The First Half

The plane trip here was pretty uneventful, though the only way the three of us made it through security was because Lucas pretended to be a puppy and was a very obedient one. He crawled and panted the whole way, and would only respond if I said commands as I would to a trained dog (not so much with our dogs...). A minor delay, but we got there without too much trouble... and then the fun began!
The boys (Ethan, Lucas, and their cousin Cole) decorated the tree and got to hang their new ornaments hand-made by grammy! The pictures of the three of them are tough - Ethan and Lucas have some cheesy smiles and Cole likes to crawl away whenever he can!

We spent one morning at the Focus on the Family play-space. My favorite part was the puppet shows the boys put on. Hilarious! All afternoon Lucas kept asking, "Puppet show nice mommy?" Definitely.

Thursday we headed to the Dinosaur Resource Center - very cool! And wouldn't you know it, but Santa was there! This time Lucas went right to him- no shyness at all! And he kept going back to show him the ornaments he made. Ethan decided he now just wants green toys for Christmas. Nice. Santa needs advanced warning on these things!

The boys really loved digging for bones, watching the real live paleontologists, and seeing all the giant fossils! They squealed and giggled at Grandpa's warnings that it was getting close to feeding time.

After lunch, we headed out to a frozen pond that Brian and his family used to skate on. The boys were fascinated and we did let them put their feet on the ice, though we held them pretty tight as it's not too frozen this year... Ethan threw a pinecone toward a group of ducks and geese and a huge white goose came honking at us, obviously irritated.

It was back home to wait for Daddy to fly in. Ethan told his uncle Nick, "You get to see my dad. He's a real player. He makes video games." True. A real player. Lucas loved baking a cake with his auntie - he took it so seriously!

Then he held the camera captive and took about 20 pictures like this one using the delayed picture. Nice.

Then I taught the boys how to slide down the stairs on their behinds. I took Cole on my lap - very fun! I took the boys each one time, but they are so heavy, the force of gravity was making us fly into the air at each bump. Fun, and the rug burns are impressive.

We made some very cool snowman cake pops. A process, but they were very cool.

Today Brian and I ran away to the mall - had a blast running around without any rugrats... And then there was the decorating of the gingerbread house. It was impressive - Ethan strung lights, Angie made smoke coming out of the chimney, I made a marshmallow igloo, and everyone contributed at something - a masterpiece!

The boys donned their Christmas outfits (good choice Uma and Upa!) and headed to church. They really weren't in horrible moods like this picture implies. Lucas only made it through the first two songs, and then had to spend the rest in the lobby. He did come back at one point, announcing to all "I pee-pee my pants. NOOOO!" And then he was back out. Fabulous. Ethan stayed and did very well, even getting to hold the candle and take communion. I was very proud of him.

The boys got to open one present - matching jammies. Cole was thrilled... Lucas really was excited to change and Ethan announced, "I don't want only 1 present in the bag. I don't want jammies." Someone thought quick and announced they were magic jammies so Santa would know they were sleeping. It took a bit to convince him, but finally it worked.

Such fun to celebrate with them!

Grandpa read a story Auntie Angie picked out - and the boys listened, well Ethan and Cole did. Jesus Born for Us.

And finally the cookies were put out for Santa - he'll be excited! The anticipation is almost too much, but the boys are now fast asleep and Santa's got some work to do!

Merry Christmas my friends!