Favorite Christmas Photos

We took lots of photos on Christmas. . . . just like everyone else. These are a few of my favorites.

This one shows the joyful chaos of opening gifts on Christmas morning.

I caught this photo before gifts were opened. Both boys are brimming with excitement, expressed in their own unique faces.

We made gingerbread houses on Christmas Eve. All photos of Matt include one with him doing cross-eyes. It's his current favorite look. This was also the first day he was well, after being sick for five days.



This is Gavin's lone opportunity to check out and touch the Christmas tree. He's holding a container of baby food, from his stocking.





We had a nice and quiet Christmas--just hanging out at home in our pajamas. Both Matthew and Gavin had been sick during the days prior, so they both were ready to feel better for Christmas. Matthew was very excited to receive a Nintendo DS. He was certain Santa would bring him one. He would always say, "when I get a DS", never "if I get a DS". Oh, the faith of a little child. Adam received some Wii games and has played them so much he has a Wii blister on his thumb. As for Robert and I, we were just happy to have time to relax. Yesterday was my birthday, which was another quiet day. Robert did spoil me, though, doing all the chores, cleaning, etc. . . including cleaning the bathrooms, which he loathes. I made myself my favorite cake, a Jewish Apple Cake--yummy!

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Sunday Best

How many photos does it take?

To get the boys smiling in their Christmas outfits?



Three? I guess this will have to do.

School Project

Adam has been working on a big project in his gifted class. He has been learning about dinosaurs. He and his teacher put together a shadow puppet show. They made the puppets, wrote and recorded the script, made the "stage" and then presented it to his class and the first grade classes. He had a lot of fun with this and did a great job.

"All I Want For Christmas....

....Are my two front teeth." That was Gavin's wish this past week.
And it came true. His top teeth came in. Yeah! He was pretty fussy about it. Additionally, he had a cough/cold all week. So, it was a bit of a doosie of a week for him.

7 Months

Here's our happy, little Gavin. He's seven months today.

His weight: 17 lb. 0 oz.

His height: 26 inches

BTW, his shirt says, "My Auntie is awesome".

He's been busy this month, trying to learn how to crawl. He's almost there. He's also working on getting his top, two teeth. I wouldn't be surprised if at least one of them broke through this weekend.

He got his first haircut this month. I cut off his mohawk. Now it just sticks up everywhere. When the light shines through it, it looks like a halo.

This is Gavin's favorite position.
He's figured out how to move his hands forward but not his legs yet.

St. Nicholas Day

In our family, we celebrate St. Nicholas Day (European holiday). To me, it is the start of the Christmas season. We set our shoes out on the night of Dec. 5th and St. Nicholas fills them during the night while we sleep. It's always fun to see what he brings. Adam and Matt quite enjoy this. Matt was telling me on Sunday, before putting out our shoes, that he had asked one of his friends at church if St. Nicholas was coming to his house and if he was putting out his shoes. He told Matt, "no". Matt then said, "we're so lucky that St. Nicholas comes to our house".

This year, Adam and Matt each received a 2011 calendar, socks, shirt, hat, Crunch bars, toothbrush, gummis, book, activity pad, and beef jerky. Gavin got baby food (hawaiian delight), finger puppets and a stuffed lion. Rob and I received a calendar and planner, Lebkuchen, gummis, clementines, beef jerky, Applebees giftcard, and a German ornament and magnet. We must have been extra good this year because our shoes were overflowing.

We put out or tree and decorations this weekend, too. In the past I've been known as a bit of a tree-nazi but am trying to let the boys help decorate. However, last night ended up being a wrestling match, fighting over who got to put the German ornaments on the tree. This made me very anxious and uptight because those ornaments aren't really replaceable. So, my dilemma is--do I let them help decorate and run the risk of irreplaceables getting broken, or do I be a meanie and decorate myself in order to ensure nothing gets broken? Arrgh--if they were no fighting we wouldn't have this issue? Why can't we just all get along?