had so much fun with this. They even found deer tracks (aka bunny tracks!) outside in the snow!

Ashley helping the girls bring in the Santa presents

Look at all those presents!!!

Will's favorite toy from Santa- his very own tool belt and tools!

We had a great morning/afternoon with the Franks. Ashley and the girls and Jessie and Tony also made it home. Great memories were made!

Gingerbread Houses

My mom hosted the Loncorich Christmas this year and we had a big project planned for the kids - decorating Gingerbread Houses! We had to leave before the decorating started so we brought our houses and decorations home. Thanks to the Tylenol, Jules was up and decorating her house at 7 am the next morning!

Jules getting her decorations just right.

Even Will decorated - he ate half his candy before it got on his house, but he did pretty well, with a little guidance.

Hard at work!

Finished! Looks like a multi-million home to me!

Julianne with her masterpiece

Christmas with the Extended Cousins

It makes for a hectic schedule sometimes, but I'm so glad we still have Christmas get-togethers with my dad's side of the family and Nick's mom's and dad's side. It's fun to see all of our cousins and now their little ones. Because we are all spread out across the state, we don't get to see each other very often, which is too bad - cuz look at all those kids and imagine the fun they could have!!!

The extended Loncorich kids - we ended up having to leave this party early, because Julianne came down with the flu - thank goodness for flu shots and Tylenol! She was down for a couple days, but it didn't get too bad thanks to the Tylenol and lots of rest and cuddles from mom and Grandma.

The extended Frank kids - so much energy in this room!! Can't believe how big these kids are getting!! I can still remember in 2008 when everyone started announcing they were pregnant - 7 of us to be exact!! There are 7 kids all born within 12 months! And now there's lots more...

Mickey Live

In October we took the kids to see Mickey Live at the Target Center. Jules did great - Will, not so much. He had a melt-down when he couldn't get juice out of his snow cone - LOVE the 2-year-old stage! But it was still a good time.