The Dean Family: January 2015

We had to say goodbye to Mike's parents, and then have a couple weeks to get ready for My parents and sister and niece to come visit!

We kept the beds together from the Dean's visit, which Brooke LOVED cuz she loves sharing a room with Sydney. (Too bad Sydney doesn't love it as much!) ;) haha

This is where Mike and I got to sleep when my parents came, and we gave my parents my room, since it's the only bedroom on the main floor.

And Livia and Sydney shared Livia's room.

And Brooke moved back into her room, which she didn't really like, but the girls were jealous of her, since she was the only one with her own room. ;) It all worked out though! :)

Here's a few random pics of the month of December.

I love my pretty little Syd-Wyd!

Brooke moved the decorative trees and then told me she was ready for her photo shoot. She posed like 10 different times, having me take her picture like a "super star" she said. :)

Brooke loved the big Christmas tree near our house.

And she always enjoys the park. Check out the short sleeves, in DECEMBER!!!! :)

Poor girl was sick for a good week or so.

She was so sweet though, she would also take care of her "sick" baby. :)

Her and I were playing hide-and-seek, and this is where she was hiding. I came down the stairs and said, "OH! There you are!" and she said, "How did you see me?" hahaha... so funny that one! :)

Sydney.... earning her keep ;)

Our poor margarine orange tree only had one lone orange on it, which was weighing down the branch. We were able to pick it and eat it. Which was pretty good, but I think it needed more water, to help make it a little sweeter??

I swear half my bread that I buy goes to feeding the ducks... :)

Tea party with Mammaw, which I think was really a ploy just to get me to bake cookies! ;)

We got to help out with Sydney's holiday party at school.

Sydney learned how to make a cute scarf using just her hands!

We took my parents to the Houston Temple.

Then they treated us to a yummy Cajun lunch afterward.

Smelvington, our elf, returned to visit us this year. :) He did a lot of silly funny things during his stay. (which Brooke really looked forward to!)

The girls' stocking grew overnight! haha..... It makes the fireplace look tiny! :)

We were able to go to the church's Christmas Party.

Mike and Dad, Bonding! :)

Flowers in December! :) Such pretty girls!

Family Photo shoot after church.

This top one is my favorite. ;)

Brooke's fighting back tears. I was bribing her with a cookie or something if she smiled. :)

More manly bonding... :)

I think Brooke likes Livia's bear more than Livia. She is always cuddling up with it, and one day, I noticed she was being really quiet, and this is what I saw when I found her. :)

Annual Christmas candy making! Almond Joys, Almond Roca, Peanut Brittle, chocolate covered pretzels, peanut clusters, nuggets, and cookies.

We took everyone to Galveston beach. Which was a beautiful day, but very cold and windy!

Sorry Tara, but I really like this picture! :)

Livia wasn't too thrilled about being there. :/ Little too cold for her.

Found a pretty good little Mexican place for dinner.

Then we all went to Moody Gardens for the first time.

My parents let all the kids go ice skating!

Brooky liked it a lot, even though the ice was not smooth so it was difficult to skate on.

There lights trail was pretty fun to see too.

The kids got to roast marshmallows and smores!

The kids all got to make their traditional gingerbread houses!

They all turned out pretty good this year too :)

Sydney could hardly wait for me to take this picture. As soon as I did, she dug right in and started eating it. haha - lol Love this girl! :)

It was SO great having my family visit! We sure do miss them.

We ate delicious Texas BBQ at Spring Creek BBQ ... Mmmmm.... so good!

This was My dad's favorite seat in the house of course! He spent most his time here. lol :)

Girls played lots of Basketball. The weather was chilli, but still nice.

We packed everyone in the suburban and drove around to look at Christmas lights. I think Livia and Sydney had the best seats in the back, with the tailgate open. ;)

Hot chocolates for everyone! :)

Here's a few of my favorite houses.

Back home in front of the nice warm fire. Brooklyn has told me that she likes being hot the best. :)

With everyone visiting us this year, Our tree was very full! :)

The traditional opening of one gift from Great Mammaw on Christmas Eve.

(Which is never a surprise to anyone that they get PJ's)

Milk and cookies for Santa and carrots for the Reindeer!

Brooke loved her new tea party stuff and table with chairs!

Livia must have been a good girl this year too, cuz she somehow managed to get a new iPhone 6!

And Sydney big gift was an iPad Mini! (Spoiled kids!)

Love her cute little face here! :)

This was my main gift to Mike, its a year worth of dates, since he is a big "date" guy. So every month he gets to open a new envelope that has an already paid for date. He had a book made for me from my Facebook from the last year, that I LOVE! (not sure why I couldn't find a picture of it.)

Then Santa came to visit the kids, which Brooklyn LOVED! :)

Sooo many tea parties.... ;)

The girls playing their new Just Dance 2015!

Mike sportin' his new shirt, from his favorite Christmas Classic!

Our Christmas feast!

Brooke insisted on eating at her new table :)

Family Christmas "Stroll" :) I borrowed a wheel chair for my dad to use on longer walks, but I think the kids enjoyed it more. They would argue at who's turn it was to use it. :) lol

AWWWEEEE..... :)

Brooke got tired of driving, so she had to pull-over and let Liv take over :)

We all went to a family movie. We saw Night at the Museum 3! It was a great movie.

Livia's Victory "HA" at Mammaw, for beating her at Monopoly! :)

Livia finished her YW project at church, and completed her required 10 hours of cooking over the break!

I am old fashioned when it comes to Christmas cards. I LOVE receiving them in the mail. This year I was hoping to fill my whole window thingy in the kitchen. I was only 1 card shy! :) My sister thinks I'm a dork, but I love getting Christmas cards and displaying them!! :)

Then came New Years Eve!

Tara and Tamara had to go back home, but we still had my parents with us. Mike and Sydney were nice enough to make me a life-sized Jenga game. We had a lot of fun playing with it, and got it quite high too! :)