Merry Christmas!

This year, I made a true effort to scale down the amount of gifts our boys received.  I tend to get easily carried away with the gift buying and the thought that "more is more" when it comes to Christmas day.  Last year, it was painfully obvious that our boys were overwhelmed with toys and before the big day, I actually gave away some of last year's loot that was barely played with.  Lesson learned.  We had a low-key Christmas morning which was wonderful. 

 Carter got a two-wheeled scooter & remote-controlled jet from Santa, just like he asked for!

 Davis got a Pizza Planet toy (from Toy Story) and a stick horse from Santa.  Fun!

 Sean got an electric snow blower...yep, it's electric.  He's already used it twice!

 The boys both enjoyed playing with Hex Bugs on Christmas and this set up has provided us with hours of entertainment.  Those little critters look pretty darn real.  Creepy.

 We were so happy to have our dear friends/neighbors, the Buyrns, over for Christmas.  They are like family to us and our boys love playing with their girls.  It was wonderful to share the holiday with them.  We had a tasty meal (thanks to Mimi for all the help and Megan for bringing a yummy ham) and then had a blast playing our new favorite game, Telestrations, afterwards.  It is a hoot! We hope all of you had a very Merry Christmas too!

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve was a big day!  My mom, Aunt Debbie & cousin Kelsie all headed to the Buell Theater for a matinee performance of "White Christmas", one of our favorite Christmas movies.  It was fun to get dressed up and go downtown.  The show was a little slower than the movie, but still fun and very festive.  

 Sisters in front of a poster of their favorite number...

 After the show, Sean and the boys met us at church for the Christmas Eve candle light service.  It was a "family friendly" service, complete with live nativity, bell choir, children's activity books and glow sticks instead of candles for the little ones.  Genius.

 On our way home, we drove by the Capital to take in the amazing light display.  The boys loved it!

 When we got home, it was time to get ready for bed & leave our cookies & milk out for Santa.  Mimi bought the boys these cute matching PJ's.  They couldn't wait for the big guy to get here!

Christmas Cookies

This week, we dusted off our aprons and baked cookies for Christmas!  We may or may not have cheated and bought the mix from my dear friend, Betty Crocker.  Either way, the boys loved helping me mix, roll and cut the dough.  I have two little helper elves in the making!

 Baking fun! (AKA: a two-headed preschooler)

 Putting on the finishing touches.  Even Daddy got in on the fun!

 And the next morning, we discovered that Alfie had gotten into our cookie stash.  As Carter said, "Elves LOVE sugar!" 

Santa Sighting #2

The boys have gotten a lot of mileage from their coordinating Christmas sweaters.  Let me tell you, finding cute holiday clothes for boys is not easy and not nearly as adorable as all of the girl stuff.  Trust me. Anyway, we did about 20 takes for our Christmas cards before coming out with one that would work.  Here are two of my favorite "misses".  

 And last night, we put on the sweaters again to go see Santa at Daddy's office!  He visits there every year and it is such a sweet event.  Each child gets a book and stuffed animal, plus however many cookies they can eat (in Davis's case, that's a lot).  They boys sat on Santa's lap and Carter even drew a picture for Santa.  The Big Guy will be here before we know it!

Diaper Free!

Davis surprised us all by getting himself potty-trained over the course of three days.  I used some serious bribery (a remote-controlled Thomas train) and he climbed up on the potty, went #1 & #2 and that was that...off to Toys-R-Us we went to get the train!  He has had a couple of accidents here & there, but nothing out of the ordinary.  He has been insisting on wearing undies for nap, but will let us put a Pull-Up on him overnight.  He's able to stay dry during nap and has recently been staying dry overnight, too!  We are thrilled.  I love not having to change dirty diapers and he is so proud of himself for wearing "big boy undies".  Way to go, Davis!!

Aunt Christy Comes to Town!

We love that Aunt Christy comes to Denver on business several times a year now.  We get to see her so much more and it is always a lot of fun no matter what we do.  This week we played around at home some, ate at Olive Garden and took in a Christmas Festival!  Good times.

The boys love that Aunt Christy enjoys horsing around just like they do!  We love you, Aunt Christy!  Just imagine all the fun we could have if you moved to Colorado...(hint, hint)

We walked around Olde Town to see the tree lights and got some free fireman hats along the way!

Sister & Sister enjoying the festival...

Aunt Christy keeping the boys entertained at the library while Sean & I waited in the Santa line.  Aunts rock!

Finally it was our turn to meet the big guy!  The boys colored Santa pictures and were so proud to be able to give him something!  Carter asked for a "remote control jet" and Davis wanted a "remote control rocket"...not sure Santa makes those at the North Pole.  We missed out on the free carriage rides, but other than that it was a fun, festive night.  Ho, Ho, Ho!

Click  here to see our "official" Santa picture.

Christmas Cheer

We are in full Christmas mode over here!  Sean took it to the next level with our outdoor lights this year by doing almost our entire fence in white lights--it looks so nice!  We also added a tiny inflatable Santa in the front yard.  Tacky or super festive?  You decide.  

 The boys decorated gingerbread houses and had even more fun eating them.  Not bad for a $10 kit from Target!  

 Who invited the frat boys?  Seriously, this is how they both decided would be the best way to eat a gingerbread house.  Gotta love it.  

 Alfie, our elf, has been busy keeping track of the boys' behavior by day and getting into trouble at night.  One morning we woke up to find him playing in the dining room with Buzz & Woody--he even stole Woody's hat!  Another night he was caught with a Candy Cane Oreo in hand and a bunch of cookie crumbs on the counter.  Alfie has been so entertaining this year!

We've also gotten surprised by care packages from Grandma Pat and Mimi!  They each sent some wonderful Christmas goodies for us to enjoy this season.  Thank you!!!  The boys have loved the books, ornament and penguin toys!

The Rest of the Visit...

I somehow skipped over some great pics of the fun we had while my Dad & Nancy were here.  It was a great visit and we are already making Thanksgiving 2013 plans!

Grandad and Carter coloring together.

There was a block party on our street the night our company arrived, so the boys went outside for a bit & Davis came back in sporting some random baseball gear that he found at the neighbor's house.  Grandad thought he looked ready to play ball!

Showing Grandad the LOVE!

Playing Legos with the Birthday Boy.

Time to open gifts!

Our last night of the visit, Dad & Nancy took us out to eat at Joe's Crab Shack.  Dee-Lish!  (I left work early to meet them there, hence the "comfy driving-to-work clothes that are never meant to be seen in public.)  I can't believe I didn't get a pic of Nancy & me on Thanksgiving day because she was instrumental in pulling off our meal for 15 people.  Instead, we got a photo of her in the crab bib and me in my sweats. 

We so enjoyed having our house full of family & friends over the holiday weekend.  It was a joy to have Dezo, from Haiti, join us too!  She is in the US going to nursing school & is being hosted by Dad & Nancy's church.  She has been living with them for the past year and is just a really wonderful person.  The boys loved Dezo and we are all hoping she will be able to visit us again.  It was very eye-opening to hear about the differences in our cultures.  We certainly have lots to be thankful for!