Christmas!!!

We had such a wonderful Christmas this year!!!  We were very blessed that my parents were able to come out and spend it with us and the boys were thrilled.  Sure we danced around the illnesses of the season but we still got in a ton of fun.  Just blessed to be together and celebrate this beautiful celebration of Christmas!!!

 Our church had some photo ops up and the boys had to get one with Grandma and Pa

 The boys being super goofy at lunch after church.  :D

The best way to keep two boys calm in the car?  Get them a giant Icee to share from Sam's  :)

The boys watching a Christmas movie in the guest room with Pa

My boys are being raised to be professional baristas  :)  AJ is making Grandma's coffee here

This was so much fun!  For years my cousin and I have been saying that we cannot replicate my mom's famous shortbread cookies.  So this year we all made them together...with the help of Skype.  It really was a lot of fun, I think I want to cook across states more often.  :)

The boys had fun using every single cookie cutter that we own.  :)

Christmas Eve is hors d'oeuvres night in our family (and yes I did have to look that up for spelling) and this year we taught the boys how to make pigs in a blanket.  They loved it and of course were one of the favorite things to eat.  :) 

AJ being silly with his daddy

That night we also read the Christmas story and let the kids each pick out one present to open.  AJ opened up his super cool Spiderman jammies and robe.  I also want to mention that this sweater was the sweater Jake wore for AJ's first Christmas...my boys are growing up way too fast!!

That is one cool looking dude :) (also discovered that robe works great in going to a hotel pool while we were just on vacation)

Jake opened up his new Leo Buddy who he continues to love playing and sleeping with

The boys were REALLY into Santa this year.  So they were really excited to get out cookies and milk for Santa and carrots for the reindeer.  AJ was insistent that the reindeer get carrots.  :)  We also told them they had to sleep and not get up or Santa might not come.  As a result Jake would not even get up to go potty until the morning. hehe

Santa Came!!!  The boys are going to be super excited to see their buddies in the morning!

Very excited boys woke up in the morning and quickly checked out their goodies

"Pete the Cat!"  Jake is in love with this series thanks to his Kindergarten teacher and so he was super excited to get his very own buddy!

Blue Cat love :)

AJ loved his Larry Boy Buddy

Opening up their Santa Bags.  The big guy did really well this year ;)

The boys showing Grandma and Pa their new treasures

Jake made us a wonderful calendar for the year in his class!  Looks great on the wall too!

Boys and Legos!  They were excited to have everything built with the help of Pa and their daddy.

Piper was also included in the gift giving

I love this picture.  Jake opening a present wearing the Minion slippers that his brother gave him.  :)

Happy Boy!  AJ had spent the last months loving playing with scooters at friends houses.  He was really happy to get one of his own!

Jake was super excited to get a remote controlled car!

Pete the Cat books!!!

You know they are happy when they are moving so much you cannot get a clear picture.  :)

Minion Boy

Ahhhh the boys thanking each other with a hug

We gave Grandma the present of getting a family portrait taken at Penny's.  She was really happy....YESSS!!! :)

Jake being a goof in his new robe

Boys playing surrounded in Christmas carnage :)

AJ loves his scooter and is constantly riding it around the house.  He is actually getting really good on it.  When the weather is nice he will be all over the neighborhood!

Jake driving his new car

This won the award for the present to give AJ the most joy!  Aunt B gave him a Marshal buddy from Paw Patrol!  A very happy boy.  :)

Such a cute Lego head to hold his new Legos

Christmas 2014 Family Pic

Then of course we had to frost all of those cookies that we made!

The boys loved it...even though they were a bit overenthusiastic with the sprinkles :)

One of Jake's favorite Christmas traditions is to make Jesus a birthday cake.  He worked really hard to put the cross on top.  :D

That night we all went out and looked at Christmas lights and enjoyed spending time together as a family.  It was a wonderful Christmas!!!



The boys AWANA Christmas Program

This year the boys also had a Christmas Program with AWANA.  They had been practicing for about 6 weeks and were pretty excited about the big night.  We were not sure how AJ was going to do as he had never really wanted to practice with his Cubbies and always wanted me to stay with him.  I think he was a little afraid of the big room they were in as he was not used to being there.  But as you will see he did great and was also the #1 ham of the entire performance.  Dancing and twirling the whole time.  I put the videos on facebook the next day and if I can I will put them on this blog later...just not sure if they are too big.  But the pictures are fun too. :)

Jake singing with his friends

He kept looking at us and grinning :)

Most of the pictures we took were a bit blurry of him...mostly because he kept dancing too

AJ's cubbie group coming to the stage to sing "Twinkle Twinkle"

Standing next to his buddy Caden

A great shop of him dancing...not sure he sang a word :)

We got this note when the boys started practicing and we were super surprised that our shy Jake volunteered to sing in a trio for the Christmas Program.

He practiced really hard and did a great job!!!

So proud of our big boy

He was pretty excited too

Love this Sparkie!

As a surprise to the boys their aunt Kim a dear friend of Ryan's and mine came to see them perform.  They LOVE seeing her any time they can and were super excited that they got to show her their Christmas tree. :)

Also wanted to add a few pictures of Jake's Christmas party.  I was super lucky to be able to help out as Jake's teacher let me bring AJ along as my helper.

Jake playing pin the star on the tree

These kids had more special snacks and goodies than they could eat

And where was AJ you might ask?  We made him his own special plate in the corner of the class...he was as happy as a clam.  :)

 Here comes the sugar high

Jake really enjoyed showing his brother around the class and mostly showing him the book area.

Funny little picture, but if you ever want a new way to entertain a child while waiting in a parking lot....just give them bubble wrap.  Works like a champ :D

Next up, my family coming for Christmas!!!!



Getting Ready for Christmas

I absolutely love Christmas every year and having our boys has made it so much more special for us.  They were both beyond excited for every decoration, cookie, song, video, event and mention that had anything to do with the wonderful holiday.  :)  Seeing that excitement is just so sweet and wonderful and looking back its the biggest thing I am missing with Christmas being over.  But we had such a great time doing things with them and helping them create some really fun Christmas memories.

Jake and Ryan worked really hard on getting the outside of our house to look fantastic 

 The Christmas tree is always the boys favorite decoration, they love it and want to plaster it with as many ornaments as possible.  :)  And once it was done AJ made sure to show anyone that came by the house, even including the garage door repair man and the bug spray guy.  :)

 Ryan helping us decorate the tree

 The boys were very quick ornament hangers, we had this done quickly in all their excitement

 Jake

 AJ

 With their height you have to remind them that we need some towards the top as well :)

 I love making these memories

 AJ of course saw his brother hanging them high and so had to help as well...monkey see monkey do with these two :)

We did take a break the next day to go to a friends Birthday party.  There the boys had a blast playing with the motorized ATV toy.  AJ was very intense about it. 

 Jake of course set it to the fast speed and had a blast flying around the neighborhood

 The boys seeing up their Veggie Tales Nativity set

 Last year my mom bought the boys one of the Elf on a Shelf buddies.  But we were never able to do any of the magical things with him this year because AJ loved him so much.  He carried him around all over and had to sleep with him at nap and bedtime.  You can see, its elf love :)

 AJ finally getting into his turkey hat that Jake made him :)

 Cute boys

 We got to take Jake's best friend to church with us one Sunday and they enjoyed playing in the sled photo op area.

 OK you know Christmas time has begun when you start making scramble.  This year I had a great helper!!!

 Unpluggits day!  Never knew they had a toddler craft time, but AJ got to make this cute Christmas mouse that held a candy cane.  I thought it was adorable, but he mostly cared about the candy cane.  :)

Then of course some fun painting

Doesn't our house look great!!!

Some friends from church invited us over to decorate cookies with them.  We all had a great time and came away with a nice sugar high.  :)

Happy cookie decorator

Great gingerbread man...the moustache was a great touch

Daddy helping Jake, and AJ eating another cookie in the background.  And yes, I think AJ enjoyed eating them more than decorating them :)

Daddy won the prize for best decorator...check out his tree!!! (and yes he already has his new OKC Dodgers hat, Ryan is super excited that his team's AAA team is now in our city)

Afterwards the boys enjoyed playing in their backyard...although I am not sure if they had more fun with the playground set or all the leaves.  :)

After all this fun this boy was tuckered out!!!  Love how he still loves and sleeps with his baby.

 

Love love love this time of year!!!!!