Christmas Day 2010

After our little family celebration Christmas morning we went over to my uncle and aunt's house to celebrate with extended family. As usual we had a wonderful time filled with delicious food, good conversations and catching up and the boys were blessed with more gifts! So nice to have a relaxing afternoon surrounded by family! Just before dinner time we packed up and headed over to Cory's parents house for more Christmas celebrating. The cousins were a wee bit excited to do their gift exchange and could hardly make it through eating their dinner. It was a busy day, but one that we look forward to and love each year!

Joshua and my cousin Whitney drawing and coloring.

A special surprise from Uncle Steve and Aunt Cher - a vintage wind-up car from Portugal!

My aunts and uncles maintain that Christmas is for kids and spoiled the boys with gifts. Even my cousin Matt and his wife, Katie sent gifts all the way from California for the boys! A HUGE thanks to all of them!

My grandparents opening their gifts. So thankful for the legacy and family that they've built and blessed us with!

Aunt Cher and Aunt Nancy opening the ornaments the boys made them.

Matthew's new Krinkle blocks from Uncle Jim and Aunt Nancy.

Joshua was very excited about his new GloDoodle from Uncle Jim and Aunt Nancy!

Matthew loves his Playmobil garage and dump truck from Matt and Katie!

Thrilled with his new Playmobil police car from Matt and Katie!

A cool new penny bank from Uncle Steve and Aunt Cher!

A piggy bank for Matthew from Uncle Steve and Aunt Cher.

Gabrielle and Matthew during the cousin gift exchange. Gabrielle loves to give Matthew lots of attention and he loves it!

Matthew liked his John Deere book and cash register from Gabrielle!

Matthew gives Gabrielle a thank you hug!

Upon opening his new Toy Story 3 game from Owen Joshua said,

"perfect Owen, thank you!!"

The sons got new tool bags and the daughters got little wet/dry vacuums as surprise gifts from Cory's parents too!

Christmas Morning 2010

Christmas morning is our time to celebrate with our own little family. This year Joshua was making some poor behavior choices the night before and had lost all of his presents - a lot of jealousy over Matthew's Playmobil recycling truck caused many behavior isses which in turn led to all of his gifts being taken away and needing to be earned back. Joshua actually did earn a present back right before going to bed Christmas Eve night so at least he had one under the tree for Christmas morning. However, he was able to earn the others back slowly over the course of the entire morning by making good choices and man did the child go out of his way to make good choices, be kind and respectful! We started the morning with cinnamon rolls, the lighting of the Advent wreath, telling the story of Jesus' birth and singing happy birthday to Jesus. The first gift opened Christmas morning was the one Joshua brought home from church last Sunday - it was a little baby figure to remind us about the one true gift we all received in that tiny babe Jesus who was born to save us all.



Then it was on to the gift opening. . . .Matthew dug right into his presents, knowing just how to do it this Christmas all on his own! Joshua would help Matthew when needed, but actually did a good job of letting Matthew do things himself. Matthew was thrilled to play with whatever he got and loved it all! I think we nailed it though with the new shopping cart as Matthew seemed to like that the most! Joshua was excited to get the Mobigo game system that he had his eye on . . . yes we have entered the world of electronic gifts already although he loved his other gifts too and was very thankful. It was nice to see that Joshua got excited not only about getting his gifts, but giving gifts to others this year; the night before he was anxious for Papa to open his gift and really enjoyed sharing with Papa how he picked out the Grandpa pens at the santa shop all on his own at school. Surprisingly Joshua was even very excited to give Matthew his gift from the santa shop as well on Christmas morning; Joshua knows his brother well as Matthew loved his new little dump truck! I had picked up a gift on Black Fridayfor the boys to give daddy on Christmas morning and Joshua had helped me hide it and wrap it and was actually able to keep it a secret for a whole month! Joshua was beyond thrilled for Cory to finally open up the remote control helicopter we had gotten him and they have played with it multiple times a day since so it was definitely a hit! I really feel like this year Joshua understood that Christmas is all about Jesus first and foremost and the rest of the Christmas stuff is just secondary which was a true delight to see and experience with him this year!

The first gift of Christmas, baby Jesus!



Matthew opens his gift from Joshua, a new dumptruck!

A beautiful picture and picture from Joshua to mom and dad.

A remote control helicopter for Dad!

Concentrating on a game on his new Mobigo!

Shopping around the house with Jelly Cat.

A Matchbox motorhome for Joshua from Matthew.

Working together to unwrap Joshua's gift.

Flexeez , a perfect toy for our little builder Joshua!

Matthew hiding out in his new IKEA tent.

"GUYS!!!!!!" How Matthew refers to Playmobil.

Playing with his own "guys"!

A Nascar game for the Mobigo!

Christmas Eve 2010

It's become our tradition to have the kids open stockings on Christmas Eve, so this year they did it right after breakfast since Joshua is now more aware of the day and time and was asking about his stocking right away. The boys got some essentials like socks for Matthew and underwear for Joshua along with some simple and fun items. Matthew's favorite items were his finger puppets and bubbles for the bathtub. Joshua's favorite stocking items were his magic tree, magic wand and little speakers for his ipod shuffle.

Papa came over for dinner at night and brought gifts for the boys. It was difficult this year for Joshua to wait to open his presents until after dinner, seriously it was like we were torturing the kid making him wait! Once he finally got to open his presents he was thrilled to find he had gotten Boom Blox Bash Party game for the Wii along with some new shirts. Matthew was very taken with his new "guys", in other words his first Playmobil item a recycling truck. The new outfit Papa bought Matthew was a hit too and had to be tried on right away. Uncle Phil was also able to join us once he got out of work that night so the boys got to open gifts from him and Uncle Dave. Joshua was beyond excited to receive a Playmobil police station and Matthew got a Playmobil 123 farm set which he loves! It was a wonderful night of family and celebrating!

Boom Blox Bash Party game for the Wii!

Opening a new outfit from Papa. He totally had the hang of of what to do this Christmas with presents!

Joshua giving Papa the gift he picked out for him at the Santa Shop at school - pens that say Grandpa.

Matthew's first Playmobil ("guys" as he likes to call Playmobil)!

Showing Papa the recycling bins that came with his truck.

The look on his face says it all . . . thrilled to get a Playmobil police station from Uncle Phil and Uncle Dave!

More "guys" for Matthew, this time a Playmobil 1 2 3 Farm set!

Setting up the farm from Uncle Phil and Uncle Dave.

Setting up the police station.

Giving Phil his gifts.

Cookies + Sprinkles + Friends = Fun!

Tuesday morning our neighbor, Christy and her kids Corrinne and Hunter came over bearing cookies to decorate and gifts to exchange. The kids had a great time creating their edible masterpieces with frosting and sprinkles! This was Matthew's first time decorating cookies and he actually stuck with it for quite a while before he decided it was more fun to lick the frosting off of his plastic knife. Joshua, with his type A personality shining through, took three times longer to decorate his cookies taking time to carefully place his frosting and sprinkles just so and made some very cute cookies! After the kids had their fill of cookie decorating it was on to exchanging gifts. Each of the kids got a Nerf dart gun, yes even Matthew because we figured he'd want to get in on the action with the big kids! I'm not sure who enjoyed the Nerf guns more, the kids or Christy and I! We've been having a fantastic time ever since receiving the dart guns just seeing where the darts will stick around the house. So grateful for neighbors who are good friends!

Matthew getting the hang of decorating his cookies with sprinkles.

Joshua carefully making a border at the top of his stocking cookie.

Christy and Hunter concentrating on decorating.

Corrinne and Joshua

The look on Joshua's face says it all!

Matthew was excited to open his present.

The kids couldn't tear into their Nerf guns fast enough!

Matthew discovers he got a dart gun too.