Garrett's Preschool Christmas Program.....

Garrett had his first Christmas program at preschool. It was on my birthday at 11:00 am. Aaron and I both went and my mom and dad went too. We thought we had good seats until the kids came in and took their places. Garrett's place was in the first row which would have been good except the first row sat on the floor. Needless to say, we didn't have a very good view of him. We had to stand up to see the top of his head. I ended up leaving my seat to find a better place to see him. I wasn't very successful. This is the best picture we got of him.

The program literally lasted about 6 minutes. The kids are only 2-4 years old so they don't have a very long attention span. They sang a couple of Christmas songs and then they marched out to eat their treats. It was still fun to see him preform in this type of environment.

More Pajamas....

I love pajamas and I love buying the kids pajamas. I don't like for them to wear the same pair every night (is that weird?) This is a pair of my favorite pajamas on Jake. I love the footed pajamas on babies. These are not the heavy fleece kind but they are thinner and softer. Here is Jake playing with his cars and then sleeping peacefully in his crib. I love watching the kids sleep. They look so innocent, snuggly, and peaceful.

Annual Christmas Photo.....

Every year we get the kids matching Christmas pajamas and we go to the mall to take a Christmas picture. This is Garrett and Marissa's 4th Christmas photo and this is Jake's 2nd photo. We had to do a little bribing to get Marissa to take the picture and smile. When we got to the mall she did NOT want to take a picture. After a little smooth talking from her Auntie (me) she finally agreed to take the picture. Of course, I had to take her to Toys R Us afterwards but that's ok.

As you can see, Jake is not smiling, but at least he's looking at the camera. We couldn't get him to smile at all! He looked at my mom and I and the photographer like we were crazy. We were all jumping around trying to get him to smile but he wouldn't. I think the picture is still adorable and I can't wait to see how the kids act next year!

Christmas Party....

My dad's company has a Christmas party for the employee's kids every year. This is the first year we took Garrett and Marissa. The party was held at a movie theater where Santa came to visit and take pictures and hand out presents to all the kids. Then we got to see the movie "Happy Feet". Garrett & Marissa had a great time and they actually behaved very well.

Garrett was a little nervous about going to the movie theater at first because he doesn't like how loud it gets sometimes. We brought some earplugs just in case but he didn't need them. He was happy that his cousin was with him. We sat near the aisle so the kids sat on the steps for part of the movie. They enjoyed it for the most part. My dad, myself, and Kathy went too. We might take Jake next year, depending on how we think he'll act. He might still be a little young to sit through a movie, but we'll see.

Christmas Parade.....

We took the kids to the Christmas light parade the first weekend of December. This was our third year going and it seems to be a tradition that we all look forward to, especially because the kids get so excited seeing all the lights. We decorated the kids' wagons with lights and garland and bundled them up. We brought pizza for dinner and drank hot chocolate to get warm. Jake pointed at the floats and Garrett plugged his ears when the marching bands walked by. We all had a great time and we look forward to the next parade.

Thanksgiving Day.....

We spent Thanksgiving Day watching the Macy's parade, getting ready, taking pictures for our Christmas card, going to Lita & Lito's for Thanksgiving Dinner and then going to Uncle Jim's house for dessert and then coming back to Lita and Lito's to play some board games. A fun filled day for everyone and very thankful for everything we have!

Making a Mess.....

As I mentioned in earlier posts, the boys really play well together. A lot of times, playing well together means making a mess. Just when I've straightened up the house, I turn around and there's another mess. I don't mind too much because it does keep them busy for a good block of time. This is also a great opportunity to teach them about cleaning up their messes too. And believe me, I don't pass up that opportunity!

Relaxing with Daddy.....

It's very rare for Jake to sit still for a minute. But once in a while he will come to one of us and want to be picked up and he'll just sit with you. We cherish these moments because it doesn't happen very often. He is such a busy body and when we want to snuggle with him, he won't want to. So when Jake volunteers to snuggle with one of us, we will stop whatever we are doing and enjoy the moment.

More Goofing Around...

The boys really enjoy playing together. They already play pretty rough, as if they were a few years older. It will be interesting to see how they grow up and play together. They already wrestle and shove and run from each other~the usual little boy behavior. They have their peaceful moments too. Sometimes Garrett will say "mommy, take a picture of us". How can I not grab the camera and take pictures?

This pic was taken in early November which is when Jake started walking. He's been walking for about a month and I can see how fast he's become. When he started he was so unstable and "drunk". He has gotten so fast and confident in the past month I just can't believe it.

Goofing Around....

Garrett found this Sombrero up high in his closet one day and he asked me to get it down. He kept calling it a cowboy hat. I tried to explain that it was a Mexican hat called a sombrero but he couldn't say that so he just called it a cowboy hat. He used it to ride his horse and then he decided to put the hat on Jakey.

Pumpkin Carving....

I promise these will be the last pictures I post from Halloween! I'm trying desperately to catch up on all of my pictures. Here are the kids at Lita's & Lito's carving pumpkins. This was the first year that Garrett & Marissa actually got involved in the carving. Jakey got in on the fun by touching the slimey insides of the pumpkins. We carved a total of 7 pumpkins that night. We had a lot of fun but we missed Tia Gina!

More Halloween Pics...

Here are some more pics of Halloween. We always go trick or treating around my parent's neighborhood. The kids had fun and they lasted a little longer than last year. They were anxious to get home and look at all of their candy. Jakey didn't really know what was going on but he still had fun. More pics to come soon!

Halloween at Preschool...

The Holiday Season is officially upon us but I still haven't finished posting our Halloween pictures. Time is just flying by! Garrett goes to preschool 2 days a week, Tuesdays and Thursdays. His school did not celebrate "Halloween". Instead they called it "Noah's Ark Day". (He attends a Christian Preschool). The kids were allowed to come dressed as an animal in celebration of Noah's Ark Day. He decided to be a lion. This is my attempt at making him into a lion. I think it came out ok and it didn't take very much time or money. He got lots of compliments and he was happy with it too. The kids marched is a parade at school to show off their costumes. I'll post more pics soon. Thanks for looking!