But not before the oldest four went out for some ice cream…

The girls all had mint chocolate chip.

Tad, my chocoholic, had… chocolate.

And when we got back to the house, Q-Bee and the Major threw themselves into packing, and we had to say our good byes to everyone.

I cried as I hugged everyone good-bye.  Ane cried harder.  She really misses having cousins around, and it was hard for her to say good-bye to the girls.

But we had a great time with them, even if it was a whirlwind of a visit.

The next day, Ane and Tad headed off to school, Auntie began winter quarter at college, and the Major and Q-Bee and the B Squad flew back to Washington D.C.

The holidays were really and truly over, and life had gone back to normal.

We finally made it to Great-Grandma and Great-Grandpa’s house.  All of us.  Including our family, the Major’s bunch, Grandma, Gichan, Auntie and JW (her boyfriend), Obachan, and the two people who live there…

There were 18 of us.

Yikes.

There was a terrific meal, then Tad recited the Christmas story from Luke chapter 2 (courtesy of him memorizing A Charlie Brown Christmas)…

… and then the kids got to open presents.

All the kids got things they loved, but Rerun immediately wanted his new Dinosaur Train book read to him.

Tad got a new copy of a favorite book, Uncover A Shark.  He had a used copy of this and loved it so much that it fell apart.  He was thrilled to have a new copy.  Berry was fascinated with the model of the shark and Tad was more than happy to tell his cousin all about his favorite thing.

I love this next picture, because he is just so earnest in telling Berry all about great white sharks, and Berry is actually paying attention.

And finally, finally, FINALLY, our Christmas celebrations had come to an end.  The funny thing is, having these celebrations as spread out as they were may have actually been better for Tad.  He was able to adapt and adjust with each celebration, and Christmas wasn’t over so fast that my little elf had no time to be upset that it was over.  He was distressed when the tree came down, but mostly because he wanted to see his favorite ornaments.  When I told him that Christmas was over now and the tree needed to come down, he looked at me and said, “Mama, maybe next time?”

“Yes, Tad, Christmas will come again next year,” I promised him.

It’s amazing to me that he can now think of and anticipate the future, and that he is beginning to recall the past.  I am so proud of him.

My nieces were introduced to the wonders of rainbow jello – a family tradition at New Year’s which is not remotely Japanese at all.

The ham… ate chicken.

Yes, Rerun discovered the wonders of funyu chicken (a family recipe) and of eating off chopsticks.  And he kept eating.

Then he wanted more.

The ham was pleased.

And he wanted MORE chicken.

He got more chicken.  I could not believe how much meat this child was packing away.

And then we took two girls…

… added another one…

… and you know what’s coming next.

I couldn’t pass up the matching shirt picture.  Even if you can’t see Ane’s or Belle’s anymore.

And no, the partying was NOT over, if you can believe it!  We had one last party!

My nieces arrived on the late evening of the 28th, and brought their parents with them.

This is my oldest niece of this branch of the family, Belle.  She is 5 and a half years old.

Since she is the oldest, she became Ane’s instant friend.  They had a wonderful time playing together.  I also got a lot of love from this niece of mine.

Since I don’t get to hear “Aunt Deanna” that often, every time I did hear it was a treat.  Belle is old enough to tell me jokes and tell me about school, but still young enough to want to snuggle.  My heart just melted when this picture was snapped, because she had just sat down with me after coming to me and saying, “I just want to sit next to you.  Can I?”

YES.

This is Berry, the next oldest.  She is 3 and a half.

Berry is the family princess.  She takes her imagining seriously, and loves dressing up and being a girl.  She also loves giving hugs.

I could listen to her talk for hours, because she has the cutest little-girl voice and a southern twang to go with it.  Plus she says funny things.  She could not pronounce Rerun’s name properly for the life of her (she enunciated all the vowels with a drawl), but it was so sweet.  I couldn’t reproduce it if I tried.

This is Beth, the next oldest.  She is 2 and a half.

Beth is also a girly girl, loves pink and flowers, and wants to be a “big” girl.  She’s very intense and very focused, but has wonderful speech skills for her age.  She was a little shy around me when she arrived, because she didn’t remember me at all (the last time I saw her, she was 6 months old), but she warmed up quickly to everyone.

And this is Bette, the baby of the family.  She is just 5 and a half months younger than Rerun, so she is 16 months old.

She is quite the cuddler – LOVES to be held – but was fascinated by the antics of everyone around her.  She became a willing partner in crime to Rerun…

… but was most happy within the orbit of her own Mommy.

That is my sister-in-law, Q-Bee, super mom to these four little princesses.  She is a quilting enthusiast and made me one as a Christmas gift.

My brother liked it so much, he claimed he almost decided to keep it and get me something else for Christmas.

Speaking of my brother…

(We’ll have to photoshop Ressis into this one.)

He’s gone by the name “the Captain” for years on this blog, but we can’t call him that any longer… he was officially promoted to Major on January 1st!  So, here he is, the Major!

Auntie and I were having some fun with his new rank… “Major” works so well for name-calling.  Hey, we’re his sisters.  We can get away with it.

Within the first few days of their arrival, there was a Christmas luncheon, then our belated Christmas celebration at Grandma and Gichan’s, with the Major, Q-Bee, and the B Squad all there…

(Other people have better shots of this – Berry cracks me up, though.)

… and then we had a belated birthday tea with the cousins at a local tea shop.

We had a lot of fun with these parties.

We had a little less than a week with the B Squad, and something was crammed into nearly every single day.

And the New Year was upon us!

We were quickly reaching Hanukkah proportions, and it wasn’t even over yet!

Nana and Papa arrived on the 26th, and their purpose was twofold.

One: give grandchildren Christmas presents.

Two: celebrate early birthday with their only granddaughter with lunch at Red Robin…

… which also included a birthday sundae!  However, Red Robin is really nice and also brought the boys a small scoop of ice cream each, too.

Right after lunch, Tad and I slipped out to get him to speech therapy – my attempt to keep him on a normal schedule in the midst of all the holiday chaos.  Everyone else went back to our place and Rerun went down for a nap.  When we got back, Ane was allowed to open her birthday present from Nana and Papa.

It was an American Girl doll storage tower – someplace her doll can stand, plus shelves for shoes, drawers for accessories, a mirror on one side, and an earring holder.

Ane was super excited, if you can’t tell by her grin.

The next day was her actual birthday, so our day was completely eaten up by that.  The day after, the 28th, the kids were invited to a birthday party at Pump It Up, so I took Ane and Tad while Rerun stayed home with the Webmaster (who worked from home that day) and had a regular nap.  But while we were busy partying and celebrating birthdays, there was a plane full of cousins headed our way…

The executive decision had been made to let the kids open their gifts under the tree from Grandma, Gichan, Auntie and Obachan (who was also there).  The stockings would wait until the Cousinpalooza Christmas.  The kids had no complaints about this arrangement, so long as they got to open something.

Obachan gave the boys matching Batman shirts, something which pleased Rerun quite a bit.

Obachan had also knitted a whole new hat/scarf/fingerless glove set for Ane in purple, which she was super excited about, especially because the hat has ear flaps and will keep her ears warm.

Auntie won the award of best gift for Rerun, when she gave him a set of plastic race cars from Cars 2.

Grandma and Gichan answered Tad’s last Christmas wish.

And there were more Harry Potter Legos for Ane (from Grandma and Gichan).

I had drawn Auntie’s name for a stocking stuffer this year, so I let her open my gift to her that evening.

When Ane saw that Auntie had also gotten a Powerpuff Girls T-shirt, she was really excited that they had matching shirts.

Rerun rejoiced in his haul.

(While standing on Grandma’s coffee table.  This was neither condoned nor encouraged, despite its cuteness.)

And on his way home, he contemplated the bounty that was his Christmas Day.

And then the next morning… Nana and Papa arrived.  This was turning into the Christmas version of Hanukkah.  How many times were these kids going to get to open presents??

Mine is starting off on the right foot!  I hope yours is, too!

Anyway, it should be Flashback Friday, but I’d rather be in the here and now, and the here and now is… NIECES!!!

(And their parents, too.)

We had our annual Christmas luncheon with family and friends yesterday, and this year it was at my house.  Q-Bee brought the girls, while the Captain stayed at Grandma and Gichan’s place and hung out with Gichan.  The Webmaster and Tad joined them there to escape the estrogen.

I finally got to hug my youngest niece, little Bette, yesterday for the very first time.  She is only five months younger than Tad.  I have a lot of hugging to do over the next week.  Plus the rest of the B Squad – Berry was ready for a hug the minute she walked in my door.  Belle was constantly coming over to me for another hug.  (It might have had something to do with the cupcakes and hot chocolate I’d promised them, but maybe not.)  And Beth, who has a cold and jet lag, still gave me a really big hug once she got acclimated to her new surroundings.

They are all so sweet and I have missed them oh-so-very much.  And Ane was absolutely in heaven – cousins to play with!!!

Tad – well, they’re all GIRLS.  So what?

Rerun… found a partner in crime.

With his brother away, the Batcave was fair game.  Bette was more than intrigued by it, and Rerun willingly aided and abetted her curiosity.

Today, we will celebrate a belated Christmas with them.  I am so excited that they are all here!!  The only possible thing that could make this better are the two missing pieces of the cousin puzzle – Little Cousin and Little Cowgirl.  (And their parents, too.)

Aunt Deanna needs more hugs for Christmas, girls!

The kickoff party this year was on December 17th, at Uncle Buddy and Auntie J’s house.  This was all Gichan’s side of the family, so it was anyone connected with my two uncles (Uncle G and Uncle Buddy) my dad, or Obachan.  With only myself and Auntie around, and only my cousin B at home that early for Christmas, it was a quieter evening.  Still, the kids managed to have a lot of fun, and this year, the older two actually ate a decent dinner!  Tad even tried some lovely roasted brussels sprouts that Auntie J had made.  They were SO tasty.

The kids got really excited over the first presents of the season – especially when it appears that people have been keeping up on what they really like.

And because these relatives understand the delicate complexities of sibling rivalry…

Rerun’s Little People Batcave was a find by Uncle G and Auntie T.  I had NO idea this even existed, and it is just perfect for Rerun.  Not that it completely keeps him out of Tad’s stuff, but he does love it.  Tad likes it, too.  It figures.

Ane began raking in the American Girl swag…

… and she also got a lovely Mulan doll from Uncle Buddy and Auntie J.  It’s one of the singing dolls, and it’s supposed to sing when you touch the sensor in its hand.  That is a lie.  It sings when AIR brushes over that sensor.  Good thing it has an off switch.

The next day was fun at our house.  Mama was a total sucker and assembled the Trio Batcave for Tad, and then the fun really began.

And if you’re wondering how Mulan could possibly fit into the world of Batman… apparently Ane was making Mulan tell Batman what to do, like brush his teeth properly and go to bed.  Maybe she was the ghost of Martha Wayne.  I don’t know.  But Ane was happy and Tad paid very little attention to the doll being waved in front of him.

Rerun was a very happy boy.

Tad was totally enthralled with the newly-constructed Batcave and played with it for hours.

But more fun was yet to come!  Our next party was one I’ve already covered, with Friend and Doc and their boys.  Then Ane, Tad, and Rerun had to wait until… Christmas Eve!

With glitter gel icing drizzled on top and sugar pearl sprinkles.

And as much work as you think these are, this is SO MUCH easier compared to what I’ve had to create before.  The Cinderella cake and the log cabin cake come to mind.  I’m really hoping the cupcake trend stays around for a while!

Ane was ready to get her party started.

It was interesting to see Tad’s response to Ane having a birthday.  While we had to work hard to keep Rerun away from the packages (after how many days of opening presents, telling him “NO” was nearly impossible), Tad completely respected the fact that these were his sister’s gifts.  He wasn’t happy about it, though, and asked me at least twice, “When is it MY birthday??”

You have a summer birthday, kid, and have no idea how well this is spaced out for you.

Eight-year-olds understand the value of a gift – not just how big or flashy it is.  So Ane can appreciate a really nice book…

… clothes for her doll, Susan…

(And I must say, Susan has cleaned up rather well between Christmas and birthday – her wardrobe has gotten quite a bit larger, plus she gained a piece of furniture!)

… a new watch, which we discovered later was personalized with Ane’s name on it…

… several pieces of clothing for herself…

… and gift cards.  Finally comprehending the value of money means that one can appreciate the value of a gift card.  Especially when your birthday is two days after Christmas and you’re completely satiated on gifts right now, but a month or two from now there will be something you REALLY WANT, and because your mother is extremely prudent and squirreled away all the gift cards for later, you will have money to spend.

And, being a very girly eight-year-old means that pink frosting is to be preferred above all other kinds.

But, being an eight-year-old fan of Cupcake Wars and loving Trophy Cupcakes , you also know how to appreciate a really tasty buttercream frosting.

Ane really enjoyed turning eight.

And this lucky eight-year-old is going to stretch this out for almost another month… she has a birthday tea scheduled with her cousins on Saturday, and then has a birthday party with her friends in January at – where else? – the new American Girl Store near us.

It’s great to be eight!