Christmas with the Schwartzhoff's

Merry Christmas! Today we celebrated Christmas at my mom and dad's. The boys were so excited to get to grandma's in the morning. Wishing I had closed the blind in this one, but it's still a pretty good picture.

Anna's first Christmas! She got a cute kitchen from grandma and grandpa Schwartzhoff.Brady has started the yearly tradition of sticking a bow on his head for a picture. Here it is!Pretty excited for our new Brewer gear!Packer stuff too!My grandma got the boys pillow pets. Packer and Brewer ones of course. They were really excited!Who knew clothes were also tasty!?!Anna got these cute boots from my parents. They are adorable on her!Opening presents with daddy.Alex was so excited to get his new t-ball glove. It didn't leave his hands once it was opened.Anna loved playing in the wrapping paper. She just giggled, grabbed, and kept on rolling around in it having fun. What a great way to begin our Christmas Eve! It was a wonderful day spent with family!

Building with Daddy

Thursday night we celebrated Christmas with some good friends of ours. Brady got a "build your own truck" set. First thing out of his mouth yesterday morning was, "Dad! We have to build my truck now." Jammies and all, daddy and Brady got it built. He had so much fun!

Pretty proud of his hard work!

Brady's Special Day

This week at school, Brady's teacher invited in parents and grandparents to share holiday traditions with the class. On Wednesday, Andy and my dad went in to share our tradition of singing. Andy played his guitar and they both sang. They sang Away in a Manger, Rudolph, Frosty, and Silent Night with Brady's class. Brady was so excited! He even got to be the daily helper that day. He got to sit in the daily helper chair up front while daddy and grandpa sang.

I love Brady and Madi's expressions!It was a special day!

Of all the day to forget my camera...

Last Sunday I left my camera at home, sitting on the desk. Yep, it was Sunday School program day. I tried with my phone, but the pics are not the best. Brady did a great job singing this year. He even did a few of the actions that went with the songs. His class sang Away in a Manger and Go Tell It On the Mountain. We was thrilled that all of his grandma's and grandpa's were there to see him too! He is in the middle of the second row.

All the kids sang We Wish You A Merry Christmas.Following the program, we headed to Fanny Hill for brunch with Andy's parents. Little did we know Santa was there! And I had NO camera!!!

A bit fuzzy, but this was the best we could do. Brady was excited to get to tell Santa in person all about his letter he sent to him.

Our happy girl!A little unsure...

Christmas with the Grotjahn's

Tonight we celebrated Christmas with our good friends the Grotjahn's. It was so much fun! Pizza party with the kids, gift exchanges for the little ones, Christmas jammies, a movie, and play time. A great night. I love this bunch!

So Big!

Anna is doing So Big! She is so cute. You ask her once "How big is Anna?" She immediately grins and throws her hands in the air...and then keeps doing it about six times in a row. Adorable!!

My little one is discovering the fun of playing with the cups/coffee mugs and tupperware on the kitchen floor as well. I remember that all too well with the boys and how they LOVED to play with stuff in the kitchen. She is well on her way.

Cookie baking

The boys have been so excited to do cut out cookies. With the help of my mom, we were able to get them done this week. Brady was SO excited and a great helper. He helped every step of the way. From making the dough, to cutting the shapes, to putting al the sprinkles on he was a great helper!

Cheese! Alex on the other hand wanted to help and just play in the flour. He was a glorious mess by the time we were done, but he sure had fun!Hard at work.So many to choose from!Enjoying all of our hard work. It was a messy and fun night!

Elf on the Shelf

Thanks to my Aunt Kris, we are the proud owners of the elf Cookie. Our little Elf on the Shelf has become a fun tradition for the boys. The giggles have taken over many morning as they have found Cookie hiding in the tree, hanging upside down from ceiling fans, and peaking out from the leaves of some plants. Such a cute tradition for little kids!

Christmas Card Pictures

It took many photos and Andy and I being really silly, but we finally got good pictures of the kids for our Christmas cards. Here are the winners from this year.

Letters to Santa

A couple of weekends ago, we headed to the cities and hit up Macy's with Jen and Jerry. While we were there, Brady had a chance to write a letter to Santa. This is him writing his letter. He spoke aloud what he was writing while he worked.

When he finished it was my turn to write for him. He told to write,

"Dear Santa, I really want Lewis Hamilton, Rip Clutchgoneski, Max Schnell, and Shu Todoroki for Christmas. I love you Santa. I would like you to come play with me. Love, Brady"

All four items on his list are cars from Cars 2 that we do not have. I love that he hopes that Santa will come play with him!

Mailing our lettersWe headed upstairs after our letter writing to view Macy's "A Day in the Life of an Elf" show. It was really neat. We tried for a family picture and this was the best we could do.