Second Day of Christmas and New Year

On the second day of Christmas and New Year, Mommy had a Christmas shopping agenda while the Dudes of the house had a Dads and Boys play date with friends.  By evening time, we were snuggled in bed when we discovered that Aunt Patty had sent the boys gifts that must be opened immediately.  

With the boys in their PJ's, they cracked opened Aunt Patty's gifts.  Thanks Aunt Patty!!!

(Again, iPhone photos)

Hooray!!!  New Holiday Pillow Cases!!

We put the festivities into action immediately.  The boys LOVED them!!!  

"Hey... Watcha Looking At Willis?"

Also included from Aunt Patty were these great mini flash lights.  They may possibly be one of the best gifts ever, in Kellan's opinion.

After some great flashflight fun of making Oliver's room into a disco and creating animal shapes on the wall, Mommy retired to the couch with a nice hot cup of Cider.

Ahh.... day two of the Twelve Days of Christmas and New Year!!

Then... a few hours later... Kellan woke up with a croupy cough.  The "not feeling well" feeling from Friday was lingering and came in full swing.  We spent the rest of the night nursing his croupy cough from his bed, into the steamy bathroom, into our bed, back to his bed, back to our bed, debating on going to the ER, settling on our bed.... it was a long night.  The next day, Kellan rested while his croupy cough subsided.

Kicking off the Twelve Days of Christmas and New Years

Finally!  The start of the holiday vacation had arrived.  It wasn't a vacation in our normal sense where we jet set off somewhere.  This time, it was a staycation with no big plans.  Mommy had twelve days off of work between holidays and vacation.  The boys were going to follow suite and take those as stay home days as well.  The primary goal was to spend time together and have fun, whether it was going out and about or snuggling at home.  The first order of business for Day 1 was to go and see the movie Frozen.  All four of us had been wanting to see the movie since Thanksgiving and we finally found a moment to make it happen.  

Disclaimer:  The thing about the 12 days of Christmas and New Years is that I didn't always have my camera with me, but I always had my iPhone.  Hence, the reason for the less than optimal quality of photos.

Kellan was SO intrigued with the Walking with Dinosaurs movie setup.

He loved it so much that he asked for multiple photos in front of the moving eye.

This ma be as close as he gets to the movie for a few years.  We are quite convinced that it will be a bit much for his three-year-old self, but his brother and Daddy may sneak out for a movie date to see it.

On our way to our show, Frozen, we saw something fantastic and wonderful.  Something so great that it reminded of of our #1 Favorite RIO for Cousin RIO!!!  What did we do?  We took a picture and sent it to Rio to tell him that we were thinking of him.

The movie was GREAT!!  As we had heard from others, it did not disappoint and we were all very entertained.  We could have used a bit more of Olaf, the talking snowman.  That guy was a hoot!

After the movie, Daddy had some Christmas shopping to do for Mommy.  So we walked next door to the mall where he and Oliver took off in search of something special.  Meanwhile, Kellan was in search of something special; M&M's.

As Kellan and I walked passed the carousel with really nowhere to be, we opted to pay the $2 for a 2 minute ride.  What a great time we each had!

Kellan loved his Mommy and Me time, especially since it came with special treats like carousel rides in the mall.

We had a fantastic day as well as completed some final Christmas shopping.  Day one of the Twelve Days of Christmas was a big hit!  We were so excited for the following eleven days that were to include playing, sleeping in, movies, special outings, skiing, play dates, dinners and ... oh ya... Christmas and New Years!

Kellan's Christmas Party

December felt like we went from Thanksgiving straight to Christmas Vacation.  I'm not quite sure where all of the days went in between, but even my camera proves that's what happened.  Usually, when I get behind on the blog, I upload photos from my camera and it's fun walk down short-memory lane.  This month, we jumped the beginning of December straight to the end.  It's a bit nuts.

To kick off Christmas vacation, both of the boys had parties at school.  Now that Oliver is in public school, his party is just for him and his friends.  He had a fantastic day in his pajamas with a Polar Express movie and pizza party with his buddies.

Kellan had his party with friends, complete with a book exchange.  We were fortunate to make it just in time for the party to start, where we found him snuggling on the teachers lap.  He had just told her that he didn't feel well.  Was this going to be a sign of the upcoming vacation?

He didn't look too bad.  Actually, he looked as cute as ever.

It was fun to see Kellan interact and exchange books with his friends.  He really wanted Brendan to get the book that he brought.  He walked it straight over to him so that he could open it.

I think Kellan must have known a thing of two about what Brendan might like.

Kellan was curious to open his book too.

Once his friend Ryker discovered that Kellan was opening a book, he swooped in to check it out.  It's all so exciting to give and receive with your friends.

Kellan was excited to show Stephen the new book that he got, that I believe was from Stephen.

They each bring one book that says To: Friend, From: Kellan (for example).  You just never know who will get or give the book.  It's all part of the fun.

It was so much fun to watch these boys talk about the book.  It's amazing how much they are growing and changing right now.

These three are peas in a pod and have been for quite some time.  When you ask Kellan "who did you play with today", the story always involves these two.

Getting a smiling picture of the three of them together is another story.

BFF's

Brendan, Stephen and Kellan

Eventually, Kellan decided that he had enough of his photo crazy Mommy, but Brendan and Stephen had one more in 'em.

It was a fantastic time to see Kellan at his party and to watch him have fun with his friends.  Then, just as quickly as they ripped the paper off of the gifts, Kellan was ready to go home for a snuggle.  We picked Oliver up at the door and headed home to get the Twelve Days of Christmas and New Years started.

Christmas Card Selfies

Immediately after we got home from Disney on Ice we decided to try for a Christmas Card photo.  We were all dressed and ready to go.  We discovered at Halloween that the boys like to push the self timer button on the camera.  As an added bonus, we taught them how to push play so that they could see the image.  We had success with several images and this photo loving Mama was SO THRILLED!!!

The set up shots made me laugh.

This is what we go through to get everything ready to go.

You can see who's ready... and who's not.

After only a few minutes, everything was ready to go and "snap, snap, snap" we got our 2013 family Christmas Card photo.

DIsney on Ice

I was SO Thrilled when I won four tickets through work to go to Disney on Ice.  It's not very often that we get four tickets for events and this one turned out SO perfect.  The whole family could go and on top of it, it was in the suite.

The boys were over-the-moon with excitement.  They weren't so excited to sit on the edge so that I could take a photo.

Yes, we splurged and bought them the over priced light up gizmos.  It's just the great part of being a kid.

The boys loved the show and had their eyes on every moment.

Kellan said that he liked the first movie better than the second movie.  I guess when you're three and there is an intermission, it's like having two movies.

Dinner with Friends

The first Friday in December is the Candle Light Walk in Downtown Golden.  We had full plans to do the walk with friends, then, Mother Nature moved in.  She delivered temperatures that barely peaked above zero during the day.  The night of the Candle Light Walk was SO COLD, so we opted to move the party to our place for Grilled Cheese and Home Made Split Pea Soup (Thank You leftover Thanksgiving Honey Baked Ham).  It wasn't exactly how we were planning to kick off Christmas, but it was absolutely perfect for being with friends.

While the adults caught up, the boys took over the house as their playground and the dining room for dinner.

Cole, Kellan, Owen, Oliver, Owen, Evan

Trimming the Tree

Each year, trimming the tree becomes more and more of a treat.  My favorite part is going through each ornament with the boys and talking about when they received them.  By far, Oliver has the most ornaments.  Not only because he's the oldest, but because he was the first.  I think that we have a dozen ornaments just from his first year.  We have managed to be more conservative these past few years and it's fun to see what ornament they picked to represent each year.  I just realized, I didn't take photos of this years ornaments but I bet you can guess what they are.  Oliver's is a football and Kellan's is a choo choo train.

Oliver is getting so good at helping with the tree.  He takes each ornament out of the packaging very carefully and places them on the table in preparation for trimming the tree.

Kellan is getting quite good at trimming the tree himself.

He is also good for a Big CHEESE!

I always melt when he gives his head tip in admiration.

I am willing to bet that this is his all time favorite ornament.  

He can push a little button and hear it play "Frosty the Snowman".  We hear it all month long and it is usually accompanied with him doing a jig with a big smile.

Thanksgiving Wrap-Up Sunday

As Sunday arrived, Thanksgiving was officially wrapped up for 2013.  We had an absolutely amazing weekend with the Hamilton Family.  The first of the Hamiltons to leave were the first to arrive earlier the week prior.  At 4 AM, Jeff and Lindsey loaded up their boys and the tires of their mini van rolled them south on the highway.  At 7 AM, Nana and Papa loaded up their car and hit the highway.  During Nana and Papas departure, I captured these two cuties snuggling in the chair.

Cousins Hailey and Oliver were having one last quiet moment together.

Then, Kellan discovered that there was a photo occurring without him, so the snuggle was increased to a snuggle for three.

By 8 AM, the last of the Hamiltons had departed as they loaded up their Suburban (that I wanted to steal) and varoomed north where the wind blows so hard that it makes the temperatures drop.

By 10 AM, the house was back to regular Ham Fam mode and we were ready to transition to Christmas by putting up the Christmas tree.  The only thing left behind (besides Brian's laptop and wallet, which we thought about keeping in place of the Suburban until we realized that there were cobwebs where cash should be.  Keith took it all to Fed Ex the next day) was this cribbage board.

Yes, the Hamilton boys are engineered, so they engineered their own cribbage board.  We won't judge them on their skunk drawing that looks like a raccoon.  If you're wondering, Yes, Keith made us save this for the next Hamilton gathering.  Come back soon!!!