Christmas Part 2

Merry Christmas! We woke early this morning and headed out the door by 9am. We arrived safely in Wisconsin around 11:30, despite the rough weather and road conditions. We had a very nice time with Jay's side of the family. Tammy cooked an amazing turkey. There was all the great tasting traditional sides, appetizers and goodies to along with it. The family makes 18 people now, but we still manage to get around one big table for dinner, and I think that is pretty special. Some of the entertainment was: Mary's Christmas poem (much improvement from last year), Papa Bob's trivia, Melissa reading the Christmas story as we passed the gifts around, and Uncle Dick and ET singing "Rudolph." Unfortunately, we had to cut our time a little short so we could get to the Lundberg get-together in time.

Christmas Part 1...

We were lucky that Jay and I never got sick and the boys improved greatly today that we decided to head over to Gma D's and Papa Bob's for our first Christmas 2010 celebration. We ate Gma's very delicious meatballs, mashed potatoes/gravy, glazed carrots, jello salad and many Christmas goodies. It was nice to see Mary, George and the girls again. Here are the pics...

Here is Nate opening up his first Christmas present. He got a milk truck from the Leal family.



ET received a new guitar from Gma and Papa. He played with it the rest of the evening. I think it might be his favorite Christmas present of the year.

Nearly Recovered...

Well, the boys went nearly the whole day with no fever. Although they still have a cough and cold, we still decided to go to Gma D's and Papa Bob's for our first traditional Christmas celebration of the year. Jay gave the boys their very first bath together this afternoon. We are pretty excited that Nate has grown out of his toddler tub and we can get them both clean in half the time. :)

Poor babies...

My little guys are sick today. :( A cold, cough and fever kept Jay home from work to take care of the boys. ET has perked up a lot this evening. Nate went in to the Urgency nearby this evening. They said his ears are pretty red, so he started an antibiotic this evening. We are hoping they are better before Christmas!



You know your baby is not feeling well when he crawls over to a pillow and falls asleep on the floor. Poor sweet baby. :(

A Visit With Santa...

We went to the mall to visit Santa on Sunday, December 12th. This was obviously Nate's first time, and he was not very happy about it. He never screamed; just whined and cried a bit while struggling to get away. :)

ET was so excited this year! Jay and I both agreed while waiting in line, that it was so much fun to watch ET explode with excitement. As we inched closer in line, and made the corner where he could just barely see Santa, he started waving and grinning from ear to ear. Santa could see how excited he was and just kept on waving back each time ET would wave. ET explained to me that the little building set that they had propped up behind Santa for decoration was Santa's home. Did he really believe we traveled to the North Pole and Santa lives in the mall?! I love the mind of a child!

ET had brought a silly little basket with a handle on it from home. The basket had a picture of Santa on it. ET said he wanted to give it to Santa for a present. I explained to ET that if he gave the basket to Santa, he would not get it back. ET said he understood and so proceeded to give it to him. Santa was pretty impressed with his generosity. Santa asked him what he wanted for Christmas and ET said, "Transformers." Then Santa held him for a while as they talked about all the good deeds ET needs to do to stay on the nice list...clean your room, listen to your mommy and daddy, play nice with your brother. ET listened so intently and agreed. Then he hopped down and was given a little sucker, and waved about five more times before finally leaving. :)

A pic of the boys while waiting in line.

When we got home, ET started crying and said that he wanted his basket back. I explained that he gave it to Santa as a gift and we can't get it back. He was truly sad. It wasn't until I explained that Santa gives gifts all the time to the boys and girls, but no one ever gives Santa a gift. ET was the only child that has given Santa a gift. This seemed to make him happy again.

P.S. Yesterday, ET cleaned his room all on his own! :)

ET's first Christmas Program!

ET had his first Christmas program this morning! The dress rehearsal was canceled yesterday, along with the Saturday service. So the Saturday kids were mixed with the Sunday kids and they went on without any practice. With God all things are possible, and they proved that today! ET took one step into the sanctuary and I was already in tears! He was so unbelievably adorable in his little choir robe!!!! The preschool kids were asked to sing "Away in a Manger." We had been practicing at home for a few weeks.

This was taken just before we dropped him off with his teacher.

The scene was set!

He led the preschool group as they walked into the sanctuary!




"...the little Lord Jesus, asleep on the hay."

Words could not describe how proud we were.