'Twas The Day{s} BEFORE Christmas...

As if the holiday season isn't busy enough, I tried to cram in lots of fun activities to keep the boys busy and entertained and hopefully create a few fond memories along the way.

In the past one of our traditions is to make a gingerbread house together as a family. This year Daddy had a fun idea; instead of a house we made a Christmas Train! Of course this was a hit with the boys since they are both huge train fans. It turned out pretty cute but didn't last too long.




The week before Christmas Cole was home from school. One of the days I took the two little guys down to the Mandalay Bay to see the Shark Reef Exhibit. They were doing free photos with Santa Claus and Santa Jaws the day we were there. The boys loved it!




Also that week I talked my sister into going down to the Bellagio to see the Christmas decorations. One solo trip to the strip was enough for this Mama, I need reinforcements. There was a train display in the conservatory and we couldn't get Carson away from it. After checking out the decorations we decided to ride the tram over to check out the new City Center. Carson loved the tram (train) ride. It was the highlight of his day. There wasn't much to see at City Center but it was still a fun adventure.

Yankee Doodle's Dandy Christmas

Starring Cole as George Washington!

This week the Kindergartners and First Graders at Merryhill put on a production of "Yankee Doodle's Dandy Christmas". Cole had one of the star roles playing the Father of our Country, George Washington. He was super excited and worked really hard to learn his lines and even convinced me to order him a new costume for his debut (ok, it really didn't take much to convince me). The night of the show he told us he was a little nervous but you could never tell. He walked right up to the mic and delivered all of his lines loud and clear, with expression and poise. He used what he called his "acting voice", which you just have to hear to understand. He's a character!

After the show we went to McDonald's with Grandma, Aunt GG and the cousins to celebrate. He told us he felt proud of himself for doing it even though he was nervous. We were so proud of him too. What a fun night!

Waiting in the hall before showtime:

Onstage:

At McD's:

Ashley, Morgan, Cole and Brett:

Big Boy Bed

Carson has graduated from his crib...

To a big boy bed...

He is so excited! Every time he goes in his room he just giggles and runs around in circles saying, "my bed, my bed, my bed..."! Our baby is growing up!

Runaway Train

Methinks the train around the Christmas tree is not such a good idea, would you agree?

This sneaky little thief was caught red handed stealing the entire train...

The Christmas Season Is Here

...are you ready?
I'm not! Yikes!

"Happy December 1st". We dusted off our holiday countdown house, opened door number 1 and hung the little ornament on the little tree.

The countdown begins...

Thanksgiving Weekend

As per tradition we travelled to Salt Lake to spend Thanksgiving with the Freer side of the family.

Our trip included dental check-ups with Grandpa:

A little construction work:

Some blacksmithing:

A ride in a rescue helicopter:

A trip to the moon:

And to Mars:

And of course lots of time spent with family, enjoying good food and family time:

We hope you all had a great Holiday too!

Veteran's Day 2009

My favorite Vet and his "Best Girl".

Thank you Grandpa and everyone else who have fought so valiantly to protect the freedom of this great nation!

Cole's Award

Last Thursday Cole was presented with the academic achievement award for the month of October. He had no idea he was getting the award and Carson and I surprised him at the awards assembly that morning. He recieved the award for being "An Enthusiastic Learner". I'm so proud of him and he is proud of himself. I hope he always remains excited about school and learning new things.

I love these photos of Carson checking out Cole's medal. Carson has a good big brother to look up to. I also love the photo of Carson choking Cole with the medal. That is just sooooo Carson!

Halloween '09

Halloween is one of our favorite holidays. This year the boys both chose their own costumes. Carson chose Thomas (and refused to wear the actual Thomas part) and Cole of course chose a pirate (again). I searched a long time online to find an original pirate costume since he has been a pirate the last few years.

(here is a pic of Carson in his costume at Walmart the day he picked it out. I took it with my cell phone so it's not the greatest.)

Our celebrating began earlier in the month with Trick or Treating in Disneyland. Then when we came home it was time for Cole's class party and costume parade. Carson and I came and "helped" out with the party. One of the fun highlights of the party was playing the mummy game. The kids were divided into teams of 3 and they wrapped one of their teammates in toilet paper to resemble a mummy. Carson even got in on the action.

*click to view larger

Halloween night we went to Grandma and Grandpa's for our annual tradition of chili dog soup and trick or treating. My kids adore their older cousins and had a great time. It was fun because this was the first year Carson actually "got it". He was so cute going up to the door and saying "Tricktreat" and "Thank you".

*click to view larger
I have to throw in a shout out to my nephew Brett who had the best costume he was Michael Jackson with angel wings. RIP MJ!

Our Annual October Disney Trip

We just got back this past week from our annual vacation down to Disneyland. The last few years we have chosen to go in October so that we are able to take the kids to the Mickey Trick or Treat Party at California Adventure. It's fun to dress up and run around the park collecting tons of candy and squeezing in a few rides along the way. This year Cole was a pirate (big surprise eh?) and Carson was Thomas, but he didn't want to wear the actual train part of his costume so I ended up wearing it all night.

Another highlight of the trip for all 3 boys (Daddy included) is going to the Lego store. The boys are obsessed with Legos and Daddy is a spoiler/enabler. A few days after we got back home to Vegas Carson informed Alan that he wanted to go to the "Gego" store again.

Of course it wouldn't be a trip to Disneyland without eating dinner one night at Goofy's Kitchen. This year Carson loved the characters and gave them all big hugs, last year they scared him to death. It's a fun way to get to meet the characters without waiting in line at the parks.

This year Cole was FINALLY tall enough to go on Indiana Jones and Carson made the height requirement for the Matterhorn. I don't think either boy liked their "new" rides too much. Carson loved the Toy Story ride and Cole's favorite is still Big Thunder Mountain.

These photos are in no particular order and have not been touched up because Blogger is annoying me and I have no patience for photoshop today. But if you would like to view any of them larger just go ahead and click on the photo.