Christmas Extras

 Silly me.  I missed a couple of items in my Christmas post.  I forgot this super cute picture of the boys and Santa.  It's not so clear because it's scanned but I'm sure that you can still see that cuteness coming through.


I'm really glad that they're not scared to sit on his lap.  Joe was the first time or two but now does it like a pro -- that's surprising if you know how reserved Joseph is.  Love it.

The other thing that I forgot to mention in the last post -- my sister.  How could I forget?  You might remember that she got married about a month ago.  Still can't believe it myself.  Right after she got married she up and moved to Georgia.  My brother-in-law is stationed in the army out there.  Needless to say, after just moving she did not make it back for Christmas.  :(  I missed her.  There's no one else that can shake a present with me the way that she does.  It's our thing.  We shake the presents and guess what's inside -- we have a high success rate.  It irritates our mother which makes it all the more fun.  It just wasn't the same without her.  Since I couldn't get a picture of us this year I thought I'd share one from last year.  Love you Gin.

Christmas 2010

I thought now that the new year is approaching I should finally get around to posting something about Christmas.  After all of the festivities were done -- we opened presents on Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday -- I realized that I did not take very many pictures.  Considering I've been known to take 100 pictures on an afternoon to the park, it was very strange not to be snapping away.  I think that I was too "in the moment."  I'm okay with that.  I had a wonderful time with my family.


A White Christmas? . . . we got it.

The snow helped set the mood -- thank goodness my drive wasn't bad.  Last year I had to leave town a day early to beat the snow.  It did look beautiful though.

Holiday spirit? . . . we got it.

I do love a decorated tree.



Two adorable boys? . . . we've got them.

Of course, I had to have them match.  Cut me a little slack here people -- I didn't have a girl that I could dress up in all sorts of cute little outfits.  Dressing them alike is my substitution.  :)

Santa? . . . We got him.  (or rather, we fed him)

We like to offer Santa an alternative to cookies because we think that he might get sick of them.  This is what we put out at grandma's house.

Presents? . . . we got them.

Joseph asked Santa for Legos this year.  This is what Santa brought.  It amazes me how he can read the directions himself.  I pick the pieces out for him (to speed the process along) and he follows the picture diagrams.  He made this himself.  :)

James asked Santa for cars this year.  He got cars and a track.  That Santa -- he always gives the best gifts.

A few more pictures from the long weekend.  The boys sleeping on Christmas Eve, Joe with some of his favorite presents (a Batman blanket and Batman hat and gloves), James hiding by the chair and with his "mink" (pink is a favorite color right now) car.  The got everything that they wanted and more.

What?  You want to know what I got?  I got the best gift ever, but that deserves a post of its own.  Hope you all had a wonderful holiday!

Razzle Dazzle

Do you remember that beautiful Thursday night that we had about a week and a half ago?  If you're like me, you have a hard time remembering what you had for breakfast.  Bear with me here, I should have posted this awhile ago but haven't gotten around to it.


If you remember that beautiful night, you'll remember that it was about 30 degrees that night.  Thirty degrees in December!  What to do?  The Holidazzle of course.  I don't remember the last time I went.  I'm pretty sure that it was before I had children.  I wanted the boys to experience this wonderful Minneapolis tradition.  They enjoyed it and I loved watching them enjoy it. 

My little cuties.

I love this picture of Joe with the lights of the parade behind him.

A little blurry but I love downtown at nighttime.

James had to wave at everyone.  So cute.

Baby, It's Cold Outside

Brrrr.

Again, I say -- Brrrr. How in the heck did it get so cold?? Thankfully the boys and I had a chance to go outside and play last weekend before it got so frigid. I loved watching my little peanuts play in the snow. Well, I loved watching them until James started falling down because there was too much snow and it was hard for him to walk and his mitten kept falling off. It was fun while it lasted anyway. A few pics from our day:

'Tis the season

Christmas.
One of my favorite times of the year. I have most of my Christmas cards addressed and ready to go (the stamps are another story though). I have started my Christmas shopping and my wrapping. Love to do Christmas baking but haven't started yet. Have started decorating -- probably won't finish until Christmas. I'm trying not to get stressed out this holiday season -- go with the flow. Trying to remember what Christmas is all about. With all that's happened this past year with my marriage, with my dad, financially -- spending time with my loved ones is my top priority.

'Tis the season -- For giving, for loving, for laughing, for sharing, for celebrating, for family, for love.

For all of my followers (yes, all 4 of you) I thought I would leave you with a few pics that didn't make it onto the Christmas card this year.

Joe was cold. I'm that parent that freezes their kid to try to get a quick pic.

Had a hard time trying to fit all our heads in. Had to go with the self timer.