O, Christmas Tree!

We spent Saturday morning putting up the Christmas tree and decorating the house for the holidays. Brooklyn and Xavier loved pulling the ornaments out of the boxes and placing them on the tree. We only had one ornament casualty and I think it can be glued. Brooklyn placed the angel on top of the tree for the second year in a row. Xavier got to turn on the lights after everything was put on the tree. Don't worry, it's a remote. We don't let Xavier play with electrical outlets! It was neat to see his eyes light up with the tree as he pushed the button. Both kids were excited to be able to play with the VeggieTales nativity set again. They've been asking for it to come out of the crawlspace since Easter! I'm already tired of hearing Junior sing "O Little Town of Bethlehem."

Thankful for so much

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend with our families. We spent Thursday morning "playing" on Oma and Opa's property. The kids went for a hayride and Andy and I went for a walk in the woods. It was such a beautiful day! Later, we went to Cincinnati to enjoy a delicious meal prepared by Diane. I was painfully aware that I ate too much! John and Diane's dog Nikki had an injury so Brooklyn created a chair fence to protect her from the other dogs. She's always so concerned about others!
Andy and I braved the after-Thanksgiving shopping frenzy to complete most of our Christmas shopping. I can't imagine how he gets up that early every day for work! While we were gone, the kids made a gingerbread train and gingerbread cookies. Brooklyn and Xavier really, really wanted to eat the train. Thankfully, they were distracted with the cookies. After a visit with my Grandma, we headed home. We were so happy to know we still had the weekend to be at home!

Jumpin' in the Leaves

I wouldn't normally post this much, but we've been having so much fun lately! Yesterday, I finally got around to raking the leaves and the kids had a blast jumping in the pile! I can't count the number of times I raked the same pile, and my hands are covered in blisters, but we had fun! We buried each other, had leaf fights, and laughed like crazy. It's days like yesterday that make me love my "job!"

Big Boy Bed

Xavier spent his first night in his toddler bed last night. I am happy to report that there were no problems! He was almost too excited to jump into his bed and say goodnight. He wasn't too happy to realize that he had to actually go to sleep. I hope bedtime continues to be this easy!

the Kiddos

We have officially joined the blog bandwagon. I check out everyone else's almost every day. It's only fair that I create my own. I really enjoy keeping tabs on your families. So, to get started, I'm adding Xavier's two year old photo and Brooklyn's four year old photo for all the world to see. Until next time, Happy Blogging!