Christmas Day and then came the Day After

Wow.  I can't believe Christmas time has come around again.  We had such a lovely day hanging with our boys, celebrating Liam's first Christmas.  We had a nice morning in our pajamas watching TV and eating.  Then we headed out to a nearby park.

Liam hung with Daddy while Graeme climbed and explored

Oh, the fun of tunnels

Graeme kept making circuits while Liam and Daddy followed

After a fun time at the park, we headed over to the movies.  Then it was more family time as we waited for the snow to start.

This was the view at 5 a.m. the day after Christmas when Liam got up

A few saner hours later, there was a couple more inches on the ground

Liam was teething and had a runny nose so while he napped, Graeme and I headed outside to play.  Graeme needed some convincing (especially as he doesn't like gloves) but he decided the snow wasn't so bad.  He really liked snowballs.  

The deck

Our backyard winter wonderland

Just before Graeme jumped on me

Digging out the toys

Graeme helped me clean off "George" 

We were supposed to go out of town, but the snowfall kept us home.  It ended up being a blessing as our hot water heater (which is in the attic) went on the fritz and started leaking down the walls and under the carpet.  Mike pulled up the carpet (the hallway and Graeme's closet) and shop-vac-ed up a lot of water.  Then his dad and youngest brother came up and helped him remove and replace the heater.   Now we just have to start replacing the flooring.

The end of 2010 has been a mix of wonderful moments and crazy events with our house and van.  We are definitely ready to ring in 2011.

Leading Up to Christmas

I haven't uploaded our pictures from today which will hopefully also include tomorrow's expected snow adventures. I thought I would go ahead and catch up with our adventures over the last few days leading up to Christmas.

Mike added the bike seat to the back of my bike but as you can see, both my boys have legs too long for this.  Hopefully Liam and I can make it work.

Graeme did enjoy the ride

On Wednesday, Lucy and her kids came up to stay the night and then on Thursday we headed over into Raleigh to the IMAX theater to see A Christmas Carol in 3D and to play at Marbles Kids' Museum.  The picture above shows me and the kiddos on Wednesday night playing the Wii.  

After the movie, which was pretty scary especially for poor Graeme, we headed to the fun of Marbles.  Neither Mike nor Rob had been, so it was fun for them to experience it with the kids.

Uncle Rob had fun with Liam

Graeme's favorite was still driving the school bus

Lucy liked keeping watch over the stroller and having some quiet time

Uncle Rob called in backup 

Liam liked the big plastic balls in the money room

Graeme liked the build your own racer area

Even though he wasn't exactly building a race car, he was in the "GO ZONE"

Neal enjoyed building cars and making paper airplanes

Sarah, Jadyn, Lucy and Rob enjoyed the art loft where they could play with water color pencils

Graeme climbed up high in the money room and found all kinds of things to turn and move

In the woodworking area, Jadyn showed us SAFETY FIRST

On Christmas Eve, the stockings were finally added (and sure enough within 5 minutes of Graeme being awake, he had pulled one down on himself)

Graeme liked finding Thomas the Tank toothpaste in his stocking

Liam thought it was one big play thing

We decided to open our gifts on Christmas Eve and just enjoy family on Christmas day, so here Graeme is opening his NERF gun

He likes it!!!  He's really enjoyed going around the house and pulling the trigger.

Liam liked the wrapping paper most of all 

Mike got some Lego's and Graeme was really fascinated watching him put it together.  They both can't wait for the boys to be old enough to help!

As I took pictures, there are none here to show how excited I was by my new blu-ray player. 

We had a great few days with family and enjoying our family time together!  I can't wait to share more about Christmas Day and our further celebrations with the Hales in Fayetteville.

Til then, may God bless you on this Christmas Day as we celebrate the birth of our Savior! 

Christmas Cookies

One of the fun things about having kids around at Christmas is the joy and enthusiasm they bring to making Christmas treats.  My sister-in-law Molly and her kids along with my sister-in-law Katie came up to our house and we had a great time undertaking this holiday tradition.

Josh and Sarah are serious about choosing their cookie cutters and their sprinkles.

Our cookies before they went into the oven

Josh had fun with the "traditional" Christmas boot (we also do a whale cookie, too.  Oh, the fun of random cookie cutters :-)

Josh had fun with green sprinkles

I had fun trying out my fun ornament cookie cutters that made extra cutouts that could be filled with jolly ranchers to look like stained glass

The extra dough was rolled in the sprinkles and coiled up to make candy cane cookies

Graeme didn't quite get the cookie cutting part yet but he kept an eye out at the stove to make sure no cookies were burnt.  He was also a great help making the dough beforehand.  He got out one of his spoons and helped stir with the mixer :-)

Some of our finished cookies

Katie and Liam had fun playing (and napping)

More of our yummy cookies

Graeme really likes the finished product!

It was such a great time making cookies with the cousins and having some time with my sisters-in-law.  We can't wait for more adventures full of Hales!