Saying Good-bye to Elfie!

This morning the boys found Elfie sitting by the stove with chocolate all over his face and a big cookie crumb mess!  He left a note saying how much he had enjoyed watching over them and would miss them until next year.  He also said that he saw us baking cookies yesterday and just couldn't resist trying one!  The letter also said that Santa had lifted his power and the boys could both touch him ONE time and then put him back.  Drew thought that was pretty cool and gave him a quick hug, but Jack wanted nothing to do with touching him!  We will miss you, Elfie - have a safe trip back to the North Pole!

Ornament Exchange

This is the second year we have done an ornament exchange with my good friend Beth's kids, Hailey and Kinsey.  We used to teach together so the kids have known each other pretty much since they were babies!  They have really enjoyed picking out ornaments for each other and getting together to open them.  Drew picked a sparkly butterfly for Hailey and a pink princess car for Kinsey.  The girls gave Drew a police car that is motion sensored and sets off a siren if you come close to the presents!  Jack got a Mater ornament - he loves his Cars!

First Snow!

It snowed here for the first time on Thursday!  The boys were SO excited - we were baking cookies and Drew looked up and just happened to look out the window!  Of course it only lasted about an hour and didn't really even stick to the grass, but that didn't stop us from getting out the snow boots, bundling up and going out to catch some snowflakes on our tongues!  I just loved seeing their excitement.  It was beautiful while it lasted!

Trying to eat the snow off the grass!

Christmas Wonder

Sweet little Jack listening to Mimi read "The Night Before Christmas".

Letters to Santa

I am a little late in posting this, but it was too cute to leave out.  The boys wrote their letters to Santa a week or so ago and mailed them out to the North Pole.  Drew of course was coming up with all kinds of things that weren't on his ORIGINAL Christmas list!  What is Santa to do?!  Drew asked Santa for a giant crane, car carrier, dump truck, pickup truck, and an electric scooter.  Jack wants a Lightening McQueen race track and a big Mack truck to carry all his cars in.  Note that he wants to leave Santa some donuts on Christmas Eve!  (We talked him into cookies)  :)

Gingerbread Fun!

The boys had fun decorating their gingerbread house last weekend - thank goodness Mommy is getting better and better every year at putting it together and it doesn't fall over anymore!  The final product ended up being a little bare because Jack had to eat just as many pieces of candy as he put on the house!

Christmas in the Park

We went out to Longview Lake to see Christmas in the Park again this year.  It is a huge lights display that you drive through - well worth the drive out there!  We went right after Brian got home from work the other night and we lucked out because there was no line to wait in!  By the time we were coming out, the line was getting longer.  The boys loved hanging out the windows looking at the lights - Jack kept saying, "Wow!!  Wow!!"  They are really neat - they have Santas, snowmen, a train, a skier that goes down a hill and jumps over your car, a fish jumping out of a pond - all made out of lights that move! 

This gingerbread girl on the left was jumping on a trampoline and doing flips!

This sledder went down the hill and knocked over the snowman!

Good Times with Great Grandpa

We went out to dinner with Great Grandpa Spotts last weekend.  The boys love spending time with him and Grandpa loves it as well!  The boys are always good for a laugh.  Grandpa likes to tease them by taking their drink when they're not looking - after a few times of doing this to Jack, Jack says to him, "Hey!  You're on the naughty list, Grandpa!"  It was pretty hilarious! 

Showing Grandpa his cars

Couldn't get all 3 in the picture no matter how hard I tried!

Christmas at Crown Center

Every year we go to Crown Center to see Santa and play in his Crayola Playland.  This year we took cousin Sam with us!  The boys had lots of fun playing on the slides and climbing all over the place.  Jack went right up to Santa and told him that he wanted a Lightening McQueen Race Track and a Big Mack truck.  Drew wasn't too thrilled about sitting on Santa's lap but knew he wanted to tell him he wants a giant crane for Christmas!  Afterwards we had to eat dinner at Fritz's where the train delivers your (less than tasty) food.  It was Sam's first time there and the boys all loved it!

Checking out the gingerbread village

Sam wanted nothing to do with Santa!

Mesmerized by all the trains!

Fort Building Fun!

Drew built a big fort in his room the other night - pretty much all by himself!  He was very proud.  I helped a little bit, just clipping the blankets onto things to make them stay up, then when I came back upstairs they had their sleeping bags, pillows and stuffed animals in there!  Drew really wanted to sleep in it but only if Jack would, too.  I didn't think they'd actually settle down and go to sleep, but we let them lay in there for awhile at bedtime.  Sure enough - they both fell asleep!!  Drew slept there all night but I ended up putting Jack in his own bed around midnight because he was rolling all over and I wasn't sure where he'd end up!  It was so cute - one of the first times they've really acted like "brothers"!  Can't wait for more fort building fun in our future.  :)

Ready for Christmas!

We had so much fun decorating for Christmas this past weekend!  The boys each have their own little tree this year to keep in their room.  They loved decorating them with the little ornaments we found!  Grandma and Grandpa were here and Mimi and Papa came over for pizza so everyone got to join in the tree decorating!  We have all the ornaments from every year when I was a kid and all the ones Drew and Jack have collected each year, too.  It's always fun to get them all out and reminisce about when we got them all!  Both boys are really getting into Christmas this year.  Drew was super excited to get all the Christmas stuff out and Jack is at the age where he is really understanding it all for the first time, so they had a blast!  When we were hanging up the stockings, Jack put one on his foot like a sock!  It was hilarious but he took it off too quick for me to get a picture.  He also keeps screaming, "It's CHRISTMASTIME!!!"  Oh yeah - he has also just learned to take his shirt and pants off by himself, so that explains why he was decorating the Christmas tree in his diaper.  :)

All finished with our little trees!

"I'm Santa - what do you want?!" (yes, that's what he was going around saying!)

Dancing around the kitchen to the Christmas music!

Fun times with Grandma and Grandpa