New Year's Eve

New Year's Eve started with some snow removal.  The boys had fun outside helping Paul shovel the driveway and sidewalk.  We had some great wet snow for making snowballs.  

 Later in the afternoon we headed downtown to check out the First Night activities.  We always love the ice slide.  David did it on his own this year and Ryan braved the slide with Paul.

 It was soooo cold!  After the ice slide fun we met Aunt Shelby and Uncle Bob at the library to do the kids craft.  They each made a New Year hat and decorated it with glitter glue, feathers, stickers, . . . . lots of fun!

We ordered yummy snacks from Champs for dinner back at our house.  We enjoyed our adult meal in the dining room and had the kids meal in the kitchen.

 They had some Tom & Jerry entertainment with their meal.

 They all wanted to stay up until midnight.  They got silly as it got later.  By 9 p.m. they thought it was hilarious to crawl through the table in the living room.

 Their night ended with some computer time in the office around 10 p.m.  The girls headed home and the boys headed to bed.  They're not quite ready to stay up until midnight yet.

Hockey Boys

The boys looked so cute in their matching sweatshirts from Aunt Gloria, Uncle Peter and cousins Heather and Amanda. When David put his on, Ryan screamed "me too" to get his on. Now, we just have to let them watch a hockey game and get them hooked.

Christmas Celebration with Grammy Jill & Poppy Dave

Grammy Jill and Poppy Dave came to visit for the weekend. The boys had fun pointing out their pictures to Grammy Jill and Poppy Dave.

The loved opening all the presents from Uncle Peter, Aunt Gloria and cousins Amanda and Heather. The Hess race cars were a hit.

This picture doesn't do the present from Grammy Jill and Poppy Dave justice. The boys are both mesmerized by their new Discovery Kids lights. The lights have fish and jungle animals that rotate. They both wanted them in their rooms at bedtime.

Christmas Night

Nana Sharon and Pappy Dave visited on Christmas night to exchange presents. David opened his Matchbox Pirate ship and said "I've always wanted this . . . my whole life." Needless to say, he was very excited. Ryan liked his superheroes. And both boys had fun watching their new movies: The Wizard of Oz and Curious George.

The boys had fun pointing to their pictures in Nana Sharon and Pappy Dave's calendar.

Christmas Morning

Ryan's favorite gift = Elmo Backpack! He screamed when he opened it. When we would ask him what he wanted Santa to bring he would say "Elmo BatBat". He stood up and wanted help putting it on right away.

David's Favorite Gift = Transformers Devastator! He has been asking for it since October. Paul and I were very happy to discover that the 6 transformers inside were not too difficult to transform. David was able to play with it all day.

The boys took about 45 minutes to open all of their presents. Ryan woke up at 6:30 a.m. and then David woke us up to open the presents on Christmas morning. We had agreed the night before that David would come into our room and wake up us before going downstairs.

The boys gave Paul a calendar with their pictures. Paul was hoping to get one to take to work.

By 3 p.m. Ryan wore himself out and fell asleep on the floor beside Twix. David and Ryan started working on the Lego project.

Christmas Eve

We celebrated Christmas Eve with Aunt Shelby, Uncle Bob, Kelsey, Kaitlyn and Nana Sharon and Pappy Dave. The kids were so happy to be together. Kelsey and Kaitlyn let David and Ryan help them open presents from a friend that were filled with candy.

Kelsey and Kaitlyn got puppies for their American Girl dolls and dog beds. They were so little and soooooo cute! The beds came with a dog toy, blanket and food bowls.

David and Ryan both got Legos. David set had over 500 pieces! This will be a Daddy and David project to work on this winter.

The kids did great sitting at their own table and getting their butter out of the bowl. It was exciting for them to be able to do it on their own. They also each got a small can of Sprite. That was a treat.

After dinner the kids tackled Paul. I think it started out as a pillow fight and turned into a clobbering session.

Countdown to Christmas

The boys have loved having this countdown to Christmas Tree. Every night in December an elf visited our house and left a piece of candy, toy or note for the boys. It only took one morning for them to figure it out. They were down the stairs as soon as they woke up in December. We would wake up and find David sitting in his room with his candy in hand. Ryan had to wait for us to open his gate to go downstairs. It was nice to see that David always left the 2nd piece of candy for Ryan.

Gingerbread Houses Take 2

We made some more gingerbread houses this afternoon. We were supposed to go to a gingerbread house party, but all the kids have runny noses, so all the supplies were sent to us.

David took his house making very seriously this time around. He realized that he will be able to pick the candy off and eat it later, so he worked very hard to get as many pieces of candy on his house as he could fit.

After we were done, we put on Alvin and the Chipmunks Christmas movie and Ryan fell asleep on the couch with his popcorn snack. Henry is no dummy, he waited until he was sure Ryan was asleep and then he helped himself to the snack.

Happy Birthday Nana

We celebrated Nana Sharon's birthday on Friday night at Rizzo's and then we went back to her house to open presents. She had lots of helpers to get the wrapping off the presents.

Ahhhhhh . . . . . Choooooooooo

Pretty, ehhh? Yep. This is what it's looked like around our house this week. Saturday through today have all been pajama days. David starting sneezing on Saturday and is just now feeling better. Ryan starting sniffling on Tuesday. Lots of tissues, and one doctor's appointment to clear up the infection under David's nose. Poor kid, not only is snot pouring out of his nose, but he ended up with an infection right under it too! (The picture above looks good compared to how he looked when I took him in on Tuesday.)

You'll notice that in both pictures he still manages to keep his eyes on the television! pajamas, television and tissues. That's what's happening in our world this week!

Family Open House

Paul's work had a family and friends Open House on Wednesday night. It's something we look forward to every year. It's fun to see all the families and extended families. Santa always comes and brings presents for all the kids. David told me he wanted to tell Santa Thank You for sending the elves to our house every night and leaving him a treat. It was really sweet. I thought he would just ask for a transformer.

The boys sat patiently waiting for their name to be called. It's so nice to be a Brown, but even nicer when the list is in alphabetical order!

Christmas Program

David's Preschool put on their Christmas Program on Tuesday night this week. They had all the kids (nearly 100) at the front of the church singing and some were even dancing. It was so cute. David is in this picture, in the top row, second from the left. He was very excited to be in the program. He told us where to sit so we could see him, but then he told us he was too shy to sing once he saw us.

He did sing after the first song. He must have relaxed a little bit. It was such a fun night. Next year Ryan will be in the program as well.

Christmas Picture

The boys got dressed up this afternoon for David's Preschool Holiday Program. They let me take this picture of them after I promised they could have peppermint patties. Within milliseconds of taking this picture David was strangling Ryan and Ryan had tears streaming down his face. So much joy. (I think I'll skip the picture people this year. )

A House Fit for an Elf

We attempted to make Gingerbread Houses this afternoon. It was fun and the boys both liked snacking on the candy and the cookies while making their houses. We talked about an elf moving into one of our houses. David thinks we might get 3 elves because we made three houses. We'll see if anyone moves in. :-) (we have elves coming here every night to put a surprise in the calendar, so maybe one will spend the night in one of our houses)

David built two houses. One is very crooked. . . it's supposed to be a crooked house though, so he's really an overachiever.

Ryan worked very hard on his house. He loved smearing the frosting.