Fun with Family

This year we decided not to go anywhere for any of the holidays, but we were lucky enough to have family come to us. I have never hosted any holidays at my house before so it was kind of fun, since I may never get do it again. It was a lot of work, but it was so fun to have everyone together in our home. The boys were very excited to have uncles and aunt, and cousins and grandparents come to our house for a change. We were some what snowed in for some of the time that they were here, but we tried to get out when ever we could. Here are some of the things that we did while everyone was here.

We went to Crown Plaza near downtown Kansas City. It has a bunch of fun things for the kids to do and they are all free!! They had a Crayola wonderland play area set up, so we let the kids run around in there while we waited for our turn at Kaleidoscope.
I think it was good to let them run around since we have been cooped up inside for so long.

Even Uncle Jake got into it a little bit:)

We then went over to Kaleidoscope( this is a place the Hallmark and Crayola have put together where the kids can do fun projects and color and enjoy all the cool things that they have to offer- for free. It is a great place for the kids to show off their creativity.

This is the puzzle crank that you get to help turn when you are done drawing your puzzle board, James thought that was pretty cool.

Here is Ann's pretty puzzle that she made for her dad.

They had a bunch of fun Christmas play equipment outside for the kids to play on, but it was way too cold to play, so they got to get on this car for about 2 seconds for a picture and then we had to run inside before we froze. These were right next to the fountains and Mikey almost ran into the water, I freaked out and yelled at him to get away, that would have been interesting.

Here Ann, Evelyn and James are having fun sliding down the stairs on their bums, they were having a grand ole time doing this over and over. I loved listening to them laugh and play together, it was so cute.

Here they are at the bottom, and then they would go back up again.

They played pretty well together, for being inside all the time, I was very impressed with how well they got along. James even shared his toys once in awhile.

Evelyn is only 4 months older than James and they are so cute together when they play. They had these little books that they were writing in and they kept trading pens because they wanted the other color.

James is talking to aunt Chesley on the phone, he loves to talk on the phone, he is pretty funny to talk to, and he never wants to let the thing go.

It finally warmed up a little bit to where they could play in the snow-it was the only day they could go outside the whole time they were here. They had a great time building a snow fort and digging in the snow, i am so glad that they were able to get out there and enjoy it.

We have yet to get James the proper outdoor snow wear so he is borrowing Evelyn's snow pants and snow boots. He was so happy to get outside even if it was just for a little bit.

New Years Eve we went to T-Rex Cafe. It is a great place to take the kids,they have many dinosaurs all over the restaurant and fish aquariums, and a lot of other fun things for the kids to do.

Here they can get paint brushes and sweep away the sand and look for dinosaur bones. It was nice because we got there right before closing so we were the only ones in there playing, usually it is pretty crowded.

Grandpa Alan helping the younger ones find some bones.

Every 15 minutes they have this meteor shower over the ceiling, it very loud and the lights flicker and it is a bit scary for the little ones. Mikey is protecting James while it happens:)

Shawn and Ann are wondering what is going on.

We were sitting close to the Triceratops and his baby, so I took James over to see them. He was terrified of the daddy one, he did not want to get close at all.

The baby one he said was not so scary. He still to this day will bring it up about the Dinosaur place and the "Tritops" and daddy and the baby and the meteor shower. It is so cute to have a conversation about it with him. He can go on forever about the dinosaur place.

This was the nice Triceratops dinosaur, it was good that they had play dinosaurs in addition to the real life-like ones.

He was giving these 'long-necks' hugs and kisses

James did not like the T-Rex one bit!!!

After the T-Rex Cafe we went home and let the kids play for a little while before we put the little ones to bed.

James and Ruby playing

Cute Baby Ruby

James was very excited that he got these all on the right way

Mommy helping him figure it out

James found Evelyn's little play purse with all the stuff in it. I caught him putting the make up on, but I didn't get the camera quick enough, he then started playing with the phone and keys.

Christmas Pics, finally...

Well here we go, there are a lot of pictures so I hope you enjoy!Here are Chris and the boys looking to see where Santa Claus is on Norad.com. It is pretty fun for the boys to look and see how close he is and when they need to start going to bed. This is one of many traditions that we have every year.

We read a few Christmas stories and sang a few Christmas songs, the boys didn't last very long on this, but we tried.

Mikey enjoying the stories on the floor.

Opening their one present on Christmas Eve, Mikey got this fun science kit from Grandma Becky.

James got a doctor kit from Bob!

Shawn got a new pair of soccer shoes- gold ones!!
He has to look flashy out on the field!

Mikey, Uncle Jake and Shawn going to bed before 10 PM Gotta get bed so Santa will come.

The snacks that they left out for Santa and his reindeer, Shawn also wanted Santa to sign a paper so he would have his signature- very creative:)

Christmas Morning!!!

James loved his new soccer ball, of course. The picture was a bit blurry because he wouldn't stay still with it.

Mikey got an adventure kit with a backpack and binoculars and an all purpose tool and a pedometer and a flashlight, he can't wait to use it in Colorado.

Shawn got an IHome alarm clock for his IPod

Our beautiful tree

James' new Duplo Lego farm set!!

Mikey's new binoculars

Shawn's new soccer pants, he got many of those this year.

Opening Presents!!

Nice Bronco jersey from Grandma and Grandpa

James loved all the animals that he got and started playing with them right away, he loves to line them up and name them as he does it.

Lots of candy in the stockings.

Chris and Mikey working on his new Tasty Science kit, making some candy.

Opening some extra presents that James didn't quite get to earlier.

Mikey and one of his cool Lego sets that he got.

It was a very long day, many of them took naps. I tried to clean up.

Christmas Time Activities!!

Christmas time is full of all kinds of fun events. We got to participate in a lot of them. Grandma Becky sent us a fun little package with some things to do before Christmas. Her and bob got us a Gum Drop tree that you stick gum drops on all the branches and then you get to eat some everyday before Xmas. She also sent us a a Christmas Story book that had 24 days of little stories that you can read that tell about the story of Christ. I think those stories were fun for the kids, they got to hear a little bit about The true meaning of Christmas every day in December and they were very short, which is perfect for them right now.

James is helping Chris read a story, the books were just his size.
We also decided that we would cut down our Christmas tree at a tree farm. It was a bit different than going up to the mountains, but it was still enjoyable for the kids a bit less walking around too. Here we found a great 8 1/2 ft White Pine tree.

The pole was to see how tall they were to make sure you could fit in your house. We have such cute boys, they had fun helping Chris cut it down. The tree was a little too hard for them to help, but we let them cut some smaller branches after we got the big tree cut.

James wanted to help as well, so we let him pull a branch from the tree.

Pulling the tree back to the tree shaker and wrapper.

Bishop's Pine Crest Tree Farm had a lot of other things or the kids to do as well. They had free cookie and hot chocolate inside for everyone to enjoy out of the cold. They also had a little train ride for the kids while the trees are getting ready to take home. It was a fun Saturday for the whole family.

Here are boys decorating the tree. I was really tired so I went and took a nap and when I came down the tree had all the lights put on it. Chris had even put our outdoor Bronco lights on the tree to give it little taste of home. We then all helped to put on the ornaments.

Shawn was a little scared putting on the star topper, he was on Chris' shoulders and didn't like it very much.

James wanted to help too, so he put on several ornaments the best he could, but I think that he took more off than he put on.
Surrounded by the mounds of Christmas decorations, James decided it was a good spot to read "The Very Hungry Caterpillar'

We also made a bunch of snowflakes to put on our front windows, the boys really got into this, they kept asking me to make more for them to cut.

At our church the young children in the Primary put on a Christmas Program that had many songs and readings from the bible. In one of the songs Mikey got to play the triangle during it. He did a great job. He is the one on the furthest left with a star around his neck.

We also had Santa and Mrs. Claus come and talk to all the kids. They also gave them little goodie bags I thought James would be a lot more frightened than he was, but he went right up to him and sat on his lap and when Santa asked him what he wanted for Christmas, he told him that he wanted Christmas for Christmas, it was very cute. And he got it!

A quick shot of me and James while the Mikey was running around with his friends after the program.

What adorable little boys we have, we are so blessed to have such wonderful boys. (Shawn was at a soccer game in Oklahoma that weekend)