Alex's Birthday Party

We celebrated Alex's first birthday today. We had a nice family party for him at our house. We did a "Very Hungry Caterpillar" theme and had Ramona's Table do the food for us (it seemed appropriate).  We ate lunch and opened gifts before we let Alex go on his small cake.  As expected, he really liked it and it was fun to watch.  We took it away from him after a few minutes and he didn't complain at all.  He took a good afternoon nap and didn't have any tummy troubles. Alex is a very lucky boy to have so many people that love him!

Thanks, Grandma and Grandpa!

Ramona's Table did the food

I love this one!

Checking out his little cake

Cousins' Weekend

This weekend, Grann, Aunt Maran, Uncle Josh, and Allie came to visit for Alex's birthday party. We had so much fun while they were here! On Saturday, we ran to the mall for a quick family photo. I think they turned out better (and funnier) than we all had hoped! Then we spent the rest of the day playing at home. Will loved having Uncle Josh and Aunt Maran to play with. He showed them all his board games, Wii, and his trampoline. Alex and Allie bonded immediately and actually played/interacted with each other quite a bit. On Sunday, the kids played some more while we set up for Alex's party (more on that later). Hopefully, they will all be able to come visit again this summer when the weather is warmer and we can take the kids out!

We also had our first decent snow and Will has been enjoying his shovel and new sled. 



Happy Grann... Unhappy Kids. 

Helping Dad

Hanging out in William's Chair

Candy Land

Merry Christmas!

William was so excited, he woke up 3 times during the night between Christmas Eve and Christmas morning. When it was finally time to get up, he ran back and forth from the tree letting us know that Santa came and that he ate his cookies and milk. We started a fire and put some cinnamon rolls in the oven. By the time they were ready, Alex was also getting up and we were able to tackle the mountain of gifts under the tree. Both boys really liked all their new things and we spent the rest of the morning playing with new toys  Will was very excited that Santa brought him his skateboard and yo-yo.  He also got the toy whale he asked for.  After naps, Grandma and Grandpa came over to do another gift exchange. Will had a little "too much Christmas" and ended up saving a couple gifts to open on the 26th.

Christmas Eve

Merry Christmas! We had a wonderful couple days of Christmas celebrations. On Christmas Eve, we all went to visit Oma in the nursing home. We had a few snacks and exchanged gifts with her. Then we went home so the boys could nap and the adults could get things set up for Christmas Eve. We all enjoyed some delicious food, wonderful gifts, fun party games, and great company. After everyone left and Alex was in bed, Will put out cookies for Santa. He also received a very special email/video from Santa. He thought that was pretty cool!

Visiting Oma

Katie and Jake

Popcorn with Legs

Merry Christmas!

Cookies for Santa

Busy Week!

We had a busy week leading up to the holidays. On Tuesday night, Kristen hosted book club at our house. On Wednesday, we had Will's holiday program at school. On Thursday, we went to Kristen's work party (with kids). On Friday, we went for a horse drawn carriage ride at the botanical gardens and then out to dinner with Kristen's parents. On Saturday morning, we met up with Kristen's friends from elementary school along with their kids for lunch. And on Saturday evening, Kristen and her mom went to Brush to paint "Still Night." It was a fun, but very busy, week!

Vaibhav, Alex, and Parker - the boys of Intervention Insights

It was a cold and windy night...

Elizabeth, Bennett, John, Grey, Henry, William, Alex, and Lucy (missing: Caroline)

Still Night

Will's School Christmas Program

This morning I took the boys to the Children's Museum for a couple hours. Alex had a lot of fun in the toddler area but also really liked following Will around and taking in the sites.

After early naps, we went up to school for Will's holiday concert. We dropped him off in Miss Nikki's room and managed to get first row seats in the "Big Room." Grandma and Grandpa joined us. Will did very well - especially since he wasn't in school for the dress rehearsals.

Who's taking who for a walk?

This one is really long... Will was one of the "6 Geese A-laying"