Cupcakes for Dinner: Happy New Year!

And what a new year, indeed! Not only is there so much going on in the world right now, but a lot is happening with the guys and me. We've been in the new house for almost 2 weeks and have been getting tons of stuff done. We got ourselves connected to the internet last night and I've been trying to catch up with my email, everything I've missed with Perez Hilton and Michael K (skanky, gossipy hollywood blogs, I know...), new layouts and stuff at Two Peas in a Bucket (my favorite scrapbooking website) and last, but definitely not least, updating the blog!

I have a ton of pictures to share with you guys, so without further ado, here they are!

Here we are, the Saturday before Christmas, having our 2nd annual Christmas dinner with Ben's birthfamily. Really, though, I only call them "birthfamily" on this blog so you guys know who they are. To us, they're simply family!

The guys and I went down to Louisville on Christmas Eve for a party at his grandma's house. I can't believe we managed to get everyone in a picture!

These were taken on Christmas Eve, at the new house. Ben and I showed up a few minutes before Jeff and Andy did, and I snapped a few pictures. Jeff had set up a sweet, little Christmas tree (Stevie Wonder's "One Little Christmas Tree" started playing in my head when I saw it) and even decorated the banister with garland!)

I also got one of Ben, sitting in front of the tree, while we waited for Jeff and Andy.

Here's Andy, being told that Santa got us our house for Christmas

Here are the guys, enjoying the first Pike family dinner in the new house

This Christmas, we actually got to sleep in. And by sleeping in, I mean, we were up at 7:30. On Ben's first Christmas, Andy was up at 5:30. The boys loved their stuff!

Then it was off to Nana and Grandpa's house for breakfast and more Christmas. We left at about 6pm and were completely wiped out!

The next few days, we spent most of the time moving stuff, painting and adjusting to the new house. Here is the boys' room (it's finished now...more pictures later)

and our room (Jeff painted the words on the wall...isn't he the sweetest?!)

Jeff and I went out for dinner at Morton's on New Year's Eve. Grandma Sue watched the boys and Jeff and I headed to the heart of Downtown Cincinnati and dined, right next to a window overlooking the ice skating rink at Fountain Square. After dinner, we picked up the kids and had Sue, Katie, her fiance Scott and her soon-to-be-step-son Connor over for some New Year's festivities. Andy was going full throtle until about 11:50pm and then crashed in a chair. I totally put the hat on his head and noisemakers in his mouth. I wouldn't be able to call myself a scrapbooker if I didn't!

Andy headed back to school yesterday, and today, he took the school bus for the first time! He was so excited, that he didn't even look back at me to say goodbye. Yes, there were tears. Yes, they were mine