Favorite Christmas Moments 2011

1.  Last night at the 5:00pm church service, our 2 year old, tried very hard to be good for what we had described as Jesus' birthday party.  It worked out well that there were numerous candles (wink).  The last song of the service was "Silent Night."  Eli started singing sweetly - Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday Dear Jesus, Happy Birthday to you."  So sweet.

2.  Watching mom help Hannah and Eli write notes to Santa to leave with his chocolate chip cookies.

3.  Coming home after Christmas Eve with the Millers and checking the Santa Claus website with Hannah.  She was able to see where Santa had been and could plainly see that he was on his way to Omaha.  There was part of the website where there is a camera on Santa's sleigh.  Hannah saw how fast the reindeer were flying and ran into bed.  She asked us when we were going to bed as Santa could not come if we were awake.  She promptly fell asleep in 5 minutes!

4.  Hannah waking up this morning and running into the living room.  Then, she ran into our room and told Derek that "Santa brought my kitchen!"  She, then, ran downstairs saying, "Grandma, Grandma!  Santa brought my kitchen!  I wasn't on the naughty list!"  All of this prior to her opening her gift from Santa!

5.  Eli playing with his "Choo-Choo tain" and saying "Oh no!" every time the train fell off the track.  And saying "Merry Mis-mus!"

6.  Hannah's amazing maturity to wait patiently for all to open presents and be so grateful for what she received.  She is becoming such a big helper and such a big girl!  Loving that at the end of the night she wanted to just sit with her mommy.

7.  Enjoying a nice dinner with family.

8.  Ending the evening with a phone call to Josh.

Merry Christmas 2011!  Joy to the World!

Christmas Tree and Christmas Gear

Our sweet babes testing out their Christmas digs...reindeer and all.

Nobody was having any fun!

Somebody around here is silly!

Our gorgeous girl - yes this smile required a "candy if you smile" brib - whatever works right?

And we are 2...

First Snowfall

Saturday, we received our first 5 inches of perfect snowman snow.

A quick glimpse into the beginning of the snowman.

(P.S. there were multiple snow angels, but the snowman may need to be completed later.)

Our sweet boy helping to shovel...note to self - need to buy E boots and 

snowpants for Christmas, as he is wearing his sister's from last year.  

All smiles!

Shovelin' helper

The rosey cheeks signal cold and mommy I want to go inside!

Sitting on the snowman beginnings...

Tree Topper and Santa

Hannah's official job.  Placing the star on the tree after all ornaments have been hung.

Daddy making sure the heavy star doesn't fall down with our princess ducking away.

Stargazers and their excitement!

Final touches...

A couple cute kids!

Shopping for some Christmas presents today, Hannah and I ran into Santa!

He was surely a jolly ol' elf and had an amazing laugh!

Hannah expressed her Christmas wishes along with Eli's as 

she didn't want him to forget her favorite brother!

Note the 2 candy canes - one for each.

Last weekend we went to the Durham Museum which is an old train station in Omaha.

Santa was there and the kids were mesmorized.

Check out that beard!

Books and the E-man

The "little man," as Hannah endearingly calls her brother, loves books.

Here is a glimpse into the Christmas books that he just LOVES!

Turning pages is serious business!

The stack of more to the left after he is finished with "Twas the Night Before Christmas."

Our sweet boy.

Our Thanksgiving Turkey

Mask ideas from Grandma

The princess....  Grandma Kathy gave me a book of easy masks to make.

Mommy helped me do cut out some shapes...

and here is my finished product =)

I added my own jewels to the crown.  

Hard to believe that 25 years ago my uncle Josh 

had a policeman mask from the same book.

Chillin' in my Sox Hat

Went shopping with daddy - we wore matching hats.  

However, I'm a bit jealous of dad's socking Boston cap.

Cheese

Rakin' Leaves...

We have a couple of leaves in our yard...

A cute little chilly girl!

Loving being bundled...

Our leaf collector...

And the helpful raker...

Important work...

Finally...

Finally it happened...my parents believed that I was a big enough boy for a big boy bed.

Of course, I had to be in the middle of the action to help with construction.

Check it out!

Tah dah! 2 little monkeys jumping on the bed.

1 fell off and bumped his head - mommy didn't call the doctor,

but the nurse practitioner said - "No more monkeys jumping on the bed!"

And Hannah trying to not get too excited...

Sound asleep.  So much nicer for him to have more space to spread out.

Here's to not falling out of the bed tonight =)

Topeka Zoo

A family picture at the Topeka Zoo.  Forgot our Omaha pass, but were able to see an 1 1/2 hour tour of the Topeka Zoo which happens to be next to the Children's Museum.  A very nice cute little zoo.

Mommy and Hannah on Mommy's birthday in front of the bronze lion.

Shout out to Shelli for the animal photos!  

The giraffes were pretty cool and the first animal to see.

And the orangatangs - this one was so cute.  

Took a piece of burlap and figured out how to throw it out to us the visitors. 

 Then he figured out a way to obtain the burlap again and start the process over.  So fun!

One of Mommy's favorite pictures of the kids.  They loved sitting on 

all of the bronze sculptures at the zoo.

Cutest Elephant ever!  Hannah was so excited because the elephants in 

Omaha are gone temporarily.  She remembered San Diego and 

loved watchting them eat.  Isn't this elephant to cute!

Flamingos....

Some hippos eating lunch...the kids wanted them to swim so bad, 

but they understood the importance of lunch.

The kids, again, riding on a wooden bear - so excited!

Hannah the navigator.  She took her job very seriously

This is what is next...

The Family Miller walking through the zoo...