Bill and Miss (plus two)

Christmas seemed to come so fast this year.  It was our little guy, Braden's, first Christmas. We started out the festivites at Auntie Di's house on Christmas Eve.  Jacob and Braden were dressed in their Christmas gear.  We actually got Jacob to wear a button down shirt that night...don't know when that will happen again!  Braden was in a little outfit that said Baby's 1st Christmas.  Both boys were so good that night.  Braden went from arms to arms all night long, the only time he was set down was when he was sleeping while we ate.

Jacob had some turkey and mashed potatoes, but I think he enjoyed the mashed potatoes the most!  After dinner Jacob was getting a little bored when we started watching the old home movies of the Robert's Family.  So then we took Jacob outside to see if he saw Santa flying in the sky.  Lo and behold, we heard Santa's "Ho Ho Ho" from inside the house.  Jacob RAN inside the house to find Santa coming out of the fireplace!  The look on Jacob's face was priceless.  Santa brought Jacob a puzzle and Braden a rattle.  Santa held Braden and he was a good boy and didn't cry at all.  We all said goodbye to Santa and Jacob went outside to see if he could see Santa fly away...but Santa was TOO FAST for Jacob because he sped away on his sled before Jacob even got outside.

Jacob got busy putting his puzzle together and his cousins and Aunt Alana were shocked at how well he put his puzzle together.  This puzzle was a little more difficult than the puzzles he normally puts together because it was 62 pieces instead of 25.  Jacob and Braden opened a couple of gifts from their aunts, uncles and grandparents.  Jacob got a game, toddler devotional, some trucks and cash.  Braden got a blanket, a stuffed monkey and cash.  Of course Braden had no idea what was going on the whole night, but he was such a good boy.  Before we knew it, it was 10pm and we had ot get going, Jacob was still jumping around like a mad man, but finally calmed down in the car and fell asleep on the way home.

Christmas morning, Jacob slept in a little.  Braden woke up at about 6:30 becasue he was hungry.  Mommy and Braden got to spend some alone time downstairs while he ate and waited for Jacob and daddy to wake up. Jacob woke up and after we sang happy birthday to him, Jacob ran downstairs to see what Santa brought him.  It was funny that the first thing he noticed was that Santa left part of the cookies we left for him on the plate.  He said "mommy, Santa didn't eat all the cookies"  Oh my gosh, the plate was sitting right next to his Spiderman and he didn't care about that, he was concerned that Santa didn't eat all the cookies...note to Santa next year...eat all the cookies!  So, Jacob of course loved his new Spiderman and spent most of the morning playing with him, that is of course, until Nani and Papa came over to bring their Christmas presents and Birthday presents.

Jacob opened up his first present, the biggest one, and was so excited to see a big Spike, a remote contolled dinosaur.  He also got another puzzle and some cool clothes, which he was so not interested in because he threw them behind him as soon as he opened them.  Braden got some clothes and a ball that he can crawl after (once he starts crawling). 

Then we all got ready to go to Uncle Rj's house for a Christmas celebration with mommy's side of the family.  The boys were both spoiled there.  I felt like the presents were never ending for them.  They both got some really nice clothes and some cute toys from their aunts and uncles and cousins.  Once again, Braden was held the entire time we were there...the boy is loved (and spoiled).  He slept most of the time, but was awake enough to show off his precious little smile.  Jacob enjoyed playing with his little cousin Nathaniel...they were so cute playing in the dinosaur tent Jacob got from his Auntie Vanessa.

We played some games with the adults and then made our way home at about 8:30 or so.  It had been a long two days and not only were the boys exhaused, but mommy and daddy were too!  We all slept in until 9am the next morning...I don't think that has ever happened.  Well, okay mommy and Jacob weren't acutally sleeping until 9, but we were tickling eachother and talking in bed until 9am, which for me counts as sleeping in.

Overall, we had a very Merry Christmas.  I will always remember this Christmas because it was my baby, Braden's, first Christmas.  I remember saying as we were leaving RJ's house that I was sad that my baby's 1st Christmas was already over.  We spend so much time preparing for the day and it goes by so fast!

So until next year...Merry Christmas boys!  mommy and daddy love you!

I can't believe Jacob is already 3 years old.  He woke up the morning of the 25th and before he went downstairs to see what Santa brought him, mommy and daddy sang "Happy Birthday" to him.  I don't know why, but every year when I sing that song to him in the morning, I get tears in my eyes.  I guess it's because I just feel so blessed when I'm holding him and singing to him and I can't believe another year has gone by and think about all the blessings he brings to our lives.  Anyway, daddy asked him how old he was and Jacob said "I'm two (while holding up two fingers), no, wait, I'm three now (and then held up three fingers)."  He started laughing and then said "silly Jacob"  yes, he's been waiting a long time to be able to say that he is three.  For the past couple of months hes been telling us that he's two, but he's almost three.  He came downstairs to see what Santa brought him.  He was delighted to see a big talking Spiderman and then an even bigger stuffed pillow in the shape of Spiderman.  He said he wanted to sleep with Spiderman.  He immediately started playing with his talking Spiderman and LOVED what Santa brought him.  We then opened the rest of his Christmas presents.  He enjoyed opening EVERYONE'S presents.  I think he got a little overwhelmed by the time he got to mommy's presents because we had to tell him to open up the next one...either that or he wasn't that interested in opening the gifts for everyone else since he didn't like what was under the paper. 

After letting him play with his Christmas toys, daddy brought in his birthday present from mommy and daddy.  We had him close his eyes and wait in the family room.  When daddy told him to open his eye, his eyes lit up and said "a bicycle!"  He was so excited to get this gift.  He got on it right away, but he had some difficulty pedalling since he didn't have any shoes on.  Since then, he's been trying to ride the bicycle.  I'm hoping he gets it soon!

We made it to Uncle RJ's house and there was a sign up on the wall saying "Happy 3rd Birthday Jacob" with the Spiderman logo on it.  After all the Christmas festivities, we got out the Spiderman cake mommy made him and sang "happy birthday" to him.  He enjoyed blowing out the candles so much we had to lite them again and watch him blow out the candles.  He got the "blue" piece of cake and ate only some of it...with the rest he put the candles on his piece of cake again and started singing "happy birthday to Jacob, happy birthday to Jacob, happy birthday to Jacob, Happy birthday to Jacob" and then he pretended to blow out the candles.  So cute, so daddy got the matches and lit the candles again.  I think by the time we were done he had sung to himself (we joined along too) and blown out the candles about 6 times...we only stopped because we ran out of matches!  it was so precious to see him excited about his birthday cake and singing to himself.

He opened LOTS of gifts on Christmas day and was a little overwhelmed by all the toys, but he loved them all.

Again, I can't believe my baby is 3 years old already. Yes, he is a rascal at times, but he is such a sweet little boy and is  such a good big brother to Braden.  Despite the trouble he gives me sometimes, I love the little guy more than words can say.  He brings us more joy than anything and now that he's talking a lot he makes us laugh on a daily basis with some of the things he says.  I love watching him play with his toys, or work on a puzzle or color a picture or "read" a book to himself.  I can't wait to see what this year brings to his little life.

So until next time...mommy and daddy love you big boy!

Yesterday Jacob and Braden had a few friends over to decorate gingerbread houses.  The kids ranged in age from 2 months (Braden) to 3 1/2.  To my surprise all the kids loved decorating their gingerbread houses and it actually held their attention for a long time (at least 30 minutes!).  Jacob really got into decorating his house.  The only thing I did was put the icing on adn he very carefully placed each piece of candy in it's proper spot.  Even though he had his two really good friends sitting next to him, he wasn't distracted by them because he was busy decorating his house.  I loved watching him decorate his house.  After the kids were done, they had a little lunch and then played like good boys and girls together with Jacob's toys.  I was suprised at how wel all the kids played together and there were no major meltdowns.  Braden was a good boy during the party.  He slept through part of it and the other times I or other mommies were holding him.  I think he kind of enjoyed all the excitment :)  In total we had 11 toddler aged kids and 7 babies, yes there were LOTS of babies, but we all had so much fun!

It was so nice to have all the mommys and kiddos here and the moms were so nice to help me clean up!  Everyone had so much fun I think I will make it a yearly tradition.