Other Christmas fun

The boys went to their first Christmas party and had so much fun. They loved playing with big boy toys/trucks but got a little upset when I drug them away from the snacks for the gift exchange and picture, as you can see! We had a blast, though and appreciate Sacha for hosting such a fun holiday get-together for our babies!

We also had a fun visit with Amelia and London - and I had to include this photo of her reading to them - she lead them around by the hand, and they followed her from their room to the living room and sat down to listen to her read them a story! It was so stinking cute :)

We also saw the Trains at Northpark. The boys LOVED seeing the trains! We went with Honey and Papa and had such a fun time.

I got an early Christmas present - a new truck! We got it just in time for our trip to Tyler and it was so nice having all that room for the boys and pack&plays and Buddy and gifts, etc, etc!  The boys really like their new truck and say "bye-bye, truck" every time we go inside, and they especially like the DVD player for long car trips. We are looking forward to when they are able to operate headphones, but right now Veggie Tales is the only thing we play in the car, and the boys loooove to say "VeggieTales" really fast like the song.

The last pic is of our new kitchen stand, primarily for washing hands, but do you know I bought it specifically to have in time for Christmas cookie baking/decorating with the boys and then NEVER got around to making cookies?  I got some Valentine's cookie cutters so that we can make Valentine's cookies instead, but I was pretty disappointed with myself. Below, see Ben in his PJs helping me make cinnamon toast - he sprinkled the sugar and Jack sprinkled the cinnamon. They love helping in the kitchen!

NDMOTC Christmas party

We went to the NDMOTC Christmas party this year, and Honey & Papa met us for the event. It was at Cuckoos in Plano, which is a kids bounce house/train ride/play area and was pretty fun. Jack & Ben weren't interested in bouncing (which was okay by me, since I was a little worried about germs in the winter season - aren't those bounce houses just breeding grounds for germs? I don't know, but who wants to chance it?) BUT they were really interested in the "choo choo." They must have ridden the train five times or so, and cried every single time the ride was over. I think they would have been content to stay on the train and wave to us for the full 45 minutes or however long we were there! So, needless to say, we missed out on the balloon man and the magic show and all the rest of the NDMOTC festivities (cookie decorating? pizza and snacks? I don't even know what we missed!) because we sort of just waited in line for the train over and over. It was really fun to see them enjoy a ride so much, especially as we are entering their borderline obsession with trains. :) We appreciated J's parents going with us, too!

Christmas Photo Shoot

We took our Christmas pics with Giggles Photography (http://www.giggles-photo.com) again in Frisco and LOVED the pictures! It was such a neat location and despite all the dust and the constant loss of shoes (I bought shoes at the NDMOTC sale for super cheap, and they maaaay have been a little big), Jen got great shots and really captured their personalities, we thought. The color for the Christmas card below is really off - not sure why my scanner did that and I'm too busy to take the time to try to edit the colors. Oh well! Photos from the shoot below, too - I loved them!

 

 

School Christmas Program

The boys' first school Christmas program was adorable! We sang songs together in the church, then the kids went to the front of the church to sing their songs that they had been working on. The extent of Ben & Jack's participation was waving their decorations in the air, but it was adorable, nevertheless.

They may have gotten a little antsy towards the end, and tried to go up the steps or around the other children, but for the most part they did pretty good. Jack lost a shoe half-way through, and his friend Max held it for him until the end :) He kept standing up and coming towards me, then would go dutifully sit back down, and once tried to sit on his friend, Gia's lap.

After their program, they had a children's program in the back which was pretty cute. You can see Ben with his friend O'Neill - so cute with their heads together as they watch! When this was over, we had dinner at the church and got to sit with Mrs. Myranda and her family! It was a really fun evening, and our little boys were ready for bed when we got home! 

Ice!

This year we saw Ice! at the Gaylord Texan - we were unfortunately too late in making reservations because it was booked up, but it would have been fun to stay overnight. The Gaylord is so beautiful and there is so much to see, especially in the winter. We had fun anyway and met our good friends the Maybens there and had dinner afterwards. The boys did pretty good waiting in line (there was a lot of line waiting, despite "booking" tickets for a set time) and loved playing with Kenlie and Keyton. You can tell Kenlie is a big sis, she is so good with the babies and Keyton is so sweet - we all had fun! The boys looked funny in their big blue coats, on top of their regular coats and hats, gloves, etc. They weren't really interested in the ice, and were ready for dinner so got a little fussy at the end. They did like the ice slide, though (after we waited in line for that)! We enjoyed a visit with good friends and this was a fun winter/Christmas event with our boys. :)

Scary Santa

We visited Santa this morning for our second annual Santa pic. I don't think Ben & Jack knew what was coming, because they were definitely not pleased to be handed over to Santa. We had a hard time choosing just one picture, because there were several in a row taken of crying faces and arms outstretched. This is the one we decided on, and it's definitely a classic. One of our friends was in line behind us, and Ashley is just a month older than our boys but smiled prettily when it was her turn to sit with Santa. Next year maybe they'll want to sit with him and give us some smiles! The best part was when we picked them up, they immediately stopped crying and waved, saying "Bye-Bye" to Santa. I think they were just trying to communicate that they wanted to leave and were relieved that Santa would be going "bye-bye." :)

Lakewood Christmas Tree Lighting

We kicked off the Christmas season by taking the boys to the Lakewood Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony last night. After we had dinner, we walked over and watched them light the tree. There was a petting zoo, face painting, and Santa, but we didn't wait in the line for face painting or Santa. They handed out free light-up Santa hats, which Ben immediately put on and wore the rest of the night, but Jack didn't like so much. We watched the school choir perform and the boys loved listening to the music and danced along. So cute watching them bounce around and raise their arms, mimicking the singers. After letting them run around a little, we had ice cream and went home - the boys had a blast! Ben cried for a second when I took his hat away but my tired boys were ready for bed. I can't wait for the rest of the season! It's my favorite time of year and now that Ben & Jack are a little older, Christmas will just get more and more fun. :)