Christmas 2010

I can't believe Christmas is over already.
I'm actually sad this year! Dec was such a magical month for Brandon.
He loves all the houses decorated with lights,
our Christmas tree, yelling at our blow up snowman and moose to to hurry up and inflate.
Listening to Christmas songs on the radio,
Watching The Grinch that stole Christmas almost every day
and of course waiting for Santa to come.

This year we spent Christmas week baking 9 batches of cookies.
Christmas Eve we went again to the Children's mass at Church.
B loves watching all the children dressed up as angels and wise men.
He stood on his chair to watch it all as we were sitting. (the people behind us said it was ok)
(I love that he says/sings the "our Father" prayer with us as a Church)
Then we went back to my parents to eat dinner and watch the Grinch one more time.
We went home and B got in his PJ's and wrote a letter to Santa
I think he said he wrote "Love Santa"

Then we set out the cookies and milk and Carrot.
B also told me to make sure the fire was out in the fireplace so that Santa didn't get burned.

We put B to bed and Kenn and I snuggled by the fire to watch "its a wonderful life"
Then Santa came :)
This picture is actually very misleading...
We have the habit of stuffing presents under the tree

I always have trouble sleeping on Christmas...
Brandon always wakes us up at 7am sharp every day.
Apparently on Christmas he didn't get the memo.
Kenn woke me up and we let the dogs out, turned the tree lights on, got the video camera.
basically were a little loud till it woke B up.
He got up walked into our bedroom like normal, still 1/2 a sleep.
we asked him who came the night before, he didn't get what we were asking
Finally we told him "did santa come?"
THEN he ran down the hallway.

I have to apologize, we are HORRIBLE about taking pictures on holidays.
the ones below are literally the only ones I took.
We always video tape and it goes by so quick and I don't want to be behind a camera for the whole thing so we never get any good shots.
(same with peoples houses for the rest of the day,
I never even took my camera out of my purse)

B's new leapfrog hand held game system.
Opening the Woody doll he asked for (and subsequently didn't talk)
I had to take him back and exchange him yesterday...

you can prob guess a theme here. Almost everything was Disney related.

Don't judge... he likes to help me sweep

and even though I have tried to "fight it" Brandon has been exposed to the world of
crime fighting action heroes from school.
So I caved and got him a spiderman.
(which he loves and has lost the 2 webs that he shoots out like 10x already)

Mocha playing in the paper

Brandon rides his new scooter up and down our hall and kitchen.
You MUST refer to him as "super brandon scooter power to the rescue"

I also got him a random Toy Story "grooming kit".
(He has a thing about his hair)
and they had a shaving kit in it, B FORCED me to give him a bath tonight
just so he could play with it again.

Its very cute :)

So after we woke up and did our family presents and ate a big breakfast
we got dressed and went to my parents to open a mountain of gifts there.
Then off to my Grandmothers to see my Dad's side of the family.
Then we went to Kenn's Grandmothers house to eat lunch and visit with his mom.
THEN to Christmas dinner with the Chisholm Family.

It's a lot to do in one day but we get a solid 2hrs at each house
and we love getting to see all of our family members.
(Brandon loved that there were gifts all day long)
We were very spoiled, so we knew that we were either very good this year...
Or very loved :)

Christmas Vacation 2010

The 3 of us went on a much needed mini vacation last weekend to Williamsburg, VA.
We left in the AM and got down to VA around lunchtime.
I found a quick and easy parking place, and realized as we left that
I had parked my car illegally on Duke of Gloucester street next to the church.
(There were several cars ahead of me that i followed in and parked...
apparently they must have been residents unloading)
Oh well still a great spot and no ticket!

For those who don't know Colonial Williamsburg...
I used to travel there almost every year with my parents, either in the hot hot summer.
Or the freezing Christmastime.
My favorite time is Christmas there b/c each house decorates in the Colonial style
of fruits and feathers and other creative wreaths.
So I will update another day when kenn has finished with some of the door pictures.
For now you have to suffer with mine.

So right after we got there I took B into a shop and he picked out a metal Flute.
I was hesitant and didn't get it, but at the next shop he pointed it out again so I purchased it.
It was really a good buy b/c it kept him busy for the rest of the trip there.

This is what he did...

He would go in front of every house and stand directly infront of the door
and blow as loud as he could a single "toot" at the door.
Then proceed to the next one.
Once I figured out the pattern it was hilarious.

By this point it was early afternoon and he hadn't had a nap so he was starting to get sleepy.
Kenn carried him a bit.
I love the picture below

Below is how B kept trying to "ride" kenn.

A example of the beautiful decorations

After a late lunch we headed over to our "special hotel"
the Great Wolf Lodge.
Now, we didn't tell Brandon where we were going all week b/c
1) We wanted it to be a surprise
2) We figured if he knew he wouldn't want to go to Colonial Williamsburg

So we checked in and below are the pictures of the special room B got.

next to our bedroom was a childrens room with a bunkbed and a TV.
B still is referring to this as his "new room".

He was SO excited to have his very own remote and TV.
As he was changing the channels he stopped here and yelled
"OHHH GOLF"

He slept on the bottom bunk b/c i was afraid he'd fall out.
but we allowed him to watch TV on the top bunk.
This picture is from the next Am, as soon as he got up
he was back up there.

When i was packing for the trip b saw the bathing suits on the bed and asked me
"Mom why are you packing that"
me- "i dunno"
B- "is there going to be a pool or something?'
Me- " maybe"

So after exploring our room, I tell him to get his bathing suit on and we head out.
Below is his first reaction...

Now I hate to leave you hanging but this is an indoor waterpark.
It was FANTASTIC!
My pictures suck and didnt come out b/c the flash didnt work with the lighting.
So once again you will have to wait for Kenns pictures.

First they climbed up this big huge play area, then he went to the childrens area and went down the acorn slides. (below)

With this area we just sat and watched, he went on it over, and over, and over, and over.
He started to go down the slide on his tummy and then midway FLIP over onto his back.
He was a pro at this area.

After a couple of hours we went back showered and headed out to see the rest of the resort.
He found his second favorite place.

After dinner they had a special childrens show and story time with the kids all in their PJS.
Now I thought this place would be empty on a sunday night but apparently there was a large group from the home schooled children.
(kenn said he could tell they were homeschooled kids just by watching them)

Lobby

B's special drink at dinner

This is the clock tower where they had an animatronic show.

you can't even see all the people in this picture

then at the end of the show it began to "snow"

After that all the kids turned to the fire place and listened to a story about
their knock off reindeer.
(reindeer and fire place on right, B and I are on the very bottom left)

Below we are right in the middle

The next day we got up, B looked out the window and kenn said "hey its snowing"
I said "No its not" and to my surprise it was...
That really was the perfect ending,
watching the beautiful snow fall outside as we went down water slides.

After we got up we had breakfast
(B said it was his favorite breakfast ever b/c it had all his favorite foods.
Cereal, bananas, waffles, and a donut)

Then we got back into the waterpark where we went down the ADULT inter-tube water slides with brandon. (at least 6 times in a row)
We also took part in the water basketball court, a wave pool, hot tubs (kenns favorite), lazy river and back to the kiddie slides.

As we left I took a picture of the snow falling outside.
We decided we are going to go back and do this trip every Dec.
(Kenn said it has to snow though)

We had lunch at Sonic (Yeah)
and a 1/2 hr into the trip this was B

It was a PERFECT trip.

Meeting Santa 2010

2 weeks ago we went to our annual Breakfast with Santa at the Country Club.
Brandon was VERY excited to see Santa.
If you ask him what he wants for christmas he will tell you
"A woody doll (to be friends with his Buzz) ...
and a purple and a orange car to crash into each other"
He is VERY specific.

So B was very excited to meet Santa but as the time got near he got nervous.
This is the photo documentary of the Santa meeting.

Hello Santa... oh you want a hug... ok i guess

Santa-"what do you want for Christmas"
B VERY softly- "Woody"
Santa-" What"?
B a TINY bit louder- "A woody"

Ok i'm going to back up now slowly...

This pose about killed me. Hands in the pockets looking at the ground talking with santa VERY quietly. (Santa AGAIN asked what he wanted for christmas)

He finally was loud enough to hear (although I doubt Santa knew what he was talking about)

B thinking -"FINE i will get a picture with him"

Then the present :)

Surprise he got a buzz and woody backpack!
He was SOOO excited. He demanded to wear it out of the club.

Brandon really is enjoying Christmas more and more.
This is a perfect holiday season for him.