Puzzle Time

Ace was playing with a puzzle in his room one afternoon...

Notice AJ in the background...

Enjoying himself SO much!

Love watching their hands work!

Uh oh!  Can you guess what happened?  

Yep, Mr. AJ got a hold of some of Ace's work!

Don't crack a smile!  :)

Okay...all is forgiven!

He Loves His Blankets

Our kids each have special blankets...AJ has three that he loves!  His crib is full of blankets at night. One that he sucks on, one that he covers up with, and one that he pulls or wraps around himself.  

Snuggled up in his rocking chair with all of his blankets...and loving it!

He is sleepy...

This is a sure sign he is ready for a nap or for bed!

Night, night!

Ah...can you imagine how comfy he is?  :)

Winter Sleigh Ride

We took the kids on a sleigh ride on Christmas Day.  It was beautiful and I can't wait until next year when AJ is a bit older and we're able to reason with him a bit!  He refused to keep his mittens on and yet cried because his hands were so cold!  :)

Heading to the chalet.

All packed in...nice and cozy!

Pete & Julia (the horses) taking us out on the trail!

Finley was a bit owly that day...but we found a couple days later she had a valid excuse...

an ear infection!

Mommy & AJ all snuggled up!

Snuggling up with Papa!

Meeting Pete & Julia after the ride was over...

Ace looked very little compared to the horses!

First Comes the Laughter; Then Comes the Tears!

As promised a few days ago...more pictures of the "swords"!

The swords that Ace got for Christmas can be combined into one large one or two smaller ones.  

He is kind enough to share with little brother from time to time!

Ace thought it was hilarious that AJ kept swinging at Brent and I...

Ace was laughing SO hard!  Huge belly laughs!  And AJ was persistent!

And then the poor dogs got chased by the two of them around the living room...

...until the tears came!  :)

A Few of My Favorite Things - AJ

AJ obviously didn't have a wish list for Christmas...we knew that he would be most content with the box or really anything that he could push buttons to make noise!  He is such a good boy...very busy, but good! :)  He enjoys watching Finley and Ace play, but most of all enjoys being in the mix with them.  You can just see how hard he tries to keep up with them!  

I let him sit at the table the other day...

And he thought he was pretty cool!  :)

He loves to wrestle with Ace...and I think one of these days Ace might be on the receiving end!

Here he is playing with a Christmas present...pushing as many buttons as he can to make as much noise as possible!  HA!

A Few of My Favorite Things - Ace

Ace requested only one thing for Christmas - a green candy cane.  He was so disappointed when Santa gave him a red one on Saturday night...we explained that maybe Santa wrapped all the green ones already and had them loaded on his sleigh...he liked that.  (phew!)  BUT we had to get this special little boy something to open on Christmas Day...

He was so proud that he got a huge box full of "Moose & Muffin books"!  :)

And loved his "scooper" tractor!

He went right to work cleaning up the wrapping paper!

We also got him a Nerf sword...which we might regret!  (More pictures to come!)

He got a wooden set of bowling pins from Auntie Koko...which might have to be put away until the boys are older...I set them up twice and they played nice twice...until AJ started throwing the wooden balls around and Ace started swinging the pins around (like swords).  AH!  :)

AND...look at how content he is to just lay with his GREEN CANDY CANE!  :)

A Few of My Favorite Things - Finley

Finley is such a girlie girl!  Her Christmas list consisted of Barbies, princesses, Barbies, and more Barbies!  :)  She was excited to see that "Santa" came through with some things on her Christmas list.

I think she is gasping in this picture!

A popstar dress up outfit!

OOOH!  And the princess dress up outfit too!

I actually bought this book with Finley...she looked at it the entire time we were in the store and then I gently took it from her hands, distracted her with something else...and she was none the wiser!  

Yes, I'm good!  

She wouldn't look at me...but she is dressed up as the "popstar" with her very own microphone!

Finley didn't feel good on Christmas day...she had spiked a fever that night and continued to do so throughout the day.  She quietly sat at the table and colored for a while before falling asleep in her bed. 

Christmas Eve at Nana & Papa's

After church and a delicious meal, it was time to open presents!

AJ was the first to "receive"...a cool wagon!  :)

Ace patiently waited until it was hit turn...can you see him in the pile of presents?

Legos!

Ace enjoyed all of the special attention from Ethan!

The granddaughters all received "twirling" dresses that they quickly tested!

That's a lot of polka dots!  :)

Special Tea Party

I broke out the fancy tea set for Finley and Ace on Monday!  They were both being such good kids, I thought they deserved a special treat.  So I made hot chocolate in the little tea cups that I used to use at my Grandma Bea's house when I was a little girl.  They both thought it was pretty cool...and even better to have hot chocolate and a brownie for a morning snack!

Distraction

I was off work on Monday, so the kids were at home with me.  They were beyond excited to open presents that evening...so I allowed them to each open one that morning!

What is it Ace?

A new book!

AJ was actually the one that kept bringing the presents to me that morning...

But when allowed to open; he wasn't as interested!  HA

New books for AJ too!

Finley patiently waited her turn...

And ended up with a new book too!  :)