Merry Christmas!

Here are some pictures from Christmas morning and Christmas dinner at my Mom & Dads. We had a very nice Christmas and have spent the last day or so recovering from no sleep and too much sugar (not Nate and I, Henry is recovering). We are just loving having this time off, but I just can't help to dread January 5th when it all comes to an end. I'm such a party-pooper like that! 

We took the boys to Thai food on Christmas Eve. Henry wore his fancy jacket and did some fabulous posing for Nate:

Charlie is like "whats wrong with you?"

Santa came!

Surprisingly, the boys waiting patiently for the green light to start opening their gifts. 

Henry asked Santa for a helicopter:

But it was the space shuttle that was the big hit! Notice the "blast-off face" that Henry has. It takes a lot of spit and bubbles to get that shuttle off the ground!

Charlie is really into musical toys. He can really dance now!

The light saber. Given to Henry, but loved by all. 

Henry getting a feel for his scooter protective wear. Henry is really into taking my socks. He found these Christmas socks and wore them for two days. He pulls them up to his knees and in the spirit of Christmas, really resembled an elf. 

The one rule with the scooter....no scootering in the house. We suck with rules. Henry was cruising throughout the basement last night and is really pretty good on the scooter. Maybe one day, the snow will melt here and we can take it outside.

Christmas breakfast....cinnamon rolls and sparkling cider. 

Since Henry only weighs a hefty 32lbs, he is always cold, so this is his regular spot...in front of the fire.  

An attempt at a photo before we went to Grandma and Grandpas for Christmas dinner. 

My parents beautiful dining room:

The pies: Pumpkin and Apple (I better mention that it is a free-form crust... And it was Mmm-Mmmm good!)

Papa and baby-cakes:

Cousin Kysa and baby-cakes:

How many people does it take to build the Millenium Falcon?? 

Kysa's chalkboard drawing. I was so perplexed by this. It is so cute, but so wrong in many ways...There was a description that she wrote out to the side, which I didn't get in the photo, but jist was, it is a picture of Kysa inside Mommy's tummy. Kysa is eating. Hm. Oh, to be in a 7-year olds head for just one day....

I don't think I saw Henry at all that night. He was very, very busy playing with Ax's "walker" (star wars) or studying Alex's every move so he can be just like him.

The we pulled the Rock Band out. Alex is quite possibly the cutest bassist ever!!! He stands perfectly still (like a Beatle) and doesn't miss a note!

Nate does not stand perfectly still. He works the crowd. Naturally.

The kid table. They had so much fun together. Those are cousins Brooke and Bryant. Henry laughed the whole time. 

Not sure why, but he is the only one in hysterics. Not unusual.

Bryant and Brooke

Ax and Kysa

Cousins snuggling with their new American Girl dolls.

Merry Christmas! Love, B

Christmas Eve - More snow!

Merry Christmas Eve! We woke up this morning to several more inches of snow...which now later in the day is melting (boo!). So, we decided to take the kids out in the snow. Thirty sweaty minutes later....we were ready to (finally!) go out. 

Charlie was really excited to check out his "sled", but got stuck underneath:

It was actually pretty warm out - so Charlie seemed to like it much better than he did last week.

Of course, he was bundled in many, many, many layers. Charlie was in a small rubbermaid bin and I pulled him with bungee cords. Henry was in a bigger rubbermaid bin and Nate pulled him with rope. They LOVED it!

Henry laughed and laughed when Nate off-roaded with him:

And....tipped him over. Henry thought that was hilarious.

Knee-deep and lovin' it!

No daddy! or as Henry says "wrestle me!"

Just hanging out in my bucket...

Making snow angels:

I fell out of my bucket! Oh wait, this is kind of fun!

Henry and Daddy's snowman. As I look at the snowman now, the snow is melting and the candy we used for the eyes and mouth are discoloring - so the snowman looks more like Heath Ledger in Batman than it does an actual snowman. Scary.

Once Charlie got a feel of the snow, I couldn't keep him out of it:

And what do you think you are going to do with that my boy????

Oh.

We didn't plan on being home and cooking on Christmas Eve, so we don't really have anything planned for tonight. Right now, we are thinking Chinese or Thai dine-in...and then we wait for Santa! Yesterday, Henry asked us out of the blue "Is Santa watching me?".  He also didn't want us to turn the fireplace on in fear that Santa would be burned. Oh Henry...can you get any cuter? Love, B

Reno or BUST.....or BUST.

Today, we were supposed to be on the road to Reno for Christmas. We are so sad to have to have canceled that drive due to weather. It's just awful. Portland is having snow like we haven't had since 1968. I think we have over 12 inches right now and more is to come tomorrow (Christmas Eve). We would have had to go over 3 mountain passes, and all 3 are dangerous right now. We must have changed our minds 100 times. We even packed the car last night with plans to leave at first light today. In the end, we followed our guts and decided we needed to be cautious. So, it is Christmas in Portland again this year. Of course, that isn't all bad - we have SNOW, SNOW and more SNOW and it is so awesome to wake up in your home on Christmas morning when you have a 3 year old. Nike closed the campus for the rest of the week, so I have started my holiday vacation early! We have had a great time playing in the snow with the kids. Ok, Charlie doesn't exactly love the snow. In fact, I had him outside for 10 minutes earlier this week and was panicked when I saw his little red hands. The were apparently numb, because he couldn't even crawl on them. I felt awful, but warmed him up slowly and there doesn't appear to be any permanent damage. 

"Mom!! I can't put my arms down! And my snow pants are 6 inches too long for my yams!"

Higgy doesn't mind the snow - he likes making yellow snow. everywhere.

This was before the real snow hit - though at the time, we thought it was real snow! Higgy loves taking pics with Henry. Right?

Henry thought the snow was a little long, so he was mowing it.

My snow angel.

Daddy chained us up right nice!

This was when the real weather hit. We must have 9-10 inches of snow and a layer of ice on top of that. This is a leaf frozen in the ice. I also found frozen poop - but thought that it wasn't blog worthy.

Frozen suburban:

Daddy working hard getting chains on. I carefully framed the photo to spare everyone having to see Nate's plumber-butt.

Jetta? What Jetta?

Um Henry?! Stop shaking your juice on the poor dog! I can still see you even when I am outside!

Snow-bunny:

Henry moving the earth. He thought throwing ice chunks and watching them  break was about the coolest thing. 

"Mom, where do you want this one?"

Since we were planning on spending Christmas in Reno, we celebrated Christmas with my parents on Sunday. Another beautiful tree!

Henry modeling his new scarf Grandma knit. He is so dapper!

Aunt Sissy gave Henry a new suitcase with his NAME on it. He wheels that thing EVERYWHERE!

The best part was the scraping sound that it made on Grandma's beautiful wood floor. Sorry Grandma!

Henry checking out Charlie's new airport:

Airplanes! Yots of Airplanes and helibocters! (as Henry says)

A guitar for Charlie that plays music. He pushes the music buttons and DANCES!! It is the cutest thing I have ever seen!!!

I'm pretty sure this bush will never be the same! Notice the landscape light on the left. It is about 12 inches tall, and covered!

What yard?

We are bracing for another day of several inches of snow tomorrow. We are actually getting used to it, except I refuse to drive in it. Nate is our family driver. We finally got out of the house today for real. We spent a good 1.5 weeks inside and it really takes a toll! We tried to find a snow saucer, or sled, but apparently they are hot items in the Portland area. Poor kids might just be stuck kickin it old school with cardboard or a rubbermaid storage bin. Love, B