Christmas Party

Daddy's work had a little holiday party. It was such a fun family event. The admin who put it together really made it special for the kids. Nathaniel loved "playing" foosball with the big kids. We also spent a lot of time at the coloring table. But I think Nate loved the "fishing" game the best.... that's where he got his prized dart gun.



At the end of the night there was a specific present for both the boys with their names on them. Nate got a cool CARS boardgame and Logan got a lego duplo truck. Very cool.

A Christmas Tradition: McD's and a Movie

Another tradition. Sponsored by my Dad's two sisters. Every year we look forward to this special day that started in 1981. First stop McDonald's to order anything we want from the menu. Then off to the theater to grab popcorn, soda, and a candy bar before the movie starts. Every year we try to remember the list of movies. We never succeed. This year we saw "We bought a zoo".

My Dad's sisters who came up with this brilliant idea 26 years ago

A Christmas Tradition: Trains

When I was little my dad once saw a candy train in a bakery shop on the way home from work. He decided to buy it for mom. She said, "That would be so easy to make!" and it's been a tradition ever since. The boys had so much fun with their cousin. Who wouldn't with all that candy?

Christmas Dinner

Rather informal... but quite tasty!

Testing Papa's present out

Papa Jim got a new shaving kit. Nathaniel wanted to check it out. How cute!

Helicopter Fun

My Dad walked into a mall about a month ago and found a cool little toy. He thought it might be fun for the big boys of the family. When Ken opened his present, Nathaniel was so excited. I don't think the helicopter was ever just Ken's. The squeals of delight coming from Nathaniel was all I needed to hear. I wish I could have caught it on video. My two brothers recieved helicopters too so the house was quite a zoo. While one was charging it's batteries, they let Nathaniel "fly" by giving him one of the controlers to hold while the other two helicopters were in the air.He really thought he was flying it. Even Logan was pretty excited about them. Hours of entertainment. So sad that ours was the only one who didn't make it through the day... one too many crash landings.

Christmas Day

Look Logan is standing on his own!

Fun with Cousins

We celebrated a day early with Ken's family. The boys have so much fun playing with their cousins who just love having two babies around! I wish I got a picture of the play dough table. Hours of fun = a little peace for the Mommas.

Opening Presents

Merry Christmas

"Christmas gives us hope that God wants to be intimately involved in our lives … and that nothing is impossible for Him."

Daddy and his boys

Logan's new look

What a goofball

Wrestling Daddy

I think this is the boys favorite time of day... all three of them

A Christmas Tradition: Books

This year I was able to get to the library early enough to secure 25 Christmas Books. I wrapped them all up and each night Nathaniel gets to unwrap a story for us to read. It's a fun little tradition. I'm excited about it. Nathaniel likes it. Even Logan is excited to open a present before bed.

St. Nicholas Day (December 6)

The neighbor down the street asked me if we would be interested in playing "St. Nicholas" for her son. I hadn't really heard much about St.Nicholas growing up, but the link my neighbor sent me had a nice synopsis of St. Nicholas and how he wanted to show kindness and generosity to a family in need by leaving 3 bags of gold just inside their window (apparently by their shoes). Soon the story spread all over Europe and children were putting out their shoes hoping St. Nicholas would stop by. I thought I'm not really much of a Santa person, but I could get behind St. Nicholas and his story. And so we agreed to be St. Nicholas for their house and my neighbor offered to fill Nathaniel and Logan's shoes too.
Before bed I explained to Nathaniel that we should leave our shoes outside the front door in case St.Nicholas might come by. This is the first he heard of it, but he was all for it. He opened the front door and chucked the shoes out there, closed the door and peered through the window. Then I had to explain it was time for bed and we could check the shoes in the morning. Oh great! I didn't think this through... how is he going to sleep now? Thankfully, after a few minutes he agreed to go to sleep. His first words in the morning was, "Did Nicholas fill the shoes?"




He immediately ate all the chocolate (mental note: that much chocolate at 7am doesn't make for a smooth morning) and was very excited about his Thomas stickers and matchbox car. Logan enjoyed his stickers too. I was surprised how fun it was. All day he was talking about how next year maybe we could put something in Nicholas' shoes. Yes, we are trying to foster a spirit of giving....