Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas, everyone! We had a great day as a family. The boys slept in until 6:45 and were thrilled to see that Santa came during the night. They waited patiently for our traditional Christmas morning breakfast of cinnamon rolls. After breakfast, we took our time opening gifts. The boys got some great things from Santa including legos, a hot wheels race track to share, and Lightning McQueen/Francesco. They also got several board games which we have been enjoying, books, and mosaic kits. We spent the morning opening gifts and playing with our new toys. Around lunch time, Grandma and Grandpa came. The boys immediately took Grandpa downstairs to play trains. After they had their train fix, we opened more gifts with Grandma and Grandpa. Alex got a big boy Razor scooter just like Will's which he loves. William got a Pogo Ball and Pogo Stick which he has wanted for quite some time. After Grandma and Grandpa left, we played some more and then watched Polar Express before bed. It was a wonderful day!

Lego Train Station Assembly

Christmas Eve

We had a wonderful Christmas Eve in Grand Rapids. After lunch in Kalamazoo, we got the boys dressed and drove up to Aunt Mara and Uncle Ken's house. Grandma and Grandpa and Aunt Katie and Uncle Will were there as well. The boys entertained everyone before dinner by playing the piano and chasing the dogs. We had a delicious dinner and then did our gift exchange. Everyone received a lot of wonderful gifts! It was nice to spend some time all together.  At around 8pm, we changed the boys into their Christmas PJs and loaded up the car to drive back to Kalamazoo. William fell asleep in the car but Alex was wide eyed for the entire ride. William did wake up long enough to put out cookies for Santa but both boys went to sleep without any trouble!

Pre-Holiday Festivities

We've had a lot of fun leading up to the holidays. William got to go shopping at the "Holiday Shoppe" at school and was able to pick out surprise gifts for family members. He had fun playing elf when he got home and was proud of his purchases. The boys and I also decorated Snoopy's Doghouse Gingerbread Houses. They turned out pretty cute. I hosted my 5th Annual Cookie Exchange brunch. It was fun to spend time with my girlfriends and get a nice assortment of cookies! Finally, we've been enjoying unseasonably warm weather the past few days. There has been a lot of driveway hockey!

Wrapping his purchases

Happy Little Elf

Gingerbread Dog Houses

Serious Decorator

Pretty Cute - and safely out of reach!

Cookies, Cookies, Cookies!

Snowman Breakfast

Zamboni - cleaning the "ice" between periods

Building a House - thanks for the idea, Curious George!

Holiday Program at Moorsbridge

On Wednesday afternoon, we went to William's school to see his holiday program. It was very cute - the Kindergartners did a great job.  William is in the green and white striped PJs.

The children were nestled all snug in their beds...

Ho, Ho, Ho!

We heard rumors that Santa was visiting Kalamazoo this afternoon. After everyone went home, we hopped in the car and drove downtown to see if we could find him. William was pretty excited - he's been working on his list. He went right up to Santa and went over everything and posed for a few pictures. Alex was a little nervous and wanted me to sit with him.

Happy (early) Hanukkah!

On Friday night, William had a special treat. Phil picked him up from school and they drove to Detroit with our friends Ben and Charlie to see the Red Wings game. After the game, they all spent the night at Grann's before heading back to Kalamazoo for our Hanukkah celebration. 

 In addition to Grann, Aunt Maran, Uncle Josh, Allie, and Emma came over as well. The cousins had so much fun playing together - they get along really well! They spent a lot of time in the bounce house and decorated Hanukkah cookies. Before dinner, the kids opened all their gifts and then spent the rest of the evening playing with them. Dinner was fun. We realized it was our first "formal" sit down dinner with all four kids. This morning, the kids played some more before everyone had to head home. It was great to see everyone and get to spend some quality time.

Don't those cookies look delicious!

Emma checking out her new throne

Let's eat!