Christmas 2009

We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!

I know we did! We were able to see all our family members,

and got spoiled with LOTS of goodies!

We wanted to share some of our home pictures

Our Christmas tree pre- Brandon

He finally got his candy cane!
(he's licked it a little, i don't think he liked it as much as the little ones)

Pretty much the only photo of him opening gifts. (we video taped it)

He immediately went to the mickey mouse clubhouse that i had set up

and didn't want to open any other gifts, we had to actually put it in the kitchen so he could focus enough to open other gifts.

After the tree we went downstairs to do the stockings and then to the play room to

the grand resistance...

This is his "taa-daa i'm finished" pose

then back upstairs to play more, he's pouring me tea

as he played with his Ni-hao Kia Lan toys.

(notice the cars in his hand)

Daddy and B playing with his new hot wheels garage.

Now the car in the picture above

Disney's Cars: The King

He has carried this car for the last 2 days straight. he's even slept with it.

He actually has two of them one from Santa and one from my Aunt Nickie,

so I can't take complete credit for the gift.

Gir and his Christmas bone

Daddy & B in their matching ravens hats from Grandmom/GrandRuss

B putting on his new pair of big boy Nike soccer shoes!

(again notice the car in his hand)

We feel so blessed to have such great family and friends, and B had a wonderful Christmas.

Words cant explain how incredibly lucky we are

Please have a safe New Years!!!!

let it snow...

B was super excited about the snow this weekend! As soon as he woke up on sat Am he wanted to go out. luckily i was able to talk him into waiting till 9:30ish. He did not like getting dressed in so many layers though.

He had a very difficult time walking in the backyard b/c the snow was up to his knees

(this was prob only 1/2 way through the storm)

so i picked him up and put him in his play house so there wasn't much snow inside.

the snow is to the top of the door today!

B helping shovel the snow under the deck.

B also went down the slide and played a little on his sled

Today we went out front to play where daddy had already shoveled the walkway and the cars

Everyone liked the shoveled walkways...

Holden was walking next to my car standing on his back legs like a prairie dog

(i think trying to find a way out) then he just JUMPED into the snow.

He pretty much immediately jumped back out

Brandon threw his first snow balls today.

(which of course he loved)

Then daddy and mommy took turns pulling brandon around the neighborhood on his sled

all of our neighbors also got a kick out of it.

Daddy pulled b on his tummy too!

Then B wanted to pull the sled.

Then daddy pulled mommy AND b on the sled and we got stuck in a snow bank.

(luckily there is no photographic evidence of this although a handful of neighbors saw it)

Then daddy set up a nice sledding area on the front yard hill...

B going down his first hill!

He did NOT want to come inside from sledding!

We had a great weekend in the snow... now if they would just plow our streets I'd be happy!

Breakfast with Santa

My parents country club put on a Breakfast with Santa yesterday, what a great way to start December!

As I have said before B is VERY excited for Christmas this year, and has watched several shows with Santa on it. So last week when I told him we would be having breakfast with him his response was "That's SO exciting!"

We told him he had to tell Santa what he wanted for Christmas.

His response "presents"

we asked him what kind of presents "A candy cane".

That's it, a candy cane.

(The explanation behind this is that on Nick Jr there is a moose

and he sings "all i want is a candy cane this year" so i think its brainwashed him.)

***

What was even more special about this morning, was on the drive over it began to snow!

It was so magical, it really made the morning very special.

So B was VERY excited to go, and as soon as we got in the building he got VERY nervous. I'm not sure if he remembered the Easter bunny being there or if just such a big place scared him.

So we started the morning decorating gingerbread cookies:

adding the eyes

SPRINKLES

He ate a pancake and a cookie along with chicken nuggets for breakfast

(it was a brunch)

Then we decided to get in line to meet Santa.

Well he was not very sure he wanted to meet him anymore, so we had to keep him busy in line.

Pictures with Grandmom

Mommy...

All of the men

Pictures with Daddy...

Finally it was our turn! We went into the room and he did the shy clinging to Kenn thing, so we decided to take a family picture first.

After that Santa brought out a present for B.

That helped motivate him to sit on his lap.

Santa asked B what he wanted for Christmas, he responded with "a candy cane".

Santa then gave me a weird look and said "that's it?"

He politely said good-bye and thank you to Santa, and he gave Mrs.Claus a high five.

His present was a train that he played with all afternoon!

Eating a brunch cupcake.

(it was a very nutritious day)

Now eating his Ginger Bread Man

He wanted to go out and check out the snow.

It was a beautiful, magical morning!

Emma's 3rd Birthday

Emma had her 3rd birthday at Rollie Pollie this year, so b of course had a blast.

Jumping down the Tumble Track

swinging on the bars

Jumping OFF the bars.
(totally fearless)

He played basketball for about 50% of the party

Daddy and B playing in the foam block pit

in mid jump

Going down the zip line

After they had us go to the party room brandon was ready to go back and play, but there was another party so its against the rules. He wasn't very happy... Luckily this is where we had planned on having B's party at this year,

and we're also signing him up for the Feb session for his birthday present again.

Happy Birthday Miss Emma! We love you!