Christmas 2011



Preschool Christmas artwork by Noah and Brenton

I think if Noah and Eric had it their way, it would be Christmas all year round! We put decorations up the week of Thanksgiving and got our tree the first weekend in December. Noah loved all the decorations and was sad to see Eric take them down after the New Year.

We got to celebrate Christmas Eve with Gigi, Papa Dave, Alyssa, Jared and four doggies (Gabi, Pearl, Buddy and Maggie). We opened gifts that morning, put the boys down for a nap and then went to the Chidren's Christmas Eve service at our church. Both boys enjoyed the show, but Noah stood (and sometimes layed down on his belly) in the aisle so he could see and hear better. Since it was a children's service, it was loud and there were tons of families there which was GREAT for us. Noah enjoyed the theatrical part of the program the best and thought it was so cool to see an angel in the play.

Sweet Gabi sitting on Santa's lap. This was her 13th Christmas with us.

After the service we had dinner, put the boys in PJs, made hot chocolate and drove around different neighborhoods to look at Christmas lights.

Noah went right to bed and couldn't wait for Santa to get to our house. He kept telling us that Santa was going to tip toe into his room, put a Spiderman costume on him and give him magic. Since that would have been tricky for Santa to do, we helped Santa out and surprised Noah with Spiderman jammies on Christmas Eve. As you can tell by the picture, he loved them.

Finally, Christmas morning! Look, Santa and the reindeer ate their goodies! Santa also left a silver jingle bell (a la Polar Express style) on the stairs for the boys to find on their way downstairs Christmas morning

Opening stockings and checking out each other's goodies.

Here's Noah's beyond-happy-silly face thrilled that he got all three things on his list: Spiderman toy, Spiderman costume and Polar Express train set. He told everyone he could that Santa was for sure going to bring him these things. The kid's got confidence.

Brenton loved on his new Backyardigans friends all morning and carried them all around the house. The boys also got a mini trampoline.

After presents, Eric made a delicious breakfast -- cinnamon rolls, scrambled eggs and Benton's bacon. It was fantastic!

Daddy and his boys.

I just love my little guys! Christmas just keeps getting better and better! We are so blessed. Of course, the pictures you don't see are the ones of the meltdowns that occured later that day due to no naps, too much sugar and present overload! Ah, the ups and downs of parenting :)

Holiday Express at UT Gardens

Last year, I took Noah to the Holiday Express at UT Gardens. Noah had a blast and was very excited to go back again this year.

There's always a bonfire going, plus you can buy hot chocolate and a s'mores kit.

Inside the tent is a beautiful little train city. I can't even imagine how long it take to set everything up.

Of course, we always want a brother picture whenever we do something fun. We don't always get one, but this one certainly melts my heart each time I see it. I know we always say how close they are and how much they love each other, but they have truly been blessed with a loving relationship that we hope gets stronger and stronger as they get older. That doesn't mean they don't get on each other's nerves every now and then or get too rough playing, but for the most part, they are best buds.

Now, for the celebrity sighting...I felt like a girly little 8-year-old when I spotted the beautiful Mary Costa across the room. For those of you who don't know, Mary is the original voice of Sleeping Beauty! Yep, I got to meet Princess Aurora / Briar Rose. At first, I stalked her a bit trying to make sure it was really her. Thankfully, Brenton decided to make eyes at her and then she told me how cute he was. I then said, "Are you Mary?" She said yes and I seriously got butterflies in my stomach. I know it's cheesy, but Sleeping Beauty is my all-time favorite Disney movie, plus Mary has performed all around the world with her amazing soprano voice. I told her how much I loved Sleeping Beauty and she kept telling me that I was pretty enough to be a princess myself -- well, that made my day and I'm sure she says that to most giddy girls (or 30 year olds) she meets! She was kind enough to take a picture with me.

After explaining to Eric who I just met (he was across the room guarding the entrance to the tent to make sure Noah didn't escape and could run around enjoying the trains), we made our way outside to the UT Gardens. The boys loved watching the Koi fish in the ponds and chatting with Santa Claus who was hanging out in the Gazebo.

This is one Christmas tradition we hope to keep every year!

Noah and Asher

Noah and Asher. These two have been best buddies since they met in the fall of 2009. Their birthdays are only three weeks apart and their build is nearly identical -- solid! Even though Asher is the "little brother" in his family and Noah is the "older brother," they have a strong friendship and always have a great time at school together.

Asher's mom is quite talented and does photography as a hobby. She actually took our first family photo last month (we'll post those pictures later). The one above is from their recent Thanksgiving program at school. Their class dressed in PJs, mouse ears and a mouse tail and sang, "We Think Mick Are Nice" (to the tune of the "Farmer in the Dell.)

The boys hammed it up for sure during the program and I'm thankful Asher's mom took these sweet photos.

Tees and Trees

We enjoyed getting our Christmas tree this weekend. The boys liked smelling the fragrant fraser firs.

Brenton's super creative teacher made this cute foot print snowman shirt. She's always coming up with neat crafts for the kids to do. Brenton really loves art time with her.