Christmas Day

Christmas Day at Dan's parent's house is always crazy (in a fun way). All the family came over around 10 "ish" for cinnamon rolls where we read the Christmas story from the Bible. Then we went downstairs for a couple of hours to open gifts...there are 9 kids and 7 adults, so it takes awhile since we take turns. The kids are always asking if it's their turn yet, since us adults get talking and forget to open presents quickly when it's our turn :-). Andrew was awake for Christmas this time, and he "enjoyed" opening gifts. He did actually play with one of the toys...a basketball hoop. After gifts, we all gathered upstairs again for Chistmas dinner (ham, cheesy potatoes...yum!). Then, the kids played with all the toys for awhile before it was time to sing "Happy Birthday" to Jesus and blow out candles. We watched a couple of Christmas movies (Scrooge and the Christmas Card) while the kids played with their toys some more.

The biggest toy hits of the day were Tammy's kitchen (which took Tyler and I a couple of hours to put together) and Adam's Geotrax that he got on Christmas Eve. The kids all had a great time playing together with minimal fighting.

We always try to get pictures of all the kids in front of the Christmas tree...and we got a great picture this year. I am also including a picture of Andrew in his favorite chair at gramma's house as well as a picture of the kids waiting while all the gifts were being passed out (at the beginning).

Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve day, we went over to Julie's house and made sugar cookies with the kids. They had a great time cutting the shapes out and then decorating the cookies. I've included a picture of Adam with some of the final results, since I forgot to take my camera over.

Then, in the evening, we went to the Christmas Eve service at church...which we didn't get to spend too much time in...due to our rambunctious boys. After church, we planned to open our gifts to each other, as well as the gifts from my parents and sister's family. Adam had a great time...but Andrew was very tired. He only opened a couple of presents and then he was so cranky, we just put him to bed...poor boy. Well, that didn't slow Adam down. He LOVED opening presents this year. He'd open something and want us to set it up, and then he'd start playing with it. But, as soon as we brought out a new round of gifts, he was more than willing to stop to open another present :-). He had so much fun, that we was up until 11 pm.

I'm including some pictures of the boys both before and after the church service. The picture of Andrew in the cream shoes is of him trying on gramma's heels before church :-). Adam got a new Geotrax set, which he loves. He was enjoying himself so much playing with it, that Dan and I actually haven't given him his other big gift from us. I think we're going to do that tomorrow with Andrew's big gift from his grandparents and great-gramma (he got a climbing toy that was too big to bring with us). All of Adam's cousins enjoyed playing with the Geotrax on Christmas day (even the 13 year old).

Adam's a Star (again!)

Adam was a donkey in the Children's Christmas program at Dan's parents' church on Sunday night (12/23). He had a small line (along with all the other children in his class), which he said perfectly. The last time we had visited was over Thanksgiving weekend...so I'm sure they were surprised that he knew it. But...during Sunday School during Thanksgiving, only Adam and his cousin Ricky were in the class. They were playing (after the lesson, of course) and the teacher was trying to get them to learn their lines. Since there were only 2 kids, she offered them each $1, if they would come over to her and practice. So, almost a week later, Adam was wearing the same pants and pulled a$1 bill out of his pocket (OK...I know...I didn't wash them!). We were of course wondering where he got it, and he said that his teacher gave it to him for learning his verse. I asked him what the verse was, and he repeated it to me correctly. So, all I had to do to prepare him for it was to ask about once a week if he remembered his lines. Incidentally, he calls his $1 bill his $100 bill. I guess Dan and I luck out if we give him money....we just have to give him a dollar for him to consider himself rich :-).

Anyway, Adam did a good job during the program. He said his line...and he didn't knock over a microphone, run off the stage, or say something additional into the microphone that may have been embarrassing (I still remember VBS, where they handed him the microphone...and he ordered chicken nuggets and fries...I guess we took too many trips through the drive-thru at McDonalds :-) ). Here are a couple of pictures....his ears were a little messed up...so they hung in his face.

Santa Pictures!

Well, we went to visit Santa Claus this morning. I asked Dan to run across the street to the mall this morning to make an appt with Santa (this mall has scheduled times rather than waiting in line). He went about 8 am, and we discovered that you can't pick a time, it's next available. Needless to say, I had to get the boys dressed in about 15 minutes (they were eating breakfast) and rush into the car. We got there just in time, and sat down to figure out the pictures. They allow you to take your own pictures with a $10 donation, so I had brought my camera. Unfortunately, I forgot my compact flash cards at home, so we had to pay for pictures. It was a really good deal, because they took about 7 shots, and then gave you a CD which you took to Ritz Camera for free developing and then you get to keep the CD.

Anyway, when it was our turn, Adam ran right to Santa and jumped on his lap. They took a couple of pictures of Adam with Santa and then I tried to place Andrew on Santa's lap without him seeing Santa. As soon as he took a look at Santa, he started crying. Then...he put his hands over his eyes. I couldn't be sorry that I didn't get great pictures of the boys together with Santa, because that was so cute and so typical of Andrew. When we're out shopping, usually someone will start trying to talk to him when we're in line paying. He always puts his hands over his eyes, because I think he believes if he can't see the person then they can't see him. The person will inevitably think that Andrew is playing peek-a-boo and they'll start talking to him even more (much to his chagrin!). Anyway, that's why I thought the pictures of Andrew with Santa were great...even though they really weren't :-).

This time, Adam said he wanted a big jet. I think he was thinking of the big jet in Little Einsteins, because he started describing what the big jet was doing, and it sounded like a Little Einsteins story. After Santa, the boys and I walked around the mall for a bit waiting for the pictures to develop. Plus, the boys each got 3 coins from Santa which they could exchange for cookies from Mrs. Fields, a water bottle from the North Face, and finger puppets from Pottery Barn kids. There were other things they could have gotten, like stickers, ice cream, and candy, but that's what Adam chose to get.

Here are some more pictures...

Christmas Program

This morning Adam had a lot of fun at preschool. First, they got to wear a crown that they made earlier in the week and pretend that they were wise men. They followed a big star that the teacher was carrying and walked throughout the church looking for baby Jesus. They had to stop and water their camels :-), and then the teachers turned out the lights and played Silent Night as they looked for Jesus at night. Finally, they found him, and each child was able to say something to baby Jesus. Adam told me that he said, "Happy Birthday and Bye!". They they went back to class and drew what they had seen. Adam drew a star. It was really cute.

Then, the parents got to come early and we watched the classes do a mini-Christmas program. They sang some songs and then acted out the Christmas story during a song. Adam was an angel. Here are some pictures that I took. I was far away, and the room was a litte dark, so the pictures are a little grainy. I put circles around Adam so you can find him :-). He is sitting next to his teacher in one of the pictures, and both of his teachers are standing next to the group of angels. Oh, and he's supposed to be moving his hand in the picture of the class singing (the last picture)...they had hand motions to go with the song. I just realized that no one else seems to be doing them, so Adam looks like he's misbehaving, but he's actually doing the hand motions :-).

Tomorrow, I plan on taking the boys to see Santa Claus...we'll see what kind of pictures we'll get from that. Adam has already talked to Santa, since he insisted on stopping when we were shopping at the mall with gramma and grampa C. He climbed right up on Santa's lap and told him he wanted Chick Hicks from the Cars movie (but he says it really weird "KChix", so I'm sure Santa had no idea of what he wanted). But they talked for a couple of minutes. I didn't have them take pictures, because Adam wasn't dressed for it, and Andrew was asleep in the stroller at that time (the main reason). So, we'll make an attempt tomorrow (if we can get in...and if Andrew will tolerate sitting on his lap).

Christmas Fun!

We've been busy getting ready for Christmas (like everyone else, I'm sure), but we've had some time to have some fun. In early December, I bought a gingerbread house kit for Adam and I to work on (I can't pretend that I made it, since the box is in the background of one of the pictures!). He had a lot of fun helping me "build" it, and then putting all the candy on. He was really gung ho about eating it as soon as we were finished, but I don't think he's a big fan of gingerbread (probably especially bought rock hard gingerbread), since most of it is still sitting on the counter.

Also, I thought I should add a picture of Andrew so that everyone doesn't think that we only do things with Adam :-). He loves to put hats on...in fact, hat is one of the few words that he says...so he is contantly coming up to me with one of Adam or his hats on. I've been meaning to take more pictures of that, but I did at least catch him putting the Santa hat on. And, just to prove that Adam is not the only one enjoying the Christmas goodies...I'm adding a picture of Andrew after eating a piece of my fudge...do you think he enjoyed it??

I have a couple more things that I want to add to the blog soon, but in case I don't get around to it before Christmas, I hope that everyone has a wonderful Christmas!

Snow!

We got 8 and a half inches of snow on Saturday night/Sunday. It was enough to cancel church on Sunday and school here today. Adam had a great time playing in the snow with daddy while Andrew napped. Here are some pictures of the fun!

Family Picture

We had to take a family picture this morning, so I thought I'd post it, since we don't get too many of those. Amazingly, we got this on the second shot and really only had to take a couple of pictures...which is good, since the boys don't have much patience for pictures. Unfortunately, I already did the Christmas cards, so this isn't going out...but at least you can enjoy it here :-). It's nice that my camera has a beeping sound when the timer is on that seems to keep the boys looking at the camera. Andrew didn't know to smile...but I thought it was a good picture.

Live Nativity

On Saturday, we went to a Live Nativity at the church where Adam goes to preschool. It was really neat...even the baby was real and they had real animals. One poor girl, who was the angel, had to stand on top of the stable. I joked with Dan that they better have told her not to lock her knees while standing up there. They had a separate little stable with a sheep where you could take family pictures or pictures of the kids. Unfortunately, I had already printed out my Christmas cards, so I couldn't use the picture for that...but it turned out cute!

Preschool Thanksgiving Program

This morning Adam had his first experience performing in front of a crowd...his preschool class (and the other two 4's classes) performed several songs in their Thanksgiving program. He had been practicing songs with his class for the last month or so, and would occasionally sing some of the songs at home (so I had a preview of what was to come). We were excited to see him...Dan took the day off work. Of course, he was so cute and did a wonderful job :-). I could tell he was a bit nervous when they walked in, since he marched right by me with his hands on his hips and didn't seem to even notice we were there. He mentioned later something about the crowd...I guess he wasn't expecting that :-). The classes sang several songs and then the teacher came to everyone with a microphone and asked them what they were thankful for. Adam, of course, had the longest response. He was thankful for his mommy and daddy, his bike, downstairs, and I think he was trying to say something else, but I didn't catch it. After they were done performing, we had popcorn and muffins with the teachers. I videotaped a lot of the program, but I also managed to take a couple of pictures...although they're not the best quality. And yes, he did write his own name on his turkey hat.

More Halloween Pictures!

Halloween

I know you'll never believe that I have pictures from Halloween already, but here's a preview of what's to come. The boys had a great time trick-or-treating! We took one trip around the block just going on one side of the street with the intention of going back around on the other side. However, Adam announced that he wanted to go home before we went around the second time, and we couldn't talk him into going farther. I think he just wanted to head home to look at his booty...as soon as we got in, he started organizing his treats. He and Andrew also taste tested a few items. Dan and I were laughing, because we remembered trying to race around to houses to collect as much candy as we could. We'd even go home and drop off candy so we could start fresh again. I'm sure he'll grasp that concept soon. Not to say that he didn't have a great time...he was running around and really got the idea of saying, "Trick-or-Treat" at each house and saying, "Thank You"...although the last one was often said as he was turning away to head to the next house. Before we left, he was singing, "Trick-or-Treat, smell my feet, give me something good to eat", so I was waiting for him to say that at one of the houses. Andrew also had a good time...he rode in the wagon and then Dan took him up to each of the houses for candy. He tried to eat several pieces of candy through the wrapper, and had great fun waving and saying, "Bye" to people. I think he was ready to keep going when Adam wanted to go home!

Final Camping Trip

Well, I'm sure no one is even looking at my blog anymore since it's been over a month since I last updated. I'm sure you think we've disappeared off the face of the earth...but we're still here. Adam is still loving preschool! Every morning, he wakes up and asks if he's going to preschool that day. One day a couple of weeks ago, Andrew was sick and for some reason Adam thought that was the reason he wasn't going to preschool (it wasn't...it just wasn't his day to go). Anyway, he kept asking every couple of minutes if Andrew was better yet :-). My mom, sister, and nephew Aaron came to visit us also for about a week. I'm sure I'll never get around to posting pictures from that, so I'll have to add the link to Sandra's blog so you can see what she posted about it.

Anyway, the weekend after they left (the first weekend of October), we went camping for the last time this year. For the last 2 years, we've gone to a campground about an hour from us for the Halloween festivities. However, we left it to the last minute this year to book our site, since it looked like it was going to rain all weekend, so the campground was full. I had to call several places to find an open spot, and we ended up trying a campground that was only about a half hour away. We were rather leery to camp so close to the city, but it ended up being really nice. We may switch and go there again next year. The weather was also beautiful (actually very warm for October...high 80's and no rain). We were laughing that we needed to use the air conditioning on the camper more in October than June, July, and August combined.

It was a wonderful trip...the boys decorated pumpkins, they went in the lake (in their clothes, since we forgot swimsuits...who thought you could swim in October???), Andrew went on a wagon ride (Adam was too busy swimming), they competed in a costume contest (where Andrew won 2nd in his age category), and they went trick-or-treating. They also had a site decorating contest, so we enjoyed walking around and looking at everyone's sites (we're too busy chasing after our boys to decorate!!). Here are some pictures from that weekend...