Christmas Day

So, I am trying to catch up on Christmas posts. It is ridiculously late, but please humor me. Here is a collage of our first Christmas in 2009. It was such a sweet time as a family of four! I will never forget the boys' giant smiles and the excitement of that day!

Now on to 2010, but the same sweet smiles and excitement!

The boys loved their stocking goodies and played with the contents for so long we had to remind them about the gifts under the tree!

Sweet brothers with sweet Christmas smiles! I wish I could figure out how to download the video I have of them singing Feliz Navidad to blogger. It is precious! Those of you on Facebook might have seen it there.
Angel is so proud of his new Bible cover to carry his Bible to church in! I pray he never loses his excitement for learning about God and ultimately comes to know God personally as well.
Both boys continue to LOVE Hot Wheels cars. This is such cheap entertainment that I am all for it!
Now, this is not cheap, but well worth the investment. Angel has been asking for a DS since the summer. This is rare for him so we knew he really wanted it. It was the last gift he opened and up until then he kept saying, "Oh Santa couldn't find the DS....That's ok." His little face just lit up when he opened it! I have been pleasantly surprised at how he has continued to enjoy it daily and takes such good care of it. He is becoming such a responsible little guy!
This picture is one of my favorites of the day, but it seriously was like the 20th try for me to capture my sweet Johnny's smile. I am loving my new camera with it's super quick shutter speed, but even still Johnny was very patient with me!
Johnny got some favorite toys he has been eying for some time too! He has been asking for this Iron Man car for a while now, but it sounds like "Army Car" when he says it. Good thing he pointed it out to me at the store or I might have gotten the wrong thing!
The Hot Wheels cars made another appearance. We have hundreds but they remember which ones are theirs and even who gave them to them when. Heaven help me! I had to bust out the Sharpie marker and tag them with a "J" or "A" for my own sake for times of disagreement! Oh brotherly "love"!

Johnny also loves his new trampoline! The somewhat annoying automated British woman that counts his "bounces" can't even keep up with him! I know how that is, as I am always a few paces behind myself! However, I love this alternative to his attempt at jumping on beds and from furniture!

Our big family gift is a spring break trip to Colorado which will include a visit to a giant snow fort, a horse drawn carriage ride, and tubing.

Here are some other favorite photos of the boys opening presents! They were genuinely excited about each one, including all the warm clothes we bought for our trip to Colorado!

I just love my sweet guys!
All four of them smiled for the camera, including Harvey!
But these 3 have my heart, forever!

Christmas Eve

To start off our Christmas Eve post, let's look back at Christmas Eve 2009. We started some sweet traditions with the boys including attending the candle light service at church and opening Christmas pajamas.

We continued these traditions in 2010.
Here are my 3 gentleman at our house before leaving for the service.
And me with my 2 littlest loves!
Yay for Christmas PJs!

We put out Christmas cookies me made for Santa and read the Christmas story from the Bible before heading off to bed to dream of sugar plums!

Christmas Crafts and Activities

Let's not talk about how behind in blogging I am, okay? Thanks! The holidays came and then sickness hit me hard, and then hello 1/11/2011. That's all I have to say about that.

Anyway, I thought we'd start the series of Christmas/New Year's posts with a look back at Christmas crafts and activities we did in 2009....We made cookies at Gran's with cousin Clayton, made ornaments and picture holders at church and school, made teacher's gifts and a family gingerbread house.

This year we kept it simple, but still had some fun making crafts and baking while the boys were out of school for the holidays.
We baked cookies and decorated them.
We made some to share with Santa and saved most of them for us! What can I say? Sweets are kind of our thing!
We made snowflake ornaments with modge podge and tissue paper. PS: I cut up way too much tissue paper! I put it in a zip lock to save and will have to find some other craft to use it for!


They turned out really cute and we put their picture inside. I also put the year and their names for posterity sake. Alas, I forgot to take a finished product picture and now they are all packed up until next year! I love ya'll but not enough to dig through those boxes!

I made this cool Christmas card holder I found on my friend, Erin's blog.

It is made out of these really ugly burner covers which were beautified with scrapbook paper, modge podge, hot glue and ribbon. It took me way longer to find the burner covers than it did to do the rest of the project! Seriously, I went to 5 stores for this $5 item, but it was worth it! I am looking forward to using it for years to come!

Keep your eye out for tons more holiday posts to come. I have to make up for my 2 week hiatus. I know, you're welcome!

Adoption Party

We had a party at our house this past Saturday to celebrate the boys' adoption. They were so proud and enjoyed playing with the other kids even though sharing is hard. I found this reusable plastic cake topper you can put a picture in at Michael's and I love it! I plan to use it each year when we celebrated the anniversary of the adoption.

We also got this frame with a mat for friends and family to write a special congratulatory message to the boys. We had a similar frame at our wedding, so we thought it would be a great memory for them as well. They will know how dearly loved they are every time they see it on display. I also made a Shutterfly book and calendar with pictures from our first year as a family of four.

Thanks Moore family for the coloring pad sets! The boys are big fans and so am I since the markers only write on the special paper!
Ms. Sophie and Mrs. Franklin are very popular gals in our house! Johnny talks about Sophie daily and they give each other such sweet hugs every time they see each other. They are both such affectionate little ones that Alyssa and I joke that we may have to restrict contact when they become teens!
The boys also LOVE when we get to visit with Gran and Poppa D so this day was no exception!
Meme and Papa also drove down for the party and we appreciate that so much! It was such a treat for you to share this special day with us!
The timing of the party being the weekend before Christmas made it impossible for many of our sweet friends and family to attend. Thank you to all of you that were there in spirit and we look forward to spending time with you during the new year!

Dear Sweet boys,

We could not be prouder to be your Mom and Dad! We love you more than words can describe and can't imagine our lives or family without you, our sweet blessings from God!

Love,

Mommy and Daddy

December Recap

We have been having a lot of fun this December. Nearly every weekend is full of holiday fun! We are doing some of the things we did last year that are becoming traditions while adding a few new things to our calendar. We went to Santa's Workshop at Angel's school again this year. The boys made crafts, including decorating their own little Christmas tree. The trees make their rooms look so festive!

Here is a picture of Angel from Santa's Workshop last year! Johnny wore this shirt just the other day! We are sharing some hand me down love at our house, which makes this mommy happy!

We also went back to Bass Pro Shop or "Santa's House" as the boys call it year round! The boys made a reindeer ornament, visited with Santa, and played the fun (free) games. I am a big fan of the free part, especially since you get a free 4x6 picture with Santa and can take your own too. Why stand in the long mall line and pay $40 when you don't have to?!

I am also loving the pictures my new camera took! I'm sure thy will get better as I learn how to use it more.

This year the boys stood next to Santa and held his hand. I think the jolly fellow may have been feeling the weight of another year of aging like the rest of us!

Angel did not threaten to hit Santa even though that is what it looks like in this picture. This is when Santa was telling him to slow down so he could understand his wish list. He was just a bit excited!

Here is a flash back to 2009. Once again I will say, what a difference a year makes!

Jeff and I were both able to attend Johnny's Christmas party at school! It is such a blessing to have Daddy working from home! He can take a quick break to enjoy special memories like these!

They had a book exchange and Johnny ended up with the perfect book. It is about feeling loved and boy is he ever loved!
This was Johnny's last week at the Montessori school. We will miss his friends and sweet teachers, but truly feel it is God's plan for our littlest man to be home with us more before he starts kindergarten next year.
Ms. Patty and Ms. Christina, thanks for loving our sweet Johnny and taking such good care of him! They also made him a little photo book of memories of his time in their class. This momma loves it!
Johnny with Daddy at the party.
And with Mommy.

I got this shirt for both boys this year and think it is hilarious and oh so fitting for their daily antics! It says, "It's all fun and games until Santa finds out". HA!

Another post is coming shortly on the sweet adoption party we had to celebrate our boys officially becoming members of the Albus family!

Decorating for Christmas and 29

I promised you a lot of flash backs this holiday season to our first Christmas together last year. Here is a collage of us decorating for Christmas in December 2009. Look how tiny our little men were!

This year Jeff decided to put lights on the roof. Last year we mostly just put lights on the bushes so this was a bit new and challenging.
Jeff's ladder wasn't tall enough so he used it to get on the roof and then climbed from place to place armed with a string of lights and some toothpicks. Yes, my husband used toothpicks stuck under the shingles to hang the lights from. What a clever and brave man I have!
He kept saying, "I can't smile...I'm scared." He was so sweet to risk his life in the name of Christmas decor! HA!
The end result was beautiful!
We decorated the tree a bit later than we usually do, much to my husband's dismay. I wanted a change and it took me a while to figure out what I wanted and how to achieve it.
The kids loved putting the ornaments on! They still do, daily rearranging them to showcase their favorite ornaments, the ones they have made.
Here is the tree and mantle with a fire in the fire place. This was the one night so far it has been cold enough for a fire. I just love Christmas decor! My house is its coziest this time of year!
Last week I celebrated my 29th birthday. I was telling Angel one day I wasn't sure how I felt about turning 29 because that meant next year I turn 30. He told me "well mom, you just have to be okay with it because 30 comes after 29!" HA! He is right, wisdom from a 7 year old is just what I needed!
My sweet hubby took me to Las Alamedas and it was really yummy! He had flowers delivered there and waiting on the table when we arrived! He also bought me a new camera for my birthday/Christmas! I love it!! Thanks for spoiling me sweet Jeff!