Christmas 2013

Christmas Eve

We let the boys each open one present on Christmas Eve.  Ryan got a new track.

Jackson got a big box of Legos with an instruction booklet with lots of things to construct.  He was in Heaven.

The boys making cookies for Santa.

Sprinkling reindeer food outside.

Then it was off to sleep so Santa could come and do his delivering!



Christmas Day

We had a yummy breakfast of homemade cinnamon rolls (that Jackson helped me make the day before), eggs, and bacon.

Lots of car tracks, Lego and Trio sets this year!

After lunch we headed to Anne's house to celebrate with Laine's family.

Merry Christmas!

Ryan and Brooks

Dada and Jackson building a difficult Spiderman puzzle.

This picture is actually from the day after Christmas.  By mid-day Laine and Jackson had built the entire Lego Fire station that Jackson got from Dada and G.  He has since taken it apart and built it again.

The Blackburns

The boys got headlights.

They also got fun hats and lots of other goodies.

Also over the holiday, Ryan saw his first movie, Frozen.

Ryan did great at the movie.  You would have never known it was his first.  

November and December Pictures

We took some pictures with our camera in the woods by our house for our Christmas card.  We managed to get 3 good ones out of about 200 pictures.

Both boys went to a few UT games this fall.  Ryan was working so hard learning his Hook 'Em sign.   Don't worry, I've been teaching him Gig 'Em too.

Jackson's newest obsession is building things with the help of instructions.  He is getting really good at building with Legos, TRIOs, and he loves to build huge and elaborate train tracks.

Jackson is learning SO much right now.  I'm amazed at how much he has grown this fall.  We are ready to sign him up for Kindergarten!  I captured a video of him reading the other day.  I will see if I can load it to the blog soon.

In early December we had a 3 day ice storm that provided for lots of outdoor fun.

Laine took the boys all around the neighborhood in the laundry basket.  They had a blast.

 We had our annual high school best friends reunion last weekend.  Such a fun time.  This year we  were able to have lots of fun adult time since the kids are getting older and more independent.  They played together so well and had a lot of fun too.

The kids before their book exchange.

The girls

We hosted everyone at our house on Saturday night.  

We ordered Rosa's for dinner and got such a kick out of how much food they gave us.  I think we had about 10 dozen tortillas.

I made gingerbread cookies.  They were absolutely awful.  I had to take a picture of them to remember how much fun we had laughing at the kids (and adults.)  They were so excited to eat the yummy cookies and the looks on their faces were priceless when they tasted them.  Needless to say, I tossed that recipe.

Ryan had his Christmas program at school. Turns out, like his brother, he is not a performer.  He just stood there and looked bored during all the songs.

Unfortunately Ryan has given up naps.  I tried and tried to make him sleep and it just got to be such a battle that I gave up.  He has quiet time in his room and this is the sight I see quite a bit on the monitor.  He likes to talk to me during quiet time.

Gotta keep my eye on him and make sure it doesn't get too quiet.  This is how I found him one day.

Just a precious picture of Sarah and Ryan one night at Katherine's house.  These two are 13 days apart and they are really starting to enjoy playing together.

I'll be back soon with Christmas pictures!