Our Christmas

What a wonderful whirlwind of a week we have had.  We've been back and forth between our two families houses, spending lots of time with parents and siblings, singing Christmas carols, eating good food and generally enjoying the season.  It really is the most wonderful time of the year.  Our kids have been pretty exhausted (we tried to have dinner with my family tonight and Micah cried the entire time only stopping to say, "suuuper tired" over and over again until Scott finally had to bring him home early).  It's been a full week, but we are so thankful to live near both of our families and to be able to enjoy this beautiful time together.  Here are some highlights of the last few days...
 My parents living room...

 Clara and Camden checking out the tree...

 Cousin love...

 Story time...

 Our annual Christmas Eve gathering with our dear friends, the McAllisters.  First time ever to be hosted at our house, but so glad we could all be together (including my Dad!) this year. 

 Camden knows most of The Night Before Christmas by heart already and had fun reading it to Micah in their Christmas jammies...

 Our little tree ready for Christmas morning...

 6:00am and we were ready to go!

 We had tons of brand new books to pass onto the boys thanks to the generosity of hand-me-downs from the family I used to babysit for in college.  They take very good care of us! 

 Ready for the snow!

 After an early morning at our house we headed over to the Allenby's for the rest of the morning.  We sure love our new little niece, Mylah...

 Micah and Pop...

 A new Mama and her baby... :)

 After nap time at our house, we went to my parents to spend some time with my side of the family. 

Camden showing my parents the adorable little trivet he made for them with his handprint on it...

 Camden was very excited to give Clara the little bracelet he made for her.  They are pretty cute together!

 Micah was very tired by the end of the night...poor little guy. 

 The next day we visited with both families again and made (and ate) cupcakes for Jesus' birthday (a tradition that our boys love to do!).  These guys are pretty adorable with little Mylah, and I'm so excited that my little girl will have a cousin just 4-5 months older than her!  YAY!

 Decorating cupcakes...

 Happy Birthday, Jesus!

 Merry Christmas, friends!

Fun Next Door

The boys and I were invited to our wonderful neighbor's house yesterday to make these fancy Christmas cookies!  Our neighbors are like another set of grandparents for our kids - the boys love them, and so do we!  It was a special treat for all of us and the kids had a blast!  Thank you so much for taking the time to make some special holiday memories for my kids, Nancy!  I think we may have started a new tradition! 

 Sorting the jolly ranchers by color...

 Crushing the jolly ranchers into tiny little pieces...(the boys enjoyed this part!)

 After using the cookie cutters to make shapes, we filled in the extra little hole in each cookie with crushed jolly ranchers...

 Ready to bake!

 After we frosted and decorated each kid had a special treat!

We made a couple to be decorations, and we'll eat the rest!

Thanks again, Nancy! 

Colby Farm

We have had so much fun getting into the Christmas spirit around here this last week!  As you may have guessed based on the fact that I've been itching to do this since October, we didn't waste any time getting our tree.  We headed out to Colby Tree Farm (where we've been cutting our own tree down for the last few years - here we were in 2011 and 2010,  ) and had a blast tromping around through the beautiful fields to find the perfect tree.  Luckily, since it was freezing out, we found a great tree much quicker than usual and headed inside the little Christmas hut for some free hot chocolate and donuts by the fire.  The boys love this adventure (probably almost as much as I do!) and this year did not disappoint. 
We had a little less fun getting the tree actually set up in the house (why does it take SO much effort to get that thing straight in the stand?)  Scott actually muttered that this was probably his least favorite activity of the year at one point.  I guess someone has to balance out my over-zealousness!  Once the tree was actually up, we got back in the holiday spirit and had so much fun decorating it with the boys.  I have to say, having little children makes every holiday twice as fun! 

 Heading home!

 Let the decorating begin!

 "Christmas town"

This past weekend I brought my boys back to Colby Farm with my Mom to enjoy some extra special Christmas activities.  It was lightly snowing the entire time and we got to talk to Santa (which they are both still very hesitant about), go on a beautiful horse-drawn sleigh/wagon ride through the tree farm and listen to a local author read her new Children's book while bundled up with other families inside the little farmhouse kitchen.  I have to say, we could buy a tree at some random place that has had it shipped down from Canada for a little cheaper, but I love supporting this local family and love the entire experience (the Santa and sleigh ride day is completely free - so fun!).  Here are a few pics from our second weekend in a row at the farm...

 Santa asked what Camden wanted for Christmas and initially he was too shy to say anything.  Santa guessed, "I bet your a Lego guy..." and Camden finally told him, "No, I just want a Nutcracker." (this is the second year in a row that this is all he's asked for and I'm happy to report that we are finally fulfilling his greatest wish!).  Santa said that was the first time he's heard a little kid say that!  :)

 Love this one...

 We might just make it three weekends in a row when we bring my Mom and help her get her tree this coming weekend!  We should get a discount or something for being such frequent visitors! 

And finally, here is our tree all decorated.  As mentioned in a previous post, I have all of our Advent and Christmas books wrapped and under the tree.  Each night the boys take turns unwrapping one before bed and reading it together as a family.  I'm loving adding new little traditions to our family and seeing the boys excitement grow with each day that passes.