Merry Christmas!

Let it snow...

Yesterday was our Day Care Christmas party! Out of all the parties that we have all year, the Christmas one is always my favorite. Most of the parents are able to come and the kids are just giddy with excitement! 

 The kiddos made some Christmas cards and then we had some treats! Christmas cookies, chocolate covered pretzels, strawberries, party mix....yummy! I had gift bags for each of them and then all the kiddos brought little gifts for their friends to go in the bags. They had so much fun unwrapping their stuff! THen of course everyone's stuff got mixed up and there were tears and gnashing of teeth....but what's a party without tears?

We tried getting a group picture...believe it or not, this was the best we got.

It started snowing yesterday about two in the afternoon and didn't stop till the wee hours of the morning! So as soon as the party was over, Sawyer bolted outside to make snow angles. We haven't gotten him boots yet this year (bad Mom of the year award-right here!) but he was bound and determined to still go out in his little Chuck Taylors!

He also said, "Mom, I'm gonna shovel the driveway so Daddy won't get stuck when he comes home." He got bored with that in about five seconds....Thanks for the thought buddy!

I'm related to a FAMOUS person!!!!!!!!! 

For those of you who don't know, Bill's sister Dani is now a published author! Her first book, Zip just hit the shelves a few weeks ago!!! We are so proud of her and so excited for the upcoming books that are coming out next fall! 

Last night, she was invited to do a book signing at a shop here in town. Even in the blizzard, her adoring fans came out of the woodwork to see her! She also did a short reading from the book (which we missed because we were late....story of my life).

 If you are looking for your next book to hunker down with, 'Zip' is the obvious choice! It's full of adventure, mystery and magic! 

Everyone ready for their daily dose of Raylan?

Last night we while none of us were paying attention, Raylan reached over, got into Liz's purse, pulled out a baggie of peanut butter cups, smushed them up in those chubby little hands of his and had himself a little dessert! 

He has been such a little stinker with baby food too. He still just hates it. As soon as I put him in the high chair and he figures out what is going on, he just shakes his head 'no' the ENTIRE time! Last night we had mashed potatoes, so I put some in a bowl and tried feeding them to him. He would eat them off of my finger but not off of his spoon! If he thinks he is eating big people food, he loves it, but if it's coming off of his spoon he thinks it's baby food and hates it......oh Raylan Raylan.....what are we going to do with you?

Raylan hates eating....

For those of you who would like to watch Raylan gag down some baby food for the first time, here is the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPIc6ICRRe0

Let's catch up...

It was brought to my attention that I have shared quite a few pictures and little stories of the kids on Facebook and then proceeded to forget to post them on here....so for all two of you that don't have Facebook, this post is for you. A little recap of the past few weeks. If you have Facebook, just bypass this post, you've pretty much seen and heard it all!

A few days ago, Sawyer's school had a traditional Hanukkah Meal of Prime Rib from Omaha Steaks (YUM!)

Me: Sawyer, how was your lunch today?? Was the steak totally yummy?

Sawyer: I decided to have yogurt and the salad bar instead.

Seriously??

I heard Raylan in his room the other morning and went into get him and found him standing up all by himself! 

He is QUITE proud of himself!

We had an ugly Christmas sweater party the other day! 

The shelves of Goodwill were cleared out of all of their gaudy Christmas threads! 

 Sawyer got home and was telling me about his day.

Sawyer: We read a book called "The guinea pig's breast."

Me: WHAT??

(Later clarified the book was called, "Stink and the guinea pig express.")

Out at a Moscato Wine Tasting at Brix!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

 Last weekend we dove into the Christmas season head first! We started out at dinner with Nana & Papa, Uncle Bruce & Lin and cousin Mya. It was D-lish! Downtown Omaha is not normally what I would call stunning...but at Christmas time, that's exactly what it is. Every tree in the Old Market is wrapped in lights and it is just beautiful. 

After dinner, we hightailed it a few freezing blocks to go see The Nutcracker Ballet. This was very special for me, because growing up we went to the Nutcracker every year and I just loved it. So taking my own family to join in the tradition was very special. Sawyer and Mya loved it and of course whispered through the entire thing! It was such a great evening and really got us in the Christmas mood! 

Raylan waiting to go to church. Is he not the cutest thing you've ever seen?

Ever since Bill and I got married, we have been on 'Team Artificial Tree'.....except for this year. We decided to be brave and do the whole live tree thing. I had been building this event up in Sawyer's mind for weeks...all of us together, prancing through Santa's Woods to find the perfect tree, Bill cutting it down and tying it up on our car, and singing Christmas carols all the way home. Nice huh? That did not happen. 

The thing that pretty much pooped on our parade was the fact that the temperature dropped so there were like arctic winds blowing a million miles per hour. We drove all the way out to the tree farm, bundled up, rode on an open air tractor to the woods, got off and it took about thirty seconds to decide that this was no fun at all. So the boys and I jumped on the next tractor back and Bill and Liz set off to find the perfect tree. 

While we were waiting for their return, we were able to see Santa! Being as how Raylan just loves a good beard, he just went to town on Santa's. We sipped hot chocolate and apple cider and as we started to warm up, our Christmacy moods reemerged. 

Bill and Liz found a GREAT tree! They wrapped it up and threw it in the back of Liz's truck and we headed home to do some decorating!

Sawyer has been so so so excited about taking down our Christmas boxes and decorating the tree, so now that the day was finally here, he could barely contain himself! 

Getting it to stand up straight in the stand took a while, but eventually it was in!

No more pre-lit trees for us!

Sawyer's method of decorating is to just put a bunch or ornaments all in one spot. 

I let him do it and then just rearrange them when he's not looking :)

Ta-Daaaaaaaaa

Hope you all have your trees decorated, your mistletoe hung and Christmas cookies on your counter!