Merry Christmas 2009

This year we traveled to Nana and G-daddy's for Christmas. We went up the week before Christmas and we're able to spend almost an entire week there! The day before we left, a huge snow storm swept across the East. We even had snow here, believe it or not. The storm dumped about 17 inches on them and we couldn't have been more excited! Whoo! Hoo! Playtime!

The kids had a blast. Even Abbey was in her glory romping through the snow!



Towards the middle of the week, Nana and G-daddy took us all on a real sleigh ride. He we are....."Dashing through the snow. In a one horse open sleigh. O'er the fields we go. Laughing all the way!"





We all had such a great time and what a perfect day!

Then, before we knew it, Christmas Eve had arrived and we were busy making food for Santa's reindeer (oatmeal and glitter so they could find their way to our house as it sparkled in the moonlight)



and leaving Santa his milk and cookies so he'd have enough energy to get all of those presents down the chimney (he was going to need it.)



Before bed, we were sitting around when we heard a knock at the door. To our surprise, it was Santa! He was just making a quick stop through. The boys must have been extra good for him to come to our house twice in one night!



Kyle was super excited. I was amazed that Ryan actually thought Santa was ok too.....from afar that is.

So, off to bed they went and Santa returned later as promised!



Santa must have upgraded to the super deluxe MAC truck model sleigh in order to carry all of those presents! Yeash! As you can imagine, the boys were more than a little excited when they came upstairs in the morning!



They dug right in and so began the hours of unwrapping!



Kyle, of course, couldn't open his presents fast enough. Ryan, on the other hand, just wanted to play with each one that he opened and couldn't have cared if there were more to follow. So, as predicted, Kyle was left with nothing else to open while everyone else was still unwrapping. Ryan ended up finishing his after nap time. What a fun day we had! Here they are playing with their new racetrack. They truly would have been happy with just this. We never learn, do we? We just can't help ourselves, it's just too much fun for us all!



Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

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The Littlest Christmas Tree

Today we were invited to Kyle's school to watch their class holiday presentation of The Littlest Christmas Tree. Can I tell you how adorable it was, especially since Kyle was the Littlest Christmas Tree (my little star)! They have been prepping for this for weeks and loving every minute of it. I wasn't sure how it would actually go when all of the parents showed up, but they were so excited to perform for us. Of course we went armed with our camera and video camera. I even had a second video camera on hand just in case :) We were so proud at what a great job he did! He was the best Littlest Christmas Tree EVER!

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Ho, Ho, Ho...

As I mentioned earlier, we did get to talk to Santa in person and tell him all the things that we wanted for Christmas this year....well, at least Kyle did. Instead of ho, ho, ho, I think Ryan was saying NO, NO, NO! Gotta love the photo though, it's truly priceless!

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Letter to Santa

The other day, Kyle sat down to write his letter to Santa. We already talked to Santa in person about the things he was wishing for, but we forgot to tell him that we were going to Nana's for Christmas this year. He wanted to be sure that Santa knew exactly where to find us on Christmas Eve.

So, here it is. On the front it says, "Dear Santa, I want: fire engine, cars, legos, transformer."

He drew a picture of Rudolph and Frosty and below it are 4 jingle bells with the number 4, of course :)

On the back it says, "I'm going to Nana's house. So, please bring our presents there. Kyle."



Below it are pictures of presents: one for Kyle, Ryan, Daddy, Mommy, and Abbey (and he drew balloons inside). Then he drew two trees.

Here he is proudly holding his letter! We'll put it in the mailbox and send it off to the North Pole. Don't worry Kyle, Santa always knows where the good boys are!

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Happy 2nd Birthday Ryan!

Wow, my baby is two already! Boo Hoo! He's growing up so fast, much faster than Kyle. He adores his big brother and wants to be just like him, so he does his best to keep up. We celebrated with family on his real birthday. Grammy and Papa were in town to join in on the celebration. Here he is spitting, I mean blowing, out the candles on his cake :) Don't mind the cake, it was kind of a left over of the REAL cake I was making for the party with his friends for the next day. This mama couldn't quite get it together to make another cake, you'll see why later.

Who ever said the second kid gets gypped? Not this one. He made out like a bandit. He got this really cool firehouse from Grammy and Papa and this "roar", that's what we call lions around here.



I have to tell you, he loves the roar. He carries it, he rides it, he roars with it, and he puts it to sleep right next to his bed. Night, night roar!

He also got this me-mommer, I mean digger, from his Mommy and Daddy. Pretty cool huh? It's tough to think of stuff for Ryan, but I think we scored with this one.



As if that wasn't enough, he also got a fabulous sandbox from Nana and G-daddy. What kid doesn't love to dig and feel the sand run through their fingers. Both kids with love this one for sure.



The next day we had a party for Ryan and all of his friends at a place called Monkey Joes. It's a huge indoor space with tons of inflatables from bounce houses, to obstacle courses, to gigantic slides (a favorite for both kids). This place just screams fun. So, everyone put on their monkey legs (even Daddy) and jumped and jumped for hours. They had a blast!







We did manage to take a break for lunch and grab some pizza and cake before we went on bouncing!





Check out the cake! I think Ryan was pleased with his Spidey cake! I actually made it, believe it or not. I must admit, I was pretty proud, considering this was my first shot. Will I do it again? Who knows. I guess I need to make Kyle one to be fair, right, and then it's back to the bakery... ha, ha!

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Happy Birthday Daddy!

Monday, the 23rd, was Daddy's birthday! He turned the ripe old age of 34 :) We celebrated with his favorite dinner and, of course, cake. This year it wasn't just any cake. Back in September when Kyle was trying to decided which cake he wanted for his birthday, Daddy was telling him all about the cakes he had when he was a kid. One in particular came to mind, the Cookie Monster cake. We asked Nana to scan a picture of it and send it to us so Kyle could see it. It turns out that the Cookie Monster cake was really an Ernie cake! Must be the old age kicking in. Anyway, how could I resist an opportunity to make a Cookie Monster cake for a grown man. So, here it is....

Happy Birthday to my sweet husband, I hope you had a great day!

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G is for....

The letter of the week at Kyle's school this week is G and it just so happens that today we found out that we are having a girl! I can't think of a better G word, can you? I am actually shocked. I really thought we were going to have another boy, but I guess the cards say otherwise. We are just so excited. After 4 years of cars, trucks and trains, we'll have to start thinking dolls, princesses and ballerinas. Bring it on! My first thought, actually, was that I will be able to go into a store and buy a pretty dress instead of a pair of cargo shorts. Whoo Hoo! Then I thought about it some more and that is just the beginning. There will be beautiful summer dresses, Christmas dresses, princess dresses, prom dresses and hopefully one day the most beautiful dress of all, her wedding dress. What fun it will be for me to share all of those special moments with her as I did with my mother. And we can't forget how lucky this little girl will be to have two big brothers to watch out for her. I'm pretty sure Ryan has no idea what is coming. Kyle, on the other hand, is excited that he's going to have a baby sister. He's been saying it was a girl all along. He was right, and he's been telling me so. He's now thinking her name shouldn't be Happy anymore. His top choice at the moment is Hello (as in Hello Kitty). That would be a first, I think! Here she is.....our baby girl!

And here are her toes!

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