Christmas at Nina and Papa's

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On Christmas Eve, we headed up to Nina and Papa's to begin part II of the big Christmas celebration. Although the trip went fairly well, we didnt have much time before we had to get changed and headed off to church for the evening....of course there is always a little cuddle time available with Papa and Reba!

Maddie and Uncle Chris offered to watch the boys for us while we attended church (they were going later that night with Maddie's family) and for the life of me I cannot remember why we didn't take them up on this offer!

I guess we just figured the boys were already dressed and of course Mommy and Daddy love to show them off in their cute Christmas duds!! It seems that Preston is now our difficult child to get a "good" family picture with....Ashten at this moment loves to say "cheeeeese" whenever the camera appears!

After Church, it was dinner time and then on to the Presents....I just LOVE the fact that cousin Tanner had no problem holding onto a screaming Ashten...He just smiled as Ashten wailed!

Of course the wailing did not last long when it came time to do the presents...Ashten loves ripping off the colorful paper!

He was very content with having his own box to open or play with!

Preston, on the other hand, not only LOVED opening all of his gifts...He like to help anyone and everyone else with theirs...just so they wouldn't get too tired...such a sweet boy!

The youngest (as it seems to always happen) gets the biggest present...Although he has no idea what fun the Sand and Water table will bring this summer...He did enjoy climbing on this enormous box that it came in!

We had a GREAT night, unfortunately Maddie and Chris had to take off soon after gifts and missed out on a night of WII fun with the family! We ALL were so spoiled and absolutely LOVED all the gifts...We are so so sooooooo blessed to have such a wonderful family!

The next morning was Christmas Day....and Christmas Day begins with seeing what Santa left the night before! Both boys were soooo tired from being up late...but of course they didn't think it was necessary to sleep in!

One of the two motorcycles Preston received from Santa....I think after a bit he realized they could be just as fun as "a big one that rides on the street" and had a great time playing with the new toys!

Ashten is our little bird....and when you have something yummy to eat--he is your best friend....and is oblivious to all else that is going on around him!

Preston and Daddy took advantage of the "free" tv and put in his new vmotion/vsmile game...He loves that he has his own "WII" just like Nina and Papa!

The stockings were almost forgotten about with all the new fun stuff...but good thing they were not bc Santa had a LOTS of fun treats and toys in them as well...

We spent most of Christmas Day playing with Nina and Papa and relaxing until it was time to head over to the other grandparents house....We had such a wonderful time that Mommy REALLY did not want to leave to come back home this time....and neither did the boys! A few tears were shed and Preston was actually trying to "hide" so that he wouldnt have to go...so sad but we know we will see everyone again soon!

Before we headed out of town...we got a special visit from our dear friend Debi and her daughters Kirsten and Katie! They came over for a short visit to see the boys and bring them a special christmas gift...so sweet and thoughtful of them...thank you!

Preston and Debi (above)

Katie, Ashten, Preston, and Kirsten--Do you notice once again the rebellion of Preston and pictures...unfortunately my camera died and this was the only attempt I was able to make at this photo....coming soon our trip to Gramma Chris and Grampa Steve's.

Christmas 2009 at Home

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We had a wonderful Christmas at Home, with Nina and Papa and with the In-laws this year--Guess it wouldn't be a Holiday if we didn't have a few celebrations! Our first one was at Home the Day before Christmas Eve. The boys woke up extra early (6:30am) as if they knew it was Christmas and there was Presents to be opened...but first our Christmas breakfast with our boys in their snuggly new christmas jammies!

and of course a few poses in front of our tree with Mom....

and Dad!

Then on to the gifts! Ashten and Preston loved opening all of the beautiful presents under the tree that they were not allowed to touch for soooooo long! They even helped Mommy and Daddy open their gifts!

It was so fun to see the excitement in Preston's face with each new present and suprise as if to wonder how we knew he would want such a glorious gift!

Ashten did suprisingly well at opening some gifts...most of the time we let him "work" on his for awhile as it kept him pretty occupied.

Then we spent most of the day playing with ALL the new toys....one of the favorites of the day was the new nerf tag game...Daddy and Preston had quite a good time....Ashten and I enjoyed watching them be silly!

Later that night we had a special treat in our neighborhood--Santa came for a visit!!! We were so lucky he made time to visit us and our neighbor friends since he had such a big next day!

The boys and I waiting for the arrival of the sleigh! Santa brought the little sleigh out tonight but it was magical!

Preston needed a slightly better view!

Thankfully they had a tent set up with heaters so Santa could come in to greet all the kids--Preston even got to shake his hand....

Santa sat down and read us a story--the Polar Express and handed each kid their own special bell!

Of course it wouldn't be a visit from Santa if he didnt bring each of the kids a special gift and so he called them up one by one to sit on his lap and receive the special gift out of his bag!

Ashten needed a little support from Daddy to get close to this crazy looking man!

Preston did a little better (no tears) and actually went up on his own....He was very nervous though, but Santa assured him he was a good boy this year and that made his day!

Before Santa zipped off on his sleigh, Ashten snuck a little seat on his sleigh!

We had a GREAT christmas at home....and were excited to head out on Christmas EVE for celebration with Nina, Papa, Uncle Chris, Maddie, Aunt lisa, Dustin and Tanner!

Busy, Busy, Busy: Part II

Busy, Busy, Busy: Part II

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Visiting Santa and playing at Zona

We went to see Santa with some playgroup friends....Preston has been dead set on asking Santa for a Motorcycle-not a fake one, a real one! We have talked repeatedly how Santa only brings toys and that A) they are dangerous and B) he is not old enough...not sure he got it though...I did convince to ask for something else....so he decided a movie would be nice or just a smaller motorcycle that went slow!! Good grief!

I couldn't take a picture while we were seeing Santa, but I got one outside. Preston was fine, but nervous. Ashten hated it and was screaming/crying the entire time. They wanted to know if I could pick Ashten up and calm him to try for a better photo...Sure I could and he would calm...but scream again as soon as I put him down...So I was that mom that said take the picture with my tortured child. It is priceless though!

We did have fun playing outside Santa's workshop and that made up for the aweful torture I put little man through! He LOVED the slide and probably did it fifty times!

He was trying to climb it by himself, but obviously needed some help!

We also traveled to Iowa for Thanksgiving....and attended the annual lighted parade with both sets of grandparents and their cousins.

Unfortunately this is the only picture I took at Thanksgiving, besides the one above (*note to self do better!) But it is a great one as Daddy decided he learned a new way to carve a turkey and tried out his fantastic discovery! Not sure how well that went for him though! We did enjoy lots of family time, fun Black Friday shopping, movies and GREAT food!

1st Chief's Football Game for Mommy

Mommy and Daddy attended my first Cheif's game and we WON!!! Yes, it was an amazing game and the only one we won all year....Guess I should go to more games!! We also got to watch my FABULOUS niece Madison perform in the halftime show...She is quite the cheerleader!

Trimming the Tree

We all participated in setting up the tree this year! Here is the beautiful end product....I should mention that we set up three tree's not one...The boys each have one in their room that they decorated....very cute and they love it!

Ashten did his part in making sure everything was swept up!

And Preston made sure it was aligned from below!

And of course help pull out all the branches--Yes we are fake tree people...maybe one of these years we will try a new one...but for now a fake one is hard enough to take care of..I always forget to water it!

Busy, Busy, Busy

Busy, Busy, Busy: Part 1

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Busy, Busy is all I can say to describe the past two months! We certainly do love it that way though especially in the winter months when it is harder to get out...or atleast less appealing due to the cold weather! We have had many outings as of late, including a grand trip to Iowa for lots of Turkey Time and Family lovin! A few of the top highlights were:

Curious George at the Sprint Center

It was Preston's third time here...(Elmo and the Monster Truck Rally) and the amazement of the building is still too much for him to handle! Yes-we were (or ARE) the dorky family that all wore yellow!

Ashten was not too impressed though and Mommy spent most of the event out in the hallways with him...I hadn't originally planned on Daddy and Ashten intruding the "Mommy/Preston" day but I scored a pretty sweet deal on four tickets--so we made it a family affair! We were very glad that we did...it was all in all a great family day!

Big thank you to Daddy for coming with us!

Ashten's most excited look of the day came when it was time to go home...yes we were all ready for that!

The Shriner's Circus

Mommy scored another great deal-free tickets to the circus...and Preston and Mommy finally had "their" day! We were fascinated by the event and all of the animals and what they could do-tigers jumping thru fire, walking over each other, bears riding motorcycles, trapeze artists, the motorcycle ball just to name a few....It was really quite impressive...I just don't want to know what goes on behind the scenes to make it all happen!

Unfortunately we only stayed thru intermission bc Daddy was working and Ashten was at our glorious neighbors house...it was a fun day though and would absolutely go again!

Kaleidescope

Preston, Ashten and I made our first trip to Kaleidescope at Crown Center and had a blast with our friends making cool art projects and just being creative!

the artist working very diligently to make his masterpiece!

Mercury Gymnastics

Another awesome play outing we went to this month was the open gymnastics! We went so many times two years ago, but not as much since Ashten joined our party...Hopefully we can pick up again and make it there more often as both boys were wore out by the end of the hour!