Christmas Eve, part 2

Jon and I had the fun opportunity to host his family (the immediate one. . . not the extended one) Christmas. It was a fun time with all the boys (big and small) and all the food. We had lasagna, garlic knots (thanks Kelley!), and a yummy salad (thanks Carolyn!). Logan made sure we all ate quickly so we could open presents. Ethan was incredibly excited about his Toy Story 3 movie that he wanted to watch it immediately, but he waited until the next day (he was very patient!). After we opened presents, we partook in some yummy treats and watched the boys (once again, big and small) enjoy some spontaneous wheel barrow races. It was so much fun to watch. It started out with all the boys (minus Braden) riding Jon like a horse at the same time. It was a fun night full of laughter and good times!

Lemoore Christmas

Christmas Eve was a busy day for us, but so much fun! I love Christmas time! This year, we celebrated Christmas with Jolie's family with a Christmas Eve Brunch. Of course, as tradition, we drove to Lemoore in dense fog and made some yummy crepes (did I say yumm!). This year it was just Jon, Ethan, and I, my parents, and my brother and his family. We missed Dustin and his family, but understand that there is just so much going on that it just isn't always possible to get everyone together at the same time.

Ethan's big gift was a retro red radio flyer tricycle. Complete with tassles and a bell. Ethan had fun trying to lower the seat himself.

Ethan is still trying to get the hang of it. He loves the bell and sitting on it. Soon, he'll be tall enough to reach the pedals.

My brother, Bob, and his family. . . Jeannie and Ryan.

What could this be?

presents!!!! Ethan wanted to open everyone's gifts this year.

Our elf is growing up (I think we were missing the hat this year).

We were all stuffed and ready for naps by the time our time in Lemoore was over. We had so much fun spending time with family, but we had to head home to get ready for Christmas Eve at our house with Jon's family.

Snowman Sundae Night

Just before Christmas we were able to gather together with Jeff, Kelley, Cooper, Logan, Matt, Lisa, and Everett. We had all been wanting to get together, but were finding it incredibly hard with our busy schedules. I was so glad that we were able to have them all over for a snowman sundae night. We had so much fun!

Ethan loved eating his snowman. . . believe it or not, he devoured it!

Logan was quite proud of his snowman. . . complete with snowing sprinkles!

Cooper was excited to show off his snowman.

Everett munched on his cheerio snack. . .

Like, I said, this was such a fun night for us all. I hoping that we can do this next year and start a tradition.

Gingerbread Making Time

Last week, we spent the week doing Gingerbread Man activities and reading different versions of the story. Ethan LOVED making Gingerbread cookies! We did all the baking and decorating when Jon was home. It was great family time! This will definitely be a family tradition!

Ethan loves to roll out the dough!

Ethan helped decorate this star.

Yummmm!

Jon's creation. . .

fun times!

A Gingerbread Christmas

Our church hosts an annual event for the children of the church and the neighborhood to come and make gingerbread houses. This year was our first year to go (Ethan was old enough). We met our friends' Josh, Steph, and Abi there and we had a blast!

Ethan's finished product.

Mommy and Ethan working hard on the house (gingerbread latte in tow).

Daddy's turn to help. . . so much fun!

Abi started eating her house parts as soon as we sat down. . . I'm not sure about the face Ethan is making, but he started in on the candy not to much later!

I just want to note that this brought in nearly 400 children. . . and used 120 pounds of frosting. . . seriously. . . it's an amazing event!

Our little Family Thanksgiving

Each year, we set aside a time around Thanksgiving, where we spend it as a family (Jon, Ethan, and I) and have our own family turkey dinner. This year, we added to our tradition and made it the night we also decorate the tree (since Ethan is now old enough).

Dinner was great. To find out what he had visit our other blog. We even ate on our good china and place mats. Well, Ethan ate off of his plate and created his own place mat out of his napkin (his idea!). Ethan even got to try sparkling cider for the first time. . . he loved it!

After dinner was cleaned up, we brought out the Christmas Ornaments and lights. Ethan LOVED every minute of it! We almost couldn't keep up with how quick he was going. We did end up rearranging some of the ornaments after he was asleep, because they were all on the same side of the tree! Some even were on the same branch.

This will definitely be a tradition that we keep year after year. I have other things that I wanted to do, but I think we will wait until next year to try them out. . . we just ran out of time!

Our favorite ornament!

Ethan LOVED decorating the tree. . . this is the only area where he put them!

Ethan even let Daddy help!

Ethan likes to make sure that if it goes in the outlet, it gets plugged in.

(Thankfully that's all he tries to put in. . . good thing they are all covered!)

Happy Late Thanksgiving everyone!

Fall fun!

Our leaves are finally beginning to fall! Yay! We are all so excited to see the beautiful yellows, oranges, and reds outside our front window! So, this past weekend Jon decided to mow the lawn right before it started raining (yay for rain!), and Ethan was obsessed with helping him! He found his shoes, and stared out the window for a long time, until I finally gave in (it was cold and he was getting over a cold). Let's just say that he was sooooo very excited to go and help daddy rake up the leaves! He even has his own rake. . . which actually worked, until he decided daddy's broom was bigger. . . and better.

If you look closely at the above picture. . . the rain had begun and ground was getting wet.