Enjoying Time Together . . .

. . . is what makes the holidays so fun!
It was so nice to be close by family this year and spend the whole week enjoying each others company. Chris and Erika got to stay for nearly a week and grandpa and grandma are less than a mile away so we were all able to spend tons of time together. We created a lot of fun memories and were sad to see the week end!

"Okay - lets see how this thing works"

As you can see from Isaac's face he is thrilled with his race track. He of course isn't the only one - Brock and Chris could hardly wait to set it up. They also had a hard time relinquishing the controls to the kids. "Yeah just a second" "uuummm . . . hold on" "here let me just show you how to do this real quick" and the excuses flowed on and on :-) Isaac did eventually get a turn :-)

Isaac and Finn playing with their new toys and Madison admiring the new Noah's Ark they received. Finn was so cute with the race track - he was very interested but wanted to be safely on grandma's lap as he observed it.

More Christmas Eve Fun

Presents aren't the only entertainment on Christmas Eve - the kids do a pretty good job of it all on their own! Finn got a kick out of climbing onto the couch and jumping off. He thought it was so fun that no one could help laughing right along with him!

Hannah is a little acrobat - thanks to daddy! She doesn't mind being flipped every which direction - she even comes back for more! However, she doesn't just want to perform these acts she wants to mold and teach the next generation! She is doing a pretty good job too :-)

Now for the "thing" that brought the most entertainment to our evening . . . .

THE HAND!

Armed with THE HAND, Isaac can't help but reach out and touch someone! He even accompanies it with a little facial expression and grunt every once in a while :-)

No one is safe from THE HAND - not Finn (who was kind of freaked out by it), not Madison's hair (who is innocently watching a race between Chris and Brock), not me (who is trying to relax on the chair) and not Chris (who doesn't even know what is about to grab him - or at least he pretends well for Isaac's sake) Isaac thought it was a blast grabbing people and things with his new hand - it was so funny to watch him and of course some of us just couldn't resist trying it for ourselves!

Wii Are So Excited!!

We got the kids a Wii for Christmas but let them open all their other gifts first. It was so funny though because the first present they opened was a Mario Kart game. They were all so excited, it never ocurred to them that this wasn't that great of a present because we didn't have a Wii. They didn't seem to even think about that, they were content to take the game over to grandpa and grandma's and play :-)

Madison loved her horse trailer and jeep and Isaac loves his playmobil vehicle and dinosaur set. They both got it out right away and started putting it together and getting it all set up.

Nearly an hour passed while the kids played up a storm with their new playmobil stuff before we told them there was one more gift to open. While the kids seemed completely content to take their Wii games over to other people's houses to play we thought we better let them know they didn't have to do that. :-) They were very excited to see that they did, in fact, get a Wii of their own! Brock and I had already snuck it out of the box several nights earlier to try it out (make sure it was an okay gift and all) :-) We thought it was a blast too and were sure they would like it. We have had tons of fun with it - playing tennis, boxing and bowling have been the favorites.

The Joys of Toys . . .

. . . . when your 1 year old!

We did our own Christmas Eve present opening before heading over to Brock's moms. Hannah was ecstatic about receiving a doll! It was so cute - her sheer joy had us all laughing!

She was giddy, laughing and squealing from the minute she ripped the paper off til long after it was out of the box! I love the top left pic - it is like she can't contain herself - it is almost OUT!!

She was also very excited about her stroller. She strolled around the house quite a bit and even took her stroller and baby over to grandma's. Hannah not only got excited about her own toys, she wanted to try out Isaac's also. She loved "hopping" around on this. It was funny - her hop consisted of a little head bob but she sure thought she was jumping high and was quite proud of herself :-)

Waiting

We kept busy busy right up until Christmas Eve but Isaac still said, "Christmas is taking for soooo long to get here" He was really anxious to open his presents!We have never done the santa things so as soon as we have them wrapped and ready we put them under the tree, so he had to stare at them for days :-) I guess it gives them a lesson in patience :-)

The kids and I made a gingerbread train. It was one of those kits you buy and it was pretty fun. I thought of doing the real deal but let that go pretty quickly - way too busy for that :-)

Finn and Isaac were big buddies! Isaac said he was his best friend :-) It was so cute to see them play together and to see Finn's amazed awe at this bigger boy :-) They both LOVED anything that had to do with trucks so both were very absorbed in the book grandpa was reading. Erika, Chris and Madison busy working on the puzzle and Hannah taking a break from her wash cloth to give me a smile. Unlike most people we will not have to wean her from the bottle, from the pacifier or even her thumb but from the wash cloth!

Sweet little Finn! What a cute personality he has, he is smiley, happy and mellow. He has an adorable laugh that I can just hear in this picture of he and Madison :-)

Nothing beats getting a story from grandma, except maybe a story from grandma in front of a warm fire! Grandpa and Hannah hanging out and Isaac focusing on creating the perfect Mr. Potato Head

Two Blue Eyed Cuties

Brock's sister Erika and her husband Chris were in MT for Christmas. Who can resist taking pics of these two adorable cousins - Hannah & Finn (only a couple weeks apart). I also love how he has the truck and she has the doll (not planned at all - they were busy playing and I grabbed them quick for some photos)

This picture cracks me up, you can almost hear their "Ahhh . . . was that supposed to be funny?"

"Okay, finally something kinda funny - now can we get back to playing?"

The Stockings Were Hung . . .

As we were putting up our Christmas stuff we were really missing our fireplace. Hmm . . . where should we hang our stockings?? Brock had a bright idea to make a fireplace so the work began. As you can see everyone (except me who was to busy taking pictures) was helping - even Hannah. Although in this picture Isaac is off in la la land instead of coloring, he did make it back to reality here and there and do some coloring :-)

The finished results - we wrapped it around our sofa table and voila - a fireplace complete with a mantle!

The kids wanted to warm up by the fire right away and Isaac being the clown that he is decided he needed to try to make us laugh by warming up his back side. I think he got a bigger laugh out of it than we did :-)

He is probably still laughing at himself :-)

I guess I got to take a picture of the kids by the fireplace after all!