Proud Parents

This week Trey had his Christmas music show at school.  I am amazed by the overwhelming, heart-bursting experience that watching your children perform on stage creates inside of you.  Ever since Trey was a baby and would get on stage (and could do nothing except for look out at the crowd while a lady from the daycare held him) I have felt the overwhelming sense of pride at watching my son up on stage. 

We arrived nice and early to the program to get a great seat this year.  While we were waiting, Trey and I stopped for a quick picture. 

His class was adorable on stage!  I couldn't take my eyes off of the little singing angels.



At the end of the show all the classes took the stage to sing a few songs together.  Trey's short height had a great advatage at the end...it landed him front and center so we had a great view as they performed their songs with all the motions that went along with them too.

This first song is "Come to Us"

And listening to this song ("A Song of Peace") still brings tears into my eyes.  They are so sweet and innocent and I treasure every moment I have with my little boys.

Cookie Baking Fun...YUM!

Last weekend we visited by sister and her husband in Columbus for some annual cookie baking fun!

This year Xavier was old enough to help decorate (and eat) his very own cookie.  I think he had more fun eating the frosting and sprinkles than actually decorating.

Trey did a great job making beautiful cookies this year.  And his favorite part this year was eating his cookie after he was done decorating it!

After we were done cookie baking we had our gift exchange.  This year's theme was to find a gift from a thrift store.

We walked away with some great gifts!  Trey inherited both of them...he got a glass nativity set for his bedroom and a spinning light for a disco party in his room.

After the adult exchange the boys got their presents from Aunt Stephie and Uncle Kam.  Trey loved his Stompeez (Aunt Stephie is great at finding "As Seen on TV" gifts that he just loves!).

And Xavier loved his bumblebee ball.  He hugged it and carried it around by its little antennae all night.

And he will look so handsome in his little pea coat.

We had a great time celebrating an early Christmas with them in Columbus as they head to Fiji for Christmas.  Now we only have a few more days to wait until Christmas here to see what Santa brings for both boys.  We can't wait to have a relaxing day with family making new memories for another Christmas.

Lots of Lights

We finally made it out to see the big light display this year.  We knew Xavier loves looking at and pointing out lights everywhere we go and that he would especially enjoy the display this year.

As soon as we arrived he wouldn't stop saying, "light," and, "hoho," at all the displays in all the yards.

We spent a lot of time at this house.  They had so many trains and little light displays to see and we didn't want to miss one of them!

We all enjoyed all the lights and I am still amazed by the amount of time and effort this neighborhood puts in to their display.

Christmas Fun

I love this time of the year with the boys.  It is amazing how much has changed in a year's time.  Xavier can now walk, talk, and feed himself!  I can't believe his is getting closer and closer to two every day.

This time of the year is so heartwarming.  Trey loves to daily change the Advent calendar to see what new little ornament is behind the door.

And both boys love playing with all the Christmas decorations around the house.  Their favorite so far is the musical Santa that sings and dances.  Xavier's face was priceless the first time we turned it on.

And they make a cute pair of brothers as they danced around the Santa in their Christmas PJ's.

Xavier loves wearing his Santa hat around the house.  I love watching him see everything during this time of the year.  The holiday's are amazing through the eyes of my children!

So Many Santas

The many faces of Santa around our house have come out lately...

Santa Chas (with Xavier calling him a "HoHo")

Santa Xavier

And Santa Trey (he loves to sleep with a Santa hat on...)



Our Favorite Holiday Tradition

Today we ventured out to Lake Farmpark for breakfast with Santa and toy building in the workshop: one of our favorite holiday moments.

We started with a picture by the beautiful real Christmas trees.  Each tree is decorated by a different organization or company and they were each beautiful and unique!

 Once seated at breakfast the boys began coloring their Christmas pictures.

Our growing boys both must have been hungry because they dug right into breakfast with a big thumbs up!

During breakfast Santa arrived to lots of applause.  He visited each table to give each child a gift.  Xavier didn't take his eyes off of Santa (or "hoho" as he calls him) as he walked around the room to every table.

The boys couldn't wait for Santa to get to our table.  Xavier got a little red car from Santa and Trey picked out football cards.

After breakfast we visited Santa's sleigh so Trey could tell him what he wanted for Christmas.  Trey told Santa he wanted a green ninja Ninjago set and, in his words, "other things I haven't decided on yet."

 Then we sat Xavier on Santa's lap for a picture...

The picture says it all...  He loves pointing out "hoho" in his train set, on the tree, on the TV, on people's lawns, in decorations...but when it comes to sitting with "hoho" he wasn't having any part of it.  I can't help but smile at his reaction.   We are already laughing about this moment and I'm sure we will for many years to come!

After visiting Santa we headed to the toy building workshop and picked out a toy to build.  Trey picked a toy soldier and Xavier picked a Christmas tree.  Xavier watched as his elf built his tree.

Trey helped hammer and drill his toy soldier together.

After building the toys we were off to paint.  Trey did a great job designing and painting his soldier. 

And I had a very relaxing time painting Xavier's tree.  I think next year he'll be all ready to paint his own toy but for this year he had a great time looking at all the Christmas displays in the hallway and seeing the toys in the playroom instead.

While our toys were drying Trey visited a HUGE toy soldier like he painted and measured himself against the soldier...it was A LOT taller!

We also visited the barn to see all the animals.  The boys got to see 5 day-old baby piglets, sheep, a turkey, goats, and they even got a chance to help groom one of the horses.

 When we headed back to the workshop our toys were dry and ready to take home!  The boys have some adorable new toys and we have some unforgettable new family memories.

O Christmas Tree

The past week has been spent slowly putting up the Christmas tree and our decorations around the house.  The boys couldn't wait to pull our their Christmas train set from Santa last year!  Xavier snuck into the box before we even opened it and pulled out the train. 

Trey helped Xavier get the bridge out and started playing with great excitement!



The kids couldn't wait to get the tree up this year either!  When we put up the first layer Xavier was so excited he ran right up to it and pointed to and touched every branch.

Then Chas made the mistake of showing them how to turn on the tree...  They both crawled under the tree and giggled together as they turned the tree off and on again and again.  They are too cute together!

After a few days we finally got around to putting some ornaments on the tree.  Last year I must have had a moment of brilliance as I was putting away ornaments...  As we got out our ornament boxes I noticed we had placed all the fragile and breakable ornaments into one box and all the kid-friendly ornaments into our second box.  Trey and Xavier could jump right into putting ornaments on the tree without any worry of breaking anything! 

After all the ornaments were on the tree Xavier stood right next to it and pointed at every one he could say and told us what they were over and over again.  It is one of the moments that makes my heart swell with love and pride and I will never forget that moment with our little man.

He also loves to make the musical ornaments play music.  He stands right next to the tree and pushes the little button...

And then once it starts playing he claps along with the music.  I love walking into the room and seeing him next to the tree just enjoying the magic of all the new ornaments he sees.

After the tree was decorated Trey helped me put up our manger.  He had very specific ideas of where he wanted to put Mary, Joseph, and all the wise men.  He did a great job helping this year!

This last picture sums up the amazement I see in Xavier's eyes during this time of the year.  Everything new we pull out of the basement or we see when we are out and about amazes this little man.  He is in awe of everything he sees.  I am pausing a lot this year to take everything in just a little more - especially this expression on his face.  This amazement only lasts a few years and I love every moment of it!