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!

Boo-tastic Halloween!

Boo-tastic Halloween

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The Boys had a Boo-tastic Halloween this year! We were able to do quite a bit of baking-Caramel Apples, Sugar Cookies, Chocolate Cookies, and Pumpkin bread (or pumpkini bread as Preston called it)! Preston really enjoyed the baking and getting to help as much as a 3 year old can...He was most excited about his sugar cookie creations!!

We also had LOTS of parties!! Our first was our PT playgroup at our house...unfortunately we had a few sick kids so the group was quite a bit less than normal...but it was probably more fun in that Mama was not so stressed out and there was plenty of room to play!

We also visited the Pumpkin patch and of course got a few pumpkins for our house. We were not sure if they would get carved or not as time ran out quickly on us...but Daddy and Preston insisted on completely this project Halloween Day

with the assistance of a jigsaw....Count Dracula was formed!

Trick or Treat night started off with the annual neighborhood party that we have attended the past three years...It is so much fun to get to hang out with our friends and see all the awesome costumes and eat up all the scrumptious food!!!

Our little Pumpkin and Vampire!

and the "BIG" picture!! Please note this is not even 1/10th of the kids in our neighborhood!


Ashten's first time "walking" up to trick or treat!! He loved the bucket and candy inside--not to eat but just play with....He however spent most of the night in the stroller

as Preston RAN from house to house....I think we may have hit 80% of ALL the houses with lights on....Preston had the best time! He was so excited by the fact he got candy from every house with little effort involved!!! It was fantastic to see him love every minute of it....and not complain once...the kid was wearing "penny-loafers" and still ran and ran and ran and ran!

Of course we ran into many of our friends in our running and would stop for a quick picture...but no time to talk...there was too much candy to be had!

We did most of our trick or treating as a family this year...A ) because Preston ran at his own pace and the friends his age couldn't keep up....and B) because the older kids had much scarier masks and Preston was quite unsure of them! We only had one instance during the entire night when a very, very scary house scared the cr*p out of Preston and made him hysterical...It was aweful, but it did not damper his night for too long bc once we left he was ready to run some more! We finally convinced him it was time to stop and returned to play with some neighbor friends late into the night....It was a boo-tastic halloween!

We LOVE Grandparents!!!

We Love Grandparents!!!

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The above statement is obviously a given....but we can't help but rejoice in the greatness of grandparents especially after a month full of presents, dinners, and a great weekend visit! First Nina and Papa came to visit and of course they didn't come alone! They brought the boys some fantastic Halloween gifts--new matching sweatshirts (which are too die for adorable--I have got to get a picture), Nina treats, candy, Halloween decor...(even Mommy was blessed with presents--LOVE IT...Mommy never gets spoiled except by well her mommy!) and of course MONEY for the piggy bank! We filled the piggy banks so full that we even had to take a trip to the bank this week for the change counter--the pigs were too full too carry!

Of course, Preston could NOT let Nina and Papa visit without the glorious trip to "Chunky Cheese"! I think he actually believes that everyone works just to make money to go to this amazing fun place!

We all got in on the gaming action....knocking down ducks, basketball, air hockey, Deal or No Deal (which by the way mommy was addicted) and pinball!

On Saturday, Daddy was off to the races...so Mommy, Nina, Papa and the boys braved the cold all in hopes of watching a parading and scoring some candy!

It was quite cold, but the candy was overflowing!! Well worth it if you ask Preston..

and a nice warm snuggle nap on Nina was in order as we waited for the Notre Dame game to end so that we could go eat at the other "must" when Nina and Papa are in town....The Roadhouse...hmmm...my mouth is watering for the scrumptious butter as I type!

Yes....they all three were ecstatic as Notre Dame pulled out a great victory...and thankfully so bc the boys were dying to wear their matching outfits to dinner with Papa!

Of course we hit the boats (sans kids) and all lost...but what else is new...and lots of shopping and more eating were in order on Sunday! It was an amazing weekend...and we were all sad when it was time for them to leave...but never fear....we will see them again soon at Thanksgiving!!

We are also looking forward to Gramma Chris and Grampa Steve to come at the end of November...and Preston may even get to go back to FM a little early with them and stay to visit both sets of grandparents without his parentals....He is quite excited! He was also thankful to receive a box of gummy bears for Halloween from them as well....Thanks again Grandparents...We LOVE YOU!