Christmas Eve

Matching Christmas Eve pajamas from Mem

 Making a plate of cookies and carrots for Santa and his reindeer

One of my favorite parts of Christmas Eve was hearing Owen on his monitor after we put him to bed:
"Santa... here...house...presents... under the tree".

Oh the magic and wonder!

Playing Doctor

Christmas doings

We've been busy preparing for Christmas... yes I realize this post is a bit late!

Making handprint ornaments

 

and making peppermint bark - Owen helped crush the candycanes with his hammer!

Curious Max

In our last minute Christmas shopping journeys yesterday we found Max's ornament for this year:

Being that Max is so easily distracted, wants to be a part of everything and is constantly moving, I thought this one was quite appropriate!

We also made hand print ornaments.

 

And some peppermint bark - Owen helped crush the candy canes.

The boys helped wrap presents this year... which resulted in torn paper by one and half chewed paper by the other.  I wouldn't have it anyother way.

Just Playin'

Owen decided to take the toys in the toy box and give them all to Max.

Max is laughing underneath.

Kisses from Owen.

Santa Train Ride

This weekend we went to the Railway Museum and took a ride on a train to see Santa.

First we stopped to have lunch.

Owen LOVED the train ride.

Here he is telling me "Train Momma, Train!":

Owen and Max enjoy the sites as we ride by:

Santa Claus himself.  Owen didn't want to sit on his lap - a previous visit with Santa proved to be a bit scary.  But he did sit next to Santa and had a nice conversation:

Santa:  What do you want for Christmas?
Owen: Twwuck
Santa:  What color truck would you like?
Owen:  Bue

So cute!

On the way home Owen kept saying "More trains Daddy. More trains".

Yup - well worth the money.

Owen's Angel

We made an angel in our 2 year old library class today after listening to holiday stories and playing bells while singing Jingle Bells.

Owen chose to jump while playing bells...

Owen takes care of Christmas Bear

Owen took very good care of Christmas Bear tonight.  Notice the bib and "bread" he fed to bear. 

And this was after he put Christmas Bear down for a nap, got him up, smelled his bottom, informed me that Bear had "poopy" and "changed" his diaper. 

They watch everything.

Max standing up

LOVE LOVE LOVE watching them play together

Traditions... ornament syle

I am continuing a tradition my mom did with my brother and I when we were growing up.  Each year we got to pick out a Christmas ornament.  My mom would write our name and year on each ornament.  It is a neat reminder of what we were "into" that year.  I've since started with my boys - well Owen so far. 

Here's Owen's first Christmas ornament - he was born 2 months premature and I thought a Superman onesie was appropriate since by Christmas you couldn't even tell he had been a preemie!

  His second ornament - he was fascinated with Elmo and Sesame Street at the time (he only watches about 20 minutes of TV before bed).


And today we found the perfect ornament for this year.  At the local Hallmark store we were looking around and came across this:

  I also found a John Deere tractor ornament but when given the choice he chose the truck.  He is REALLY into trucks right now.

Now we need to find one for Max...

Believin'

I've been making my own Christmas cards for the last 5 years and I think this years is my favorite so far...

The inside message:   ... in the *MAGIC* of Christmas.

I purchased a kit from Crafty Steals and used the patterned paper and ribbon that came in it to create it. 

 (paper and ribbon: American Crafts, star punch: Marvy Uchida, 

 glitter: Martha Stewart Crafts, "believe" stamp: Inkadinkado)

May the wonder of the season surround you and your family.

-M

What it's all about...

So after following several blogs I've decided to give it a try... it's been one of those little ideas that just never go away until you do something about it.  Maybe it's about wanting to document this wonderful time in my life or maybe it's to share my experiences with others, or maybe it's to see what this blogging thing is all about.  So we'll hop on and see where this thing takes us.

One thing I do know for sure... it's really about the small moments... those little moments that just melt your heart.  Those moments at home with my 2 1/2 year old and 9 month old boys, those moments when I hear "Mooooom!" coming from the other room - so excited to show me something.  It's about those constant smiles and watching my boys interact with each other.  It's about the times when my youngest laughs uncontrollably at my 2 1/2 year olds silly antics and it becomes contagious... it's all about the small stuff that makes your heart so big... the stuff in between the sleepless nights.