Post-Christmas Festivities

One of the hits this year at Christmas was a Nerf gun for Dylan from Aunt Vicki and Uncle Chris. This thing is huge and shoots these Nerf darts at 3 per second. I am not sure who liked it better, the boys or Jonny. Jonny held Dylan and Colin at one night under the guise of trying to see how it worked.


One of the projects of the winter break was to get Pop's room ready. Dylan and Colin made a sign on the wall while Jonny prepared the room. It was really sweet.


Jonny decided he wanted to hang wainscotting (or beadboard) in the room. He had never done this before but he had a good time figuring it out.


A little impression of Chevy Chase from Christmas Vacation. Jonny certainly enjoyed his Christmas gift from Pop...a nail gun.


I am quite impressed with the job he did. Especially for this being his first time with it. I need to get an after picture up....as well as an after picture of the laundry room! Yes, that has been done for a while too!


So, Dylan has had it in his mind for a while that he has wanted to stay up all night. He wanted a boys night so we told him that he and Jonny could stay up one night during his winter break. The boys night seemed like a lot of fun. They began the night watching the first Batman movie. Then they played Wii for a while. They made hot chocolate and popcorn and then watched another movie. Jonny had a difficult time keeping up with Dylan.


At about 4am, Jonny convinced Dylan to take a nap. Here is how I found them in the morning. Aren't they cute?

Christmas Morning 2008

The boys were very cute on Christmas morning. They came to wake us up and then waited at the top of the stairs for us to get ready to go down and open presents.


One of the first things they found was the bag that Santa left.


Dylan loved his Spy Gear that he asked for.


Colin enjoyed the GeoTrax...the airplane addition was especially cool!


Dylan and Colin wanted to say Merry Christmas to Pop.


We managed to get the boys settled down enough for a picture.


And one family shot.

Christmas Eve 2008

Our first task on Christmas Eve this year was to get the train up under the tree. Dylan and Colin really enjoyed playing with the train this year. It was cute to see Jonny teaching them how to work it. I can only imagine how complicated this train set will get as the boys get older!


Colin and Dylan decorated cookies. They were very creative and we had some very colorful cookies this year. I am sure Santa thoroughly enjoyed them!


Jonny was happy to be BBQing a turkey. It has been a while sine he has been able to BBQ and his turkeys are YUM! So he endured the cold so we could have a very yummy Christmas Eve dinner.


Finally the boys sprinkled reindeer food outside. After all, if Santa gets to eat cookies and milk, then the reindeer should also get something too!

Hannukah 2008

The first night of Hannukah fell on Colin's birthday this year. We moved some of our usual traditions to different nights so the kids would not be overwhelmed by too much!

Dylan enjoyed the latkes this year.


Everyone got a chance to light a menorah. Jonny's turn.


Dylan was very excited to be lighting the candles this year.


I had some help from Dylan (and Pop, too).


Even Colin got to light candles this year.


We also had fun playing dreidel, singing songs, and the kids especially enjoyed eating the chocolate gelt.

December 21, 2008
COLIN'S 3rd BIRTHDAY!

After a bit of a rough night sleep, Colin awoke relatively pain-free. He did not seem affected by the cut in his mouth anymore. He was very excited at the presents he got to open!


Auntie Ev, Uncle Wayne, Max and Simon got him a cool LL Bean "Colin" bag. It is big enough to fit one whole Colin inside! Jonny carried him around in it and Colin loved it!


Here we are playing one of Colin's favorite games...Hungry Hungry Hippos. He and Dylan really enjoyed this gift!



Colin and his baum kuchen...a good pair!

COLIN'S 3rd BIRTHDAY PARTY!
December 20, 2008

Colin decided he wanted a Superman party at Gynboree for his third birthday. I have to say, I am very impressed with Gymboree! Here is Colin being "launched" into a tube.


Then they pulled him along in an inner tube and he insisted to have his butt in the air!


It was bubble time...and Gymboree has the best bubbles! They are tiny and long lasting!


Then it was cake time! Can you believe this was the cake that was included with the Gymboree party!?!?! I was totally amazed!


Colin decided to blow out the candles even before we finished singing to him!


After cake, Colin became obsessed with carrying around as many of these balls as he could.


And when he was tired of carrying them around on his own, he enlisted the help of an unsuspecting person to hold them for him!


AFTER THE PARTY!
Well, we had SUCH a wonderful time at the party. As we were in the midst of things I just took a look around and said to myself "Wow, we have come a long way since we moved here. We have a wonderful group of local friends." But all good things must come to an end. When we got home from the party, the boys were playing (with Aaron and Wilson since the Bullions were staying the night). All of a sudden Colin was crying and bleeding a BUNCH from his mouth. He had taken the telescoping arm of the kids microphone and stuck the open end into his mouth. It was like a pipe in his mouth and it somehow got pushed into his upper soft pallatte. It looked pretty bad so we took him to the ER as a precaution. Here he is sucking on a cold cloth (which seemed to make him feel better) and playing Dylan's Leapster.


We were not quite sure what this room is...but Jonny thought it would be funny to walk into this room just to be able to say "I am in sane."


Colin was really good and, I have to say, that the whole ER experience was very pleasant (as pleasant as it could be) and we were out of there within 90 mins. Colin even got a popsicle to suck on....although he refused to hold it.


This looks MUCH better than it did when it happened...but you can get the jist.

December 2008!

I think we will go with multiple December posts since it was a big month in our household! We will start off with a double piggy back ride....Dylan giving Colin a piggy back ride and Jonny giving Dylan a piggy back ride!


Our first snow of the season....unfortunately it was the day Jonny decided to decorate outside. The boys helped for a while but then they got too cold and abandoned Jonny.


A family portrait. We tried to get some family pictures and it was no small feat.


Here is one featuring Pop!


Then we attempted to get some cute ones of the boys alone. Well, this was also FUN! They started out far apart.


Then they moved a little closer...


Aww....aren't they just the cutest most well-behaved, loving brothers on earth? I could just leave it at this and make everyone think that this is how life is here in Lexington...


Instead, I am more of a realist and paint a true picture of life with 2 boys.


I consider it a public service.


They did manage to get along well enough to decorate a gingerbread house together, though. They were very proud of it and couldn't wait to show Daddy when he got home from his conference.