Christmas 2010

Our first Christmas with Kieran and in our new home was a very special one!

Our three boys excited and ready for bed on Christmas Eve

Christmas morning

Santa did not wrap gifts this year, which was a HUGE surprise for the boys. In this photo, Caden is ready to play his new DS game and Cole wants his box of Mario cards opened.

After checking out their big presents from Santa, the boys moved on to their stockings.

Kieran likes his books from Santa.

Mia attacking her stocking full of catnip toys

The boys opened and assembled the gifts from Santa while I made breakfast.

After breakfast, the boys opened presents from us. Cole was thrilled with the AT-AT Walker.

Caden was super excited to receive this Lego Atlantis set.

Our happy baby in his FIRST outfit of the day

Confused Kieran? I wonder if Kieran will love Elmo as much as Cole did.

Our Buzz Lightyears

Nana and Papa arrived with more presents shortly after we finished opening our presents.

More presents! (from Nana, Papa, and our family in Pennsylvania and Maryland)

Kieran LOVES his "What's Inside?" box from Nana and Papa.

Kieran playing with his Incrediblock from Mommy and Daddy

Caden and Cole "helping" assemble the Scooby Doo Haunted Mansion

Caden and Cole moved on to building Legos while Nana and Papa continued to assemble the Scooby Doo Haunted Mansion.

Grabbed a quick family photo before the boys went out to play in the snow

We were blessed with a beautiful snowfall on Christmas Eve. It snowed ALL day! I loved it! After opening presents and eating lunch, Curt and the big boys went outside to enjoy the snow. We have a couple small hills in our backyard that are perfect for their saucer sleds. After playing in our backyard for a while, Curt took them to the hills on the golf course behind our house.

Caden making a snow angel

Snowball fight!

Caden loves his saucer sled! They had tons of fun!

After Christmas dinner, playtime, and baths, we opened more presents with Aunt Shannon and Josh.

We did something unheard of for our family of Illini fans--celebrated Christmas with a Kansas fan. Good thing Josh is such a great guy for Aunt Shannon! ;) Here is Cole sporting his new Jayhawk hat with Josh.

Nana, Papa, and Kieran, who is chomping on Sophie the giraffe from Aunt Shannon and Josh

On the day after Christmas, we enjoyed a lazy day full of toys, TV, and games.

Here are Cole and Caden in the middle of a Twister challenge. I decided to be nice and not post any Twister photos involving the adults. I'm thankful that no cameras were around for the Twister game involving Nana and me. Twister is not my game!

Cuddled up to watch Despicable Me

Caden playing Cole's Leapster and Cole playing Caden's DSi--So good at sharing! ;)

So many photos! We had a fantastic Christmas!

Christmas Celebration #1

I'm finally getting a chance to add Christmas photos to the blog. I'm not sure why the spacing is funny.

We celebrated Christmas with Grammy and Aunt Mariah on December 23rd. Grandpa was sick and had to stay at home. Caden and Cole were super excited to open gifts early.


Kieran's first Christmas gift--He LOVED the wrapping paper!

A Taggie car from Uncle Jason--Thanks!

Presents!

Cole is so happy to have his OWN handheld video game system.


Kieran and Aunt Mariah--Kieran says, "Thanks for holding me ALL afternoon while I napped."


And the gaming begins...


Caden and Aunt Mariah building his new Lego train station


Curt only worked until 3:00 or so. I was able to go Christmas dinner grocery shopping solo. Grammy and Aunt Mariah rescued two dogs who had adopted our front yard and been missing for over a day. We enjoyed Darcy's for dinner. Lots of wonderful gifts! We had a fantastic early Christmas celebration!

Getting ready for Christmas

Less than a week until Christmas...Everyone is getting excited around here!

Caden had to create a unique gingerbread man with his family for a class project. He knew right away that he wanted to make a Spiderman gingerbread man. Curt did an awesome job drawing Spiderman's webbing and details. Caden and I did the coloring. He was very happy with the finished product!

Caden got a phone call from Santa last week. Both boys felt very special and were extremely excited. Caden and Santa discussed being good, his activities, and his wish list. After a moment of shyness, Cole had a chance to speak with Santa too. Santa promised Cole that he would visit if Cole was good, and Cole promised to leave Santa some cookies.

On Friday, Cole's preschool put on a Christmas program. They sang eight songs in front of a large crowd. Cole did an awesome job! I was so proud of him!

Cole was one of the donkeys. He was not thrilled with being a donkey, but he wore the hat anyway.

Watching Home Alone

Slobbery Kieran sporting his Santa outfit

Every morning, Caden and Cole check the presents under the Christmas tree. They've made some good and bad guesses. They are so excited!

Breakfast with Santa

At the beginning of December, we attended Breakfast with Santa at our church. We missed going to this fun event while we were living in Indy. The event includes a pancake and sausage breakfast, music time, cookie decorating, and a visit with Santa.

Santa and Caden reviewing his list

Cole had a nice chat with Santa too.

We were even able to get Kieran to sit on Santa's lap. We might not be so lucky next year.

Nana, Papa, and the boys in front of the gorgeous Christmas tree in the sanctuary

We liked Papa's photo of our family so much that it ended up on our Christmas card.

Thanks, Papa!

Decking the Halls

The weekend after Thanksgiving, we got in the holiday spirit and decorated our Christmas tree. For some unknown reason, Caden and Cole gravitated toward the same area of the tree (pictured below). We finally convinced them to share the ornaments with the rest of the tree.



Cole's favorite ornaments move or make noise (of course).

Caden finding the perfect spot for an ornament

Cole is ready for Christmas!

Caden's turn to put on the finishing touch

Curt was in charge of making the outside of our house look gorgeous. He succeeded!

We are very excited to celebrate our first Christmas in our new home!