Day Trip

We made a day trip to this man-made sled run not too far from us.....it was torture for Mia to watch and not be able to go....next year she'll be tall enough~

The first time I've seen a bounce "pillow".....it looked like a basketball court sized blow up pillow on the ground. I want to know who comes up with these ideas?! In any case, they loved it.

A baby cow was born while we were there and we were able to see it soon after.....Jake, who is not much for animals, informed me that he would like a cow. BTW, Jake is also at that lovely stage where he wants pretty much every single thing he sees.

Cheers to hot chocolate....it was COLD out there!!

Who knows how much money we spent on this little outing, but it turns out Jake would have had juts as much fun if we'd have taken him to Starbucks for a cup of hot chocolate....that was definitely his favorite part. I will say that they hot chocolate tasted like they'd melted hershey bars and added a splash of milk. Sugar high doesn't even begin to explain the rest of our afternoon.

They had music playing and you know how Mia loves to boogie.....her dance moves were hysterical in her snow suit....if only the pics could do it justice.

Discovery Museum

Brian took some time off after Christmas, so we've gotten to have some extra family fun! We went to the Discovery Museum and they had a blast.....by far, their favorite part was the water room. They were COMPLETELY drenched by the end, even with the aprons on and could have stayed in there for hours.....pretty sure Mia deafened a few people with her shrieks of joy.....and I'm just really glad that we made the water room our LAST stop at the museum, as there's no way we could have taken them dripping around to all of the other fun things there!

Traditions

It may be obvious that I'm big on holiday traditions.....but this one is all Brian's idea and I love it! For the last 3 years, we have baked goodies and brought them to our local fire station to give to the firefighters on Christmas Eve.....it's a small crew and they are always so appreciative. We hope the kids will eventually understand that the firefighters, police officers, etc. are working to protect us instead of being home with their own families.....and that they are always there if we need them. I wish I'd have had my camera to take a pic of Mia, walking around the fire station and climbing on the truck in her tutu pants + her fire hat. But here is one of Brian and the kiddos outside the fire house.

Christmas Dinner

ALL of the girls with Grandad

And with Gramma...

And all of the girl cousins.....it is rare that we were all there, so it was great to get a picture. The most amazing part was that we weren't all in black tops and jeans.....we're really mixin' it up this year! Wish I'd had more time to visit with everyone!!

More family pics...

Christmas Eve morning

We celebrated Christmas Eve morning with my family.
Grammie and Gramps got the kids some cool books where the
book actually records their voices reading the Christmas stories to the kids!

Jake and Mia both loved opening all of their gifts!

Jake picked out these cars while we were shopping for Mia's Christmas gift together. He bought one for all the "boys and dads" and planned this car race....he was SO excited about it. He picked out the wrapping paper (he even wrapped his own) and then told everyone as they walked in "I got you a blow up car.....we're going to race them.....it's a surprise". Apparently we need to clarify just what "surprise" means with Jake ;) In any case, we all had fun.....and he did win at least ONE of the races, which he was thrilled about.

Christmas morning...

Jake leaving some gingerbread cookies + milk out for Santa....he was pretty excited!

Still half asleep, but checkin' out the stocking loot!

One of Jake's favorite new toys was the skateboard ramp from Mia!

And of course, the monster truck that Santa left.....
too bad he didn't leave any ear plugs in Mommy and Daddy's stockings.

Christmas Eve

We had our annual Christmas Eve dinner at Kerry and Fred's......here is our attempt at getting a pic of all the cousins in their Christmas jammies.....every year for the last 4 years, we have added one child to this family and this picture just keeps getting harder to take! We had a great night and as usual, a delicious crab dinner!

Bob's World

Bob's World is one of those houses that goes ALL OUT with Christmas lights, decorations, etc. It was pretty fun to run into Rob, Kelli, Grady and Sean while we were visiting this year ;) Next year Sean will get in on the candy cane action too!

Caramel Corn

I've been making caramel corn for friends and family at Christmas for about 15 years. It was so fun to have some help from the kids and get them into the tradition!! Jake did help, though he was not in on this particular batch (I think we made about 20). They did as much eating as helping, but oh well!

Busted

Auntie Julie and Uncle Tim watched the kids for us today and while Mia was sleeping, Jake and Uncle Tim decided to go to the mall and do some holiday shopping. Tim thought it was funny that Jake led him directly to See's candy and knew just how to get there. Since it was the Sunday before Christmas, the line was obscene, but Jake was willing to wait for his chocolate covered raisins.....they waited for FORTY minutes. And apparently Jake suckered Uncle Tim into holding him for that time (keep in mind he's 3.5 years old, 35 pounds, and more than able to stand on his own). So when they FINALLY make it to the ordering counter, the woman not only recognized Jake, but said "oh yes, his mom always lets him get the chocolate covered raisins....but we're out of the scotch kisses that she normally orders for herself. It's no secret that I have a sweet tooth....and yes, when I go to the mall, I always stop into See's for some candy.....but I swear it's not often enough for the staff to know my order and recognize my kids!! In any case, Tim called to tell me that I'd been busted and we had a good laugh. No pics to go along with it, but worth writing down so that I remember this little story :)

Christmas Music Program at Sonshine

Jake's 3 year old preschool class sang 3 songs for the Christmas "program". Jake didn't sing one bit, but did at least shake the jingle bell to go along with the songs, while having that "deer in headlights" stare for the whole production. When I asked him why he didn't want to sing, he said that he just can't anymore.....but he managed to sing the whole performance at home for the video camera later that day :)

Gingerbread House 2010

Jake had a great time putting together his gingerbread house.....we kept the gingerbread cookies to leave out for Santa on Christmas Eve. Jake must have asked a dozen times while building the house "So Mommy, what are we going to do with all of this extra candy?!". When I told him he could eat the extra pieces, his face looked like he'd won the lottery. Nothing like a little sugar high to the get the holiday season goin'!!

Tutu's Birthday

Cheers!

It's silly, but I just LOVE that our families have grown to the point where we actually have a kids table....that's nearly full. Next year, Sean will be there with them!

Helping Tutu blow out the candles....