New Years day, the first snow, and my little reader!

We drove home New Years Eve so we could have a couple of days at home as a family before Gary had to head back to work!  We enjoyed hanging around the house, playing with all of our new Christmas stuff, and just spending time together!  Alex was so cute during the New Years Day parade!!  He got out the instruments and marched around the living room with the bands :)

 Of course, Nathan wanted a turn as soon as Alex got the idea, so here he is as the drummer! 

 We had the first snow of the year about a week ago!  It was very unexpected (after a 68 degree day just 2 days earlier!)  The kids were THRILLED!  We watched the flurries in the morning and I explained over and over to Alex that it wasn't going to stick and wouldn't be enough to play in.  Then later during quiet time I hear Alex yelling and yelling upstairs.  I ran up to see what was going on and he was staring out his bedroom window and was EXTREMELY excited!  He was telling me I was wrong and it was sticking and there was a lot!  Ha!!  It wasn't THAT much, but was enough for us to go out and play in for a bit!! 

 The kids were SO excited to put on their snow pants and boots!  Nathan's are about 2 sizes too big, but I just can't justify spending $20 on a pair of toddler boots that may or may not get much use.  Oh well, they seemed to work fine! 

 Alex had SO much fun!  He definitely could have stayed out much longer than we did! 

 Nathan wanted to "hold you" (he says) most of the time we were out there!  He was very unsure and refused to wear any gloves!  (making it too cold to touch of course! haha) 

 The flakes were HUGE, so we got pretty covered quickly and didn't stay out more than 20 minutes or so.  But it was a blast!  Alex particularily loved throwing snow balls at me ;)

 Nathan is loving the tools lately :)

 And I thought this was just too cute!  He loves books, just like his brother and has a couple of favorites lately.  He loves the tiny Chick-fil-a happy meal books we have!  He calls them "rabbit books" because they are Max & Ruby ones.  He also loves this kitty book with different animals in it!  And he loves his new rocker from grandma and grandpa... he sits in it and rocks and rocks! 

Christmas Week 2011! (finally!!)

We traveled to Warner Robins, GA to be with my parents and sisters for Christmas this year!  It was such a fun, busy week!  

 We climbed "Stone Mountain" in Atlanta one afternoon!  The kids especially loved this :)  Nathan wanted to do it all by himself. 

Alex was such a little climber!  He loved jumping all over the rocks and running ahead :)

While in Atlanta, my parents took us to the "Pink Pig".  It's a train ride inside Macy's that is some kind of Atlanta tradition.  It was a bit overhyped, but the boys loved it of course! 

His face says it all, thrilled to be on the Pink Pig train ride!! :)

Christmas Eve we headed to church!  They don't have any kind of nursery for Christmas Eve at my parents' church, which of course made me super nervous!  BUT I was incredibly impressed with both boys and how good they were!  We didn't have to step out in the hall or anything, they did AWESOME!  These pictures were taken just before church :)

After church we always have snacks, cookies, and punch set up before bed!  The boys of course love this tradition! 

Nathan LOVED the punch!  This started his love for the "big boy cup" that he insists on drinking from often now ;)

Christmas Morning!!!  We always do one "big gift" from Santa and stockings, and the rest is from family under the tree.  Here are the boys opening their stockings! 

Here's Alex with the pirate ship he asked for!  He was thrilled! 

A photo with grandma and grandpa on Christmas! 

They got a parking garage for their hotwheels!  They love this! :) 

Here they are with their Aunts!  All in their footie jammies ;)  (courtesy of mom and dad!)

Another favorite gift, a dragon castle!! 

The weather was really beautiful while we were there!  The kids got to spend a lot of time outside :)  Here Alex is with an airplane he got for Christmas! 

One morning we went to the Air Force Museum.  My boys never get tired of airplane museums ;)  Alex always wants to make sure we don't miss ANYTHING and they are never ready to leave! 

We took a 2 day trip to Callaway Gardens while in GA!  On the way we stopped at FDR state park where Roosevelt's summer home and museum is. 

At Callaway Gardens we enjoyed a trolley ride and light show, stayed overnight at a cottage, and then went the next day to the park.  They had a huge butterfly conservatory that the kids LOVED! 

With my beautiful sisters! :)

And with my wonderful husband! Loved having a week and half with him off work this year!!

They also had a bird show that was really cool and lots of trails and beautiful scenery to enjoy!  The kids always love playing outside and were thrilled with all of the rocks and sticks of course ;)
A picture of the whole group!!!

We always do Gingerbread houses at Christmastime!  Alex was especially into it this year.  It ended up being much more "kid decorated" than it has in the past ;)

The last night we were there we had a campfire and roasted marshmellows! 

It was such a fun week!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

We've been busy around here this month!  The shopping, parties, crafts, baking, wrapping, cards... you know, all the normal "December" stuff :)  We're all so excited for Christmas in just a few days!  Alex is so fun this year!  I love celebrating the holidays with kids!!  

 He told me that all of the animals were lined up to see baby Jesus!  He knows Christmas is "Jesus' Birthday" and can tell you the Christmas story... but, he is of course excited about the presents and Santa too ;)

 Nathan got a hairline fracture in his lower left leg 2 weeks ago when he slipped on a tomato that he had just spat out in the kitchen.  That, of course, has made this a much busier month!  They did not have to put his leg in a cast due to his age and the way the break was.  They gave us this removable brace instead, which I am so thankful for!  The first couple of days he was in a lot of pain, and the doctors appointments and x-rays were traumatic (for us both!)  He didn't walk on it all for a solid 2 weeks and was extra fussy due to the painful leg, frustration over not being able to get around normally, and the onset of some kind of stomach/diarrhea virus at the same time!  He adapted to his leg by crawling and walking on his knees though (it's amazing how quickly kids adapt!).  Yesterday (at two weeks and one day) he finally started walking on it a little bit again!  We went for a follow-up appointment and it is healing nicely.  It may be another 2-4 weeks before he is back to normal, but he is much happier being able to get around more normally and without so much pain now! 

We used this picture for our Christmas card this year!  :)  I finally got them sent out on Monday, which isn't too bad, right?  ;)

 Alex LOVED seeing Santa!  He had no fear this year, he just went right up and sat on his lap!  He told Santa all about the pirate ship he wants for Christmas.  He's been talking about the Imaginext Pirate Ship for over a month now.  We already had a "Santa Gift" that the boys were going to get from Santa (since we do one big gift and stockings from santa - and everything else is from us) but then Alex wouldn't stop talking about the pirate ship!  So, we weren't left with much choice - Santa is giving Alex the pirate ship for Christmas!  Alex has been counting down the days with his Christmas chain and our other countdown calendar and can't wait for Christmas day! 

 This little guy doesn't really get it, but follows his brother's excitement!  He'll repeat Christmas words and has been trying to sing "Jingle Bells"!  He loves the Christmas tree (and taking ornaments off) and has happily done all of the Christmas crafts with Alex and I!  We got a family shot with Santa (which I'll have to upload later using the scanner), so he did ok with that (no tears!).  He wants "Spiderman" for Christmas!  He is strangely obessed with Spiderman - I'm sure having a big brother has something to do with that ;) 

 Christmas will be so much fun with these two this year!!!  I think I'm probably as excited as they are :) 

 Love this sweet boy!!!

 We went to the Zoo Lights downtown this past weekend!  They had a nice train display that the boys absolutely LOVED.  I think they could have stood here all night ;)  We watched for at least 15 minutes, then had to convince them to leave!

It's so fun being downtown at night!  We drove around DC some to look at the monuments and capital building all lit up!  I hadn't seen them at night from close up and it was really beautiful!  The zoo lights were a lot of fun too, Alex especially liked them!