Christmas Morning

Wii had a very nice Christmas morning, and the kids were all happy with what they got.

When Joseph opened Raymon Rabbits he exclaimed "This is just what I told Santa I wanted!"

Joshua's Christmas was full of Thomas, much to his delight.

It was a nice day, and now the kids are all coming down from the Christmas high. We hope you all had a nice Christmas.

Too Many Visitors

A few Christmases ago my parents gave our family the Fisher Price Little People Nativity set. This year it has been loved to pieces. When it first came out of the box we set it out where the kids could play with it. It only took a couple of days for Joe to invent Nativity Hockey. If you put baby Jesus between two of the animals and squeeze them together Jesus will shoot out across the room. Josh and Joe thought this was hilarious and started shooting it to each other. This bothered Emily so she moved the Nativity to the book shelf where the scene is changed regularly. Last night after the kids were in bed I was sitting on the couch when I noticed it's layout for the day.

I am not sure why it was set up this way but to me it looked like baby Jesus has had enough visitors and his body guard, the angel, is holding the crowd back. Mary, who's back is turned, also needs a rest. I had to take a picture.

Santa Update

Santa came to visit Joseph's preschool today and once again he asked for something different. Maybe Joseph is trying to get a few extra gifts. I can't wait to see what he has to say on Christmas morning. I hope Santa brings him the right thing.

Merry Christmas

My friend Laura had one of these on her blog and I thought it was fun so I made a holiday Greeting of our family. We hope you have a Merry Christmas.

Don't send a lame Holiday eCard. Try JibJab Sendables!

Gingerbread House

Emily Joseph and Grandma took on the challenge of putting together a gingerbread house.

(Joseph chose not to be photographed for this event, but he did let his gingerbreadman be in the picture.)

I think that the kids ate more candy than they put on the house. The kit they had was pretty simple to put together but the roof kept sliding off so they brought in grandpa on the project and he got it to stay.

They had lots of fun, but they were disappointed when they could not eat the finished house.

Joseph's Christmas Concert

Joseph's preschool class had a Christmas program yesterday. It was only about 10 minutes long and it was really cute. The class even did a little dance during part of it. I took video of the whole program but this is the song that I got the best shot of Joseph.

Here Comes Santa Clause

This is such a fun time of year. There are so many fun things going on. Last Thursday Santa and Mrs Clause came to Grandma's work. Last year Joseph did not like the idea of a stranger breaking into your house while you are sleeping, but this year he was excited to see Santa. (even though the picture doesn't look like it.) Josh on the other hand is still not sure about being handed off to strangers so Grandma got to sit on Santa's lap with him.

There were lots of fun activities for the kids to do. Josh loved the cookies.

It was a reindeer theme and Emily and Joseph liked doing all of the activities. They made reindeer ears, pinned the nose on Rudolph, made candy cane reindeer and frosted cookies. Then they got to watch the Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer Movie.
Thanks for the fun time Grandma!

Saturday Emily and Joseph had breakfast with Santa at the Church. Emily's requests stayed the same, but Joseph asked each Santa for a different thing. Maybe he is testing them to see which one is the real Santa.

Snow Fort

Saturday we woke up to a lot of snow. The kids were so excited to go out and play in it. Joseph and Emily started building a fort, so I decided to help them by making bricks with one of our garbage cans. Eventually we recruited dad into helping. The kids love having a little place to play in. They call it their castle. Now the question I get asked the most is if the snow is melting.

Happy Birthday

WE have had an exciting week this week. First Grandma and Grandpa Lay were able to come and visit in between Grandma's cancer treatments. It was even better because they came during birthday week so there was lots of parties going on.

On Sunday we had a family birthday party for Ryan (Dec 3), Gavin (Dec 4), and Joseph (Dec 5). It was lots of fun to see and visit with everyone.

Tracy gave Ryan the perfect gift. It was the here and now monopoly game. They have quite a past with that game. I guess when they were young Ryan would make up all kinds of rules to benefit himself and poor Tracy believed him. In fact she did not learn the real rules to Monopoly until she was in college. (Sorry Tracy)

On Wednesday we gave Joseph his present from us. He had found it a few weeks before in our closet so we hid it at Grandma's house. After that he was worried that he was not going to get it anymore, but as soon as he saw the big box he knew he was getting his Shake and Crash set.

Today was Joseph's first Friend party. He has wanted one for a long time and he has been planning it ever since Emily's last birthday.

He helped mom bake and decorate his cake. At the party the kids made macaroni necklaces and only a few kids asked if they could eat the noodles. Then we played a few games, had cake and opened presents. The kids all had a great time.

Happy Birthday Ryan and Joseph.

Let It Snow

We finally got enough snow to play in. The kids were so excited to go out in it. This was our moment of truth. The winter clothes came out and we found out who needed new stuff. I guess we should have thought of that earlier. Unfortunately Josh is still new to snow and when Joseph opened the door Josh ran out in his bare feet and got half way into the backyard before he realized how cold it was. Then he stood and cried until he was rescued.

Mom took him in and got him bundled up. He was glad to have boots on his feet but he did not like mittens covering his hands. Josh had fun going on the sled but, after a couple of times he decided he was cold and came inside with mom.

Emily has always loved snow and would stay out all day no matter how cold she gets if mom would let her. Joe is a true San Diego baby and he comes in once the chill starts to hit him (after about 10 or 15 minutes). The kids had a fun time and can' t wait for it to snow again.

Happy Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is a holiday that we look forward to every year. This year we went with Ryan's Family to the Grand America Hotel Thanksgiving brunch. This has been a family tradition for many years. Grandpa McArthur loved Thanksgiving and always wanted a good feast. We loved him for that, and he was missed this year.


The kids loved all of the food choices they had. There was a kids buffet set up that had all of their favorites, Mac and cheese, chicken nuggets, mini corn dogs and candy.


Joseph and Emily love the Chocolate fountain. Unfortunately it is messy for kids no matter how you prepare it for them. Oh well, the messier the better.
The kids did a round or two at the main buffet also, but with our boys if it is on mom or dads plate it always tastes better.






After the kids had their fill we took them outside in the courtyard where they could run and be kids.

Soon it was time to head home for our Thanksgiving naps.

Josh couldn't wait until we got home. He fell asleep almost as soon as we got in the car.



Happy Thanksgiving.

Visiting Jon and Jenny

On Friday Emily was out of school so we visited Jon and Jenny, and thier new baby Jaxson. He is a cutie, and a big boy. Just the way we like them in our family.

Emily got to feed him his bottle and Joe was happy just to sit and watch.

After a few minutes the kids decided to go play outside. Jon had a bunch of leaves in his front yard so the kids found a rake and started building piles. Fall is so fun. There is nothing like a big pile of crunchy leaves to play in.

BUSY BOYS

Hi everyone,
I am 2+ years behind on my scrapbooking and finding that I am taking pictures of great memories and then shelving them too long. I really like reading the blogs that my friends and family have posted, so I decided to start one of my own. I think this will be a fun way to share pictures and stories.

For my first entry I want to share a couple of things that happened this week with the boys. Cooking in our house has become and even bigger chore than normal lately. When I go into the Kitchen to start getting dinner ready my footsteps are always followed by the sound of a chair or two dragging across the floor. Josh and Joe are usually right beside me wanting to help.

The other night I had dinner cooking and the boys were busy watching Thomas so I went into the other room for a minute when I returned to the kitchen this is what I found.

Josh was just checking the rice to see if it was done. My camera was on the counter so I grabbed it and snapped a couple of pictures. They watch me closer than I think.

The other event I do not have pictures for but it is worth sharing. Josh has developed a love (obsession) of Trains. Tuesday morning when I was getting the boys dressed Josh noticed that Joseph has Thomas underwear. He realized this just as Joe was pulling up his pants. Before I realized what was going on Josh was crying about boo boo (what he calls trains) and chasing Joe around the house. When he caught Joe he pulled his pants down and then pointed and said to me in a happy voice "Mama look a boo boo." Joe got his pants back up and the chasing and crying (from both boys) began again. Josh continued to try to pants Joe until I got a Thomas shirt on him. Then he was satisfied to just look at the boo boo on that.

The kids always keep my life interesting!