Time Share with Aunt Sarah

My sister Sarah and her husband Ken own a time share and Sarah invited us to spend a couple days with her there right before the New Year - fun!

This is John at Aunt Sarah's house before we left petting one of her cats. He was overjoyed that the cat would sit in his lap and was so friendly:
Ryan was a bit terrified of the real cats but had no problem with the stuffed one:

Just because he's cute:

The boys got to try out a new Christmas present in the whirlpool tub:

Enjoying breakfast:

Time in the heated pool (we went at least two times a day and in the mornings were the only ones there!):

The little movie theatre after watching Prancer Returns:

It was such a relaxing time for me - Aunt Sarah did all the cooking and we just swam, played, and took it easy. What a blessing!!

Christmas

Sorry it has taken so long to share this post (it's almost Valentine's Day - oops!):

Christmas Eve opening Toy Story Lego presents from Nana and Uncle Paul:

Getting the plate of cookies ready for Santa:

Ryan was more excited about eating cookies than actually choosing ones for the plate:

Christmas morning:

At first John thought the only presents Santa had brought were the ones in his stocking:

Exploring all that had been left under the tree:

Drawing on the giant white board (that is now set up in the basement by Mike's drawing table so everyone can be creative together!):

Big boxes are the best!

Bompa and Gramma came to watch the fun:

Being silly with Daddy:

John's goofy face:

This one's for all our family and friends in Wisconsin (and let me add that since the boys have been attending Packers Training camp they are 1 for 1 in the Super Bowl!!!):

Back to presents:

More playing (who do you think is having more fun?):

Opening presents from Mommy and Daddy:

Yeah - another big box (and believe it or not I don't have any pictures of what was actually in the big box - a Geo Tracks train set - yeah Ebay! - I'll have to add that to a later post):

The bubble wrap inside the present was a HUGE hit:

The Day After Christmas:

We are off to Gramma and Bompa's for more merriment:

Opening presents:

Giving presents (my Mom actually asked for this hat, one like they wore in the movie Fargo as it was something fun that she'd never buy for herself. the boys picked this one out):More presents:Aunt Sarah and John:

I took the boys to the Dollar Tree to pick presents out for everyone (they had a blast and left with Tinkerbell helium filled balloons for themselves so what could be better) and when John picked these out for my sister Sarah and her husband Ken, I knew they would put them on right away - they did not disappoint!!

A special present for Daddy:

John's present to Ryan (look at that smile!):Our first Christmas with the boys was everything and more we could have imagined: magical, joyful, noisy, excited, celebrated. From their excitement over getting the house ready and opening a door on the advent calendar every day (John never forgot) to "top secret" activities they were involved in to wrapping presents and watching others open the ones from them to trying to keep everything straight about Christmas and asking if it was the Baby Jesus who delivered presents to watching Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer about 50 times to seeing their excitement as they opened gifts and wanted to stop and play with them - I don't know who enjoyed it more, them, us, or God from whom all blessings flow!

Gingerbread Houses

Gramma and Bompa gave the boys gingerbread house kits so one day when it was too cold to go outside, we had family gingerbread house building time!

Squeezing the frosting so we can attach the candy to the house (two suggestions - always re-squeeze the frosting when your child is done and a glue gun works GREAT to hold the walls and roof on and allows for immediate decorating time!):

Decorating the Christmas trees that went next to the houses:

Adding details to the walls and roofs:

And I somehow managed not to get a picture of the finished products (but we did get video so all is not lost - ha!). I'll try better next year.

A Couple Pictures Mike Took

He said he loved seeing the boys' coats hanging by the back door because it meant we had a family:He thought the ice cream sundaes I made one night looked really cool: