Happy Birthday Jesus!

We celebrated Jesus' birthday at my mom and dad's house on Christmas day. The cousins all had fun revealing who their secret Santa was for this year. Never a dull moment when we're all together!

PS Wy and Jerry aren't in the picture because they are the picture takers. Wyatt got a cool kid camera from Mimi that he wouldn't put down.


We're so lucky that these kiddos all play so well together! Brody and Wyatt are always very excited to go and see their cousins.

I thought this picture was cute because Natalile, Tatum, Brody and Wyatt all have their own little Baby Jesus that they are going to sing to. Happy Birthday Jesus!!!!

Christmas morning with Mimi!

Mimi had a family get together at her house on Christmas Eve after mass, but sorry to say I didn't take a single picture from that evening. So, here are some of Christmas morning at our house. We had Mimi and Jerry's sister's family over for breakfast. Here's Wyatt eating Baby Jesus' chocolate birthday cake!

Brody loved his gift from Aunt Tammy, Uncle John, Jena Sara, and Devin. A new Star Wars video game for the XBOX 360!

Here's Wy Wy with his puppy that Mimi got him. He named this puppy Hot Dog. It looks so real...it's chest even moves up and down like he's breathing! Since we don't have a single real pet my boys love their puppies and zhu zhu pets. Maybe some day we'll go for the REAL thing!

Cookies for Santa!

The boys were sooooo excited to leave a note and cookies for Santa! Brody even remembered to leave carrots for the reindeer.

They both heard jingle bells from Santa's sleigh and wanted to quickly get in bed and go to sleep so Santa wouldn't skip our house. Too funny!

Christmas Eve Mass

My family always attends the children's mass on Christmas Eve. The kids loved the puppet show and play about Baby Jesus. We're so blessed that we could all be together on this special day!

We were so happy that cousin Devin wanted to join us for his first time attending church. Afterwards he said his favorite part was learning how to pray about things he's thankful for. How sweet!!!!! These boys have soooo much fun together!!!

Christmas Eve with Grandpa & Ronnie!

We had a delicious breakfast with Grandpa and Ronnie on Christmas Eve. We were so happy that Jerry's sister Tammy and her family could join us too!

After opening gifts, we headed to the park because it was such a beautiful day! The boys had an amazing time playing together.

Grandpa even got in on the fun! He didn't let the fact that the week before he had a pacemaker put in...AND he'd just gotten out of the hospital two days earlier because of a blood clot in his arm! We pray for him every day. xoxo

Christmas with Mama & Papa!

We celebrated Christmas with my mom and dad on Dec. 19th. We had them over for dinner and they brought all of Brody and Wyatt's gifts. The boys couldn't believe their eyes!!! We'll celebrate with them and the rest of my family at church on Christmas Eve and at their house on Christmas day for dinner. The boys can't wait to sing Happy Birthday to Jesus and have chocolate cake!

Here they are with their stacks of boxes to open. Wowzaa!!!!

This was the look on Brody's face the whole night! He was so thrilled to get this new Bobo Fett costume!

The boys LOVE their new play huts and their Star Wars costumes!!!!

Baking Day!

My family has a yearly tradition of getting together to bake all day before Christmas. This year we made sugar cookies, chocolate chip cookies, snowballs, fudge, thumb prints cookies, etc. Everyone had so much fun and boy were those cookies good!!!!

After awhile the boys wanted to take a break, so here they are in their Star Wars costumes. Wyatt is Captain Rex, Nick is Jango Fett, and Brody is Bobo Fett. May the force be with you!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Brody's Preschool Party!

Brody's preschool class had a wonderful Christmas Party this week. They got to see Santa, participate in a book exchange, and make a gingerbread house. My little man is getting soooo big!

All Aboard!

Last week we went to a local train park for a toy drive. We had so much fun seeing Santa, riding the train in the desert while looking at Christmas lights and blow ups, checking out the model trains, and eating cookies and drinking hot cocoa. Here we are waiting to board the train. Choo choo!!!

Here's Brody controlling this train. All of the kids had a turn wearing the engineers hat. Soooo cute!

The model trains outside were awesome too! Fun times!

Snow in Phoenix????

The boys and I went with Mimi to see the snow at Desert Ridge this week. It was actually soap flakes, but hey...we LOVED it!

We also got to see Curious George! What a fun evening!

Build-a-Bear

Brody's class went on a field trip to Build-a-Bear last week. He made a cute puppy that he named "Pup". Here he is controlling the stuffing machine.

Wyatt got a kick out of joining in on the classes fun. He was such a good boy listening and following directions. Wyatt also made a puppy and named him "Jacob". Afterwards we went to see Santa, played at the indoor playground, and visited the pet store.

Here they are with their dogs dressed up as Darth Vader and a clone trooper. Love it!

Traditions

We started two new family traditions this year. First, let me introduce you to Elfie. After reading the story "The Elf on the Shelf" we had to name our elf. Brody decided that Elfie was a great name. Elfie's job is to watch the boys during the day and fly to the North Pole each night to report their behavior to Santa. When Elfie returns the next morning, he's always resting in a different spot. So every morning the boys can't wait to see where they will find Elfie. They can tell anything to Elfie...their wishes and dreams etc, but Elfie is under strict rules from Santa not to talk back to them. The only rule we all have to follow is to not touch Elfie or else he'll lose his magic and not be able to fly to the North Pole again. We already feel like Elfie is part of the family. The boys were so surprised that Elfie even followed us to Sedona where we found him resting on a towel rack. The magic of Christmas is so heart warming. PS You can buy this book and the Elf at Hallmark.

The next family tradition that we started is using this advent calendar to count down the days until Jesus' birthday. Brody and I sat down with our December calendar and wrote down acts of kindness on a small slip of paper. We put one in each little box and carry out that act of kindness for the day. Then we put it in this wrapped box as one of the many gifts to Jesus. On Christmas morning we'll sing Happy Birthday to Jesus and open his gift filled with thoughtful things we've done for people throughout the month. Today we're going to a train station where they're having a toy drive. So todays act of kindness is to go shopping and pick out a toy for the toy drive. Others have included taking dinner to a friend that just had twins, calling Grandpa and wishing him a safe trip to Florida, hugging Ms. Mary at swim class and thanking her for teaching Wy to swim, taking baked cookies to a neighbor, etc. Sweet and simple acts of kindness that we all normally do is the best gift we can give Jesus for his birthday. Many blessings to you all!!!! xoxo

Red Rock Fantasy of Lights

Over the weekend we went to Sedona to see the Red Rock Fantasy of Lights. Jerry's mom drove up with us and her friends Elizabeth and Jerry met us there. We had an amazing time! The boys loved the hotel room, looking at lights, hiking by the creek, swimming at the indoor pool, and seeing the Chapel of the Holy Cross.

Here was Wyatt's favorite display. He is still totally obsessed with anything Peter Pan!

This was the coolest Santa ever! Doesn't he look jolly? Notice the boys' attire. It was c-c-c-cold!

After looking at the beautiful light displays we checked out a tree decorating contest. Here was Wyatt's favorite. A tree covered with stuffed bears!

I thought these two should take a moment for a mother/son picture. I loved the tree behind them. Thanks for a fantastic weekend Mimi!

Oak Creek

On the last day of our trip we went to check out Oak Creek. It was so beautiful! Here's a cute picture of Mimi and the boys. It was very cold, but that didn't stop us from having fun!

There was a nice playground down by the creek that the boys LOVED!

Brody and I had fun walking on the rocks in the creek. Good thing nobody fell it! Brrrr!

Woo hoo...a house with 100 blow ups!!!!

Here it is...my boys in their glory with their Mama. Tonight we took my mom to see our favorite house with Christmas lights and close to 100 blow ups. The boys couldn't wait to show her each and every blow up. Thanks for spending the evening with us Mama! xoxo

Here's Wyatt with his favorite blow up. Scooby Rooby Roooooo!!!!

My mom and the boys doing the chicken dance was hillarious to watch. There was a little chicken with a Santa hat that sang the tune. What a night!

Tomorrow we're off to Sedona with Jerry's mom for the weekend! The boys are looking forward to seeing the Red Rock Fantasy of Lights, staying in a hotel, swimming in the heated pool, and taking in the scenery. We can't wait!!! I know one thing...we're going to dress warm. It's been sooooo cold at night. Cold for us anyways (around 40 degrees). We turned on the heat for the first time last night. Brrrrrrr!!!!!