Christmas 2008

Christmas 2008 seems to have gone down as a success.

We started out at Brad's family's house on the 21st, and of course Kyle got some great stuff. We had a little party here for my birthday with our neighbors (cake courtesy of Brad and Kyle). Then we rolled right into Christmas Eve which was small and nice - just my parents, my brother's family and us. The kids had a blast opening gifts and Kyle went at warp speed thru the wrapping...he was done and Natalie still had six gifts to open. Many cookies and treats later, Brad was tracking Santa on NORAD for the kids, which they loved (although did not want pictures taken). We sprinkled reindeer food on the lawn, put out the cookies and carrots for Santa and the reindeer, and then off to bed so Santa could come. And boy did he. Kyle had asked for a Buzz Lightyear, a puzzle, and a game. He got all that and more. Santa got Kyle a battery powered 4-wheeler this year...which he loves...and has started standing up on now while riding it thru the yard. NO FEAR. I think he is ready for an offroad track. He has been on it everyday since Christmas and is really good at driving and steering it. I am in BIG trouble.

Video of the Four-Wheeler



Making Mommy's cake:

The finished product:

Checking out all the moveable ornaments on Grammy's tree:

Is this big gift for me?

Tracking Santa on the computer:

Opening gifts:

Christmas morning:

Whoa baby:

First time bowling:

Check out his form:

The B&O Train Museum

We headed out to the B&O Railroad Museum today for the first time. Kyle had a great time. He was completely mesmerized by the trains. He wanted to know how they worked, what they were called, and whether we could climb on them. He got to go on his first train ride and loved every minute of it. I have never seen him fully take something in like he did today. He just absorbed all the details he could and had question after question (sometimes the same question). Even tonight as we were going back over our day he relived all the details about the trains. We really had a great day.

By the way, I felt it only right to put the pictures of the trains in black and white - total ambiance.

Some Holiday Fun

Ahh yes, the Christmas season is upon us. Kyle is in full swing with Christmas and more importantly Santa this year. He gets it. He loves all the lights and decorations and fun stuff we are doing these days. He makes me tell him almost every night the story of what happens on Christmas Eve. We have seen Lights on the Bay, Homestead Gardens train and light display, made Christmas ornaments, and decorated the tree. He has taken it all in and it truly is magical to see everything through his eyes. He loves to turn on Christmas all over the house - we connected remote controls to the outside lights and the Christmas village, and put the other lights on switches so he can control them all. It really is my favorite time of year and even more so now that we have him to share it with. He was in a Christmas Pageant at school this year. The three-year-old class were shepherds and had to sing four lines from 'Away in a Manger'. They were really cute. Cuter than cute actually. It was one of my favorite Christmas things ever.

Getting ready for Lights on the Bay means PJ's in the car:


Lights on the Bay:


Making Christmas ornaments (not cookies):



Scenes from the Christmas card photo shoot:


Decorating the little tree in the family room is all Kyle's job:


My Christmas shepherd:


Too cute:


Decorating the real tree:

Happy Thanksgiving...a little late

We headed up to Pennsylvania for Thanksgiving again this year. Traveling on Thanksgiving is the way to go when headed through the great state of PA. There is no traffic. There is no construction. And there is no time for me to help with dinner since we role in just in time to get settled in to eat. This of course means dish-duty...but I can live with that. We had a great time this year. Uncle Sal was in from California and Kyle loved him. Aunt Bobbie read all our bed-time stories (I think she knew "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" by heart when we left). And Kyle loved playing "chase-game" with Grandma D's new dog Taz.

Leaves, Leaves, and More Leaves

Here's a little tip. When house-hunting, go in the fall. Never in the spring. Everything is in beautiful full bloom in the spring. The fall is when all the work that needs to be done becomes apparent. The beautiful trees that flank the yard are naked...and all that remains of that beauty is littered all over the yard. ALL OVER THE YARD. Behind every nook and cranny...trapped in every bush you own. This is my least favorite part of home ownership because no matter how many leaves we pick up, they continue to come...from where I don't know (as our trees are naked). We will still be doing this in the spring...although I must admit that having Kyle get so excited about running and jumping in them made it a little more bearable. Oh yeah, and the fact that I had an appointment to get my hair done right in the middle of the leaf pickup party didn't hurt this year either (you can't time these things...that appointment was on the books for weeks). There were 26 bags of leaves when all was said and done. I was responsible for bagging 6 bags.

This is the before picture:


See, they are everywhere:


Some fun in the leaves:


Brad and Kyle are both buried here...the trick is to spot Brad:


Buried:

Movie Night

We had our first "Movie Night" at the house. It was very exciting...there was much talk of popcorn and jammies and snuggling. I even bought a special new movie we could watch (Ratatouille). However, when it came time to decide on the movie, Kyle wanted to watch Thomas. I convinced him Thomas was a show not a movie, and got out all our movies for him to pick from (Nemo, Toy Story, Monster's Inc, Cars, and the shiny new shrink-wrapped Ratatouille)...and what did he choose? The new movie that I was selling hard - No, of course not. He picked Cars...which we have seen no less than 1 million times. It was still a success...and popcorn was had by all...and snuggling...and I have him convinced that we can never watch the same movie twice on movie night (there is hope for Ratatouille yet).

Trick or Treat

A few pictures from our enjoyable Halloween. Daddy took Kyle trick or treating and Mommy stayed at the neighbors house with the other mom's handing out candy (and drinking in the front lawn). Kyle hung with the big kids running from house to house for a while and then announced his bucket was full and he had enough candy and wanted to go home to eat it. He got back and I told him he could pick two pieces (which somehow meant five pieces) and proceeded to indulge. He had a blast and ended up with just enough candy to not make me have to take some to work with me to get rid of it.

Kyle's playing with some of our old costumes - scary dude:


All pumpkins carved by master pumpkin carver "Brad":


Superman is for the night out - he has been working on his muscles for maximum candy handling:


Trick or treat at Ms. Lynn's house:


Hanging onto the stash - please notice the sugar rush coming on: