Christmas 2010, round two!

Holly and Ben finally arrived on January 2nd, to celebrate Christmas with us. This post covers their four day visit, so you might want to read it in pieces! lol And clicking on any photo will bring a bigger copy up for you to see.

When we got home from the airport, we went straight to opening presents:

Here is a painting of an octopus that Heidi did for Chloe:

 and hamburger earmuffs!

 Ben got his PS3 and was a happy guy!

Heidi got Holly some hot pink furry mittens!

And Holly got Rich a Canada trivia book. Just what I need: my husband to know more about my country than I do... lol

Chloe made her siblings tiny photo scrapbooks. They were so cute when they were little!

Holly also got Rich a Roots sweater- Rich loves to wear Canada things when we go out, and especially when we travel.

And the winner of our Christmas photo prize for this year is: Holly! 

We surprised her with the entire Little House on the Prairie TV series on DVD.

Holly made me this to hang in my studio. I love it! 

This is the inside cover of a lyrics book Ben gave to me- he is writing the lyrics and music for a CD.

We finished the day with a great turkey dinner and all the fixings! I would have liked to stretch out the Christmas stuff, but for such a short visit, we just didn't have the time.

Monday we did a little shopping, as another of Holly's gifts was a Macy's gift card. Ben and I dropped the girls off at the mall and went to a guitar shop so Ben could play me a couple of the songs that he has written. Here we are in one of the local shops:

We picked the girls up, went home for lunch, and headed in a different direction after that, we had a little more shopping to do.

Tuesday we took the light rail in and spent the day in Denver. What fun! We started the day at the Tattered Cover, we all love to read. The kids all had fun choosing something to buy and I was good, I didn't buy anything for myself- I have new magazines coming in the mail soon!

At the very end of the 16th Street Mall- I thought we could get somewhere walking but it was way further than I thought- so this is our turning around spot!

This sculpture is called "Cowboy Pajamas". I like it. I don't understand the pajamas part, but that's okay.

I HAD to order the Local Legendary Burger- which turned out to be a 13 oz. Bison burger, topped with mashed potatoes and gravy (hey, I AM Canadian!!!), cheese, and french fried onions. It was BIG. And yummy!

Our waiter took our picture before we left. The kids were very excited to eat at the Hard Rock Cafe! They did have some very cool memorabilia.

Another quickie picture before getting back on the light rail- we have more bags and stuff, everybody found something to buy.

Our last day was last minute shopping, and an eye appointment for Holly and Ben. Neither of them needed glasses and so were able to choose a good pair of sunglasses instead. Aren't they cool?

I should have gotten a few photos of Ben with his new guitar, but I forgot. Hopefully he will send me one.

Then we did the obligatory photo shoot. I try to remember each time the four of them are together, to take a whack of photos and I have to say, my kids are very obliging. Of course, the deal is, we get some serious photos, then they get to be goofy and I have to take those too. Easy trade off!

So here is one of the good ones- when there are four of them, it's hard to get them all looking good in one photo!

And here is one of the goofy ones. I don't listen, I just click... lol

And then, before we knew it, it was over. Already. Took the drive to the airport yesterday and Holly and Ben were home safe and sound by around 11 pm their time. 

Heidi and Chloe are back to school today, and the holidays are officially over now. 

I will take today to relax with Rich (his off Friday) and catch my breath from all of the cooking, cleaning, shopping, wrapping, preparing, and running around I have been doing pretty much since Thanksgiving. Speed wobble, indeed. 

My new year will officially start on Monday. Just so you know.