December Kid-Isms

NOLAN:

• The dental hygeniest asked Nolan what he had asked Santa for. Nolan said, "Well, I asked for a Wii, because its alot of money (he actually quoted the cost) and my mom and dad can't afford it because they have to pay for food.
• When I was walking with Nolan to school and said I couldn't wait for our date that night, he said, "Stop talking about it." Then he said, "Is my face blushing?"

JOSEPH & DANIEL:

• When I say, "I love you" to Joseph, he replies, "I LUB you!"
• When I say, "I love you, Danny" he replises, "Love u momma!"
• Joseph says yes, "Yaah"
• Danny says yes, "Yesh."
• Joseph says things like, "Nolan at school" while shaking his head no. This means, "Nolan is not at school."

Christmas Day

Christmas morning was amazing. We woke up well before the boys (can you believe it?). When Nolan bounded out of bed, he first woke the twins up. The three came downstairs and we opened stockings. Then we tortued them by making them sit down to eat. Then we opened presents. Nolan was a bit impatient, but much better behaved and in control of it than last year. What's under that sheet? A kitchen! Good job, Santa! The boys snacking at their new kitchen: And Santa brought Nolan his most asked for item ever!!!

After a lazy day in pj's and playing with new toys (and the wii), we went to Tara and Sean's for an amazing Christmas dinner! Sean got a ping pong table so there was lots of ping pong playing, so it was my kind of day!

Christmas Eve

Christmas eve is probably my favorite day of the year. I like it better than Christmas day. I can remember eating dinner on Christmas eve in my family's basement, at our tiny card table, set up by the tree. We would turn out most of the lights and eat by the glow of the lights from the tree. We would play Christmas music on the record player and the magic in the air, the anticipation of what was to come was so thick you could pratically taste and see it in the air. I hope my kids will have similar memories, though their memories will involve different houses and different cities. But hopefully the memory of family..of being together, eating, laughing, chasing each other...will resonate in their minds when they think of Christmas Eve.

We went to 3 oclock service and then grabbed chinese food to go on our way home. This is before we ate:

Joseph didn't want to sit, so D and Nolan hammed it up:

Then they mooned me and thought it was the funniest thing in the world.

When Danny & Nolan were finished, that's when Joey decided he wanted to sit for a picture. Nolan was long gone, but Danny sat down:

Danny hugs Joey for the camera: Joseph doesn't like that (it wasn't his idea), so he hits Danny:

D fights back, but has the ability to also keep looking at the camera while he hits Joseph. And on and on it goes. I have a film strip of them whacking each other. (that's the Christmas spirit!) Dinner was awesome! Duck, veggies, fried rice! After dinner we decorated cookies for Santa! After cookie decorating (and baths) we tried to get more pictures in front of the tree:

This is actually a sweet shot. But it kind of goes down hill from here. Notice how nice Nolan is sitting ("criss cross, applesauce"). He tries to teach his brothers how to sit "criss cross applesauce" like they do at school. They both try so hard. Maybe too hard... In an effort to cross his legs, J bear loses his balance...and with that, I lose all control of picture posing! But that's okay. I kind of like this shot...just wish you could hear their laughter mixed with it! My sweet Nolan showing off cookies for Santa, carrots, cereal and magical reindeer food for the reindeers. There was also milk and a cookie for Christopher, our elf! And just like that...another Christmas Eve come and gone. I loved every second of it!!!!

Ugly Sweaters

Tis the Season...for ugly sweaters. Or tacky sweaters. Brian's work party this year had an ugly sweater contest. Guess who won first place? (Thanks Chris and Kristy for letting him borrow the essentials)!

That following weekend our friends hosted an Ugly Sweater Christmas party. We got babysitters, gussied up in tackiness and had a great night! Our hosts...who even dressed their dogs in sweaters!

Tara and Sean:

Chris and Heather:

We are missing a few girls, since we didn't take this picture till later. Just for the record, if you are wearing a moo moo...even a Christmas one, using the "Skinny arm" method just doesn't work.

I have no idea what this facial expression is all about...

Story Time

Our night time routine usually consists of one of us (mom or dad) reading to either Nolan or the twins. But more and more the twins will giggle and run into Nolan's room and climb on his bed, and as long as they are behaving, we have a snuggly story time with all of them. I love these sweet times that I know are passing waaaay to quickly!

Christmas Eve Brunch

For the second year in a row, the Houses hosted a Christmas Eve brunch. Its such a great way to celebrate. By then, most of the rushed stuff is finished and it was wonderful to sit back, eat yummy food and enjoy time with my friends, husband and kids. There were a lot of people in attendance this year, so I was nervous to have my camera out, but near the end snapped a couple of these two love birds, Cami & Joey: They weren't even under the mistletoe!

North Pole Express

Nolan's birthday present this year from us was a family trip to the "North Pole Express." The entire experience is modeled after The Polar Express, but I am assuming there are some copyright issues that don't let them call it the same name. A Christian school in Boston does this every year as their fundraiser and it was really, really sweet. Nolan, of course, LOVES the Polar Express and we only let him watch the movie during the Christmas season. When he saw we had tickets, he thought it was the real deal, just like the movie. He thought a train would come to his house, that mommy and daddy wouldn't come and that the final destination was truly to be the north pole. He never once complained, but asked a lot of questions and I could tell he was slightly disappointed by the fact that it wasn't EXACTLY like the movie. That being said, all three kids were over the moon excited to ride a train, wearing their pj's (all the kids did), drink hot cocoa, have cookies, hear a Christmas story, get a bell, sing Christmas carols, meet elves and of course...Santa!

Waiting at the station to get on the train. Joey's "Cheeeeese" face. On the train! Nolan's pal, Ashlyn, her little sister Jillian and Tara and Sean went too! Joseph didn't really care for the hot cocoa, but Daniel LOVED it!!! He gulped it down! Nolan, too, of course! I love this picture...the kids were told Santa was coming. They watched and waited. And waited...and this is the moment they both spotted him! This, um, was the moment Daniel spotted Santa. He was TERRIFIED!!! Ashlyn and Nolan with Frosty after the train ride.

First Snow

Our first snow this year was the weekend before Halloween. Thankfully most of it had melted by Monday (Halloween), and we were very blessed on base to not lose power. The snow wasn't bad, but the wind was nasty, downing trees and power lines left and right.

Nolan had fun playing in the snow! Joseph too: Danny really liked splashing in the puddles. Fitting since he was the only one whose snow boots we couldn't locate that day!

We're in Boston, for petes sake, we're not afraid of driving in a little snow!!

I feel like our "ghost" is making faces at our snowman. Or maybe he's terrified that its snowing at Halloween?