Monday, December 31, 2012

Christmas 2012

Christmas morning started for us at about 2 am when we heard Henry fall out of his bed. Oops. He had never fallen out of his bed at home so we weren't too worried about putting him in a big bed at the hotel. We put his rail up on one side and the wall was on the other side. We neglected to think about the foot of the bed. Henry moves around a lot when he sleeps and he just rolled himself off the foot of the bed. He wasn't hurt and went right back to sleep. Around 8 am he woke up and we got dressed (well James and I did, we left Henry in his Pj's cuz I think it's cuter) and went over to my parents to open stockings and get ready for church. There are tons of pictures, you have been warned! ;) 


Henry opening his stocking from nana and papa. 


 Dumbo in one hand, Mickey in the other. 





 So much good stuff! Thanks nana and papa! 


 Henry got himself comfortable on the couch to eat breakfast :) 

Usually on Christmas we take our time opening presents. Each person opens one present at a time and it takes like all morning. But this time we had three two year olds to think about. There was no way we could get them to sit through our slow present opening. So we took a slightly different approach. We passed out presents and just let the kids go to town. It was so quick and chaotic but fun too! There was paper flying around, kids running amok, people shouting thank you's across the room, multiple cameras desperately trying to capture every smile and every expression on joy... it was great! The pictures are very disjointed and really I can't remember what half the presents were but I do know Henry had a blast! 

James made mugs for everyone with pictures from Disneyland :) 


 Action shot. 


 James got Emily a Lord of the Rings shirt. 


 The first present Henry opened was an Eric Carle alphabet book. He was so focused on that we could hardly get him to open any other presents :) 





 Opening his present from Auntie Zee Zee.


 Cowboy boots! 





 Puzzles! 





 Toy Story sheets :) 


 Another Eric Carle book... with animal sounds. 


 This one stopped the show again. They were entranced. 


 This was the Henry's big present. We were so excited for him to open it! 


 Yay! We got the reaction we were hoping for, look at his face :) 


 It's action figures of his favorite characters Buzz and Zurg! 


 He was seriously so cute, he could NOT wait for James to get them out of the box! 


I am so happy. I can't wait for the day when this kid gets the look at the camera and smile thing. 


After presents the boys went down for a much needed nap. We had a yummy dinner which I took zero pictures of and then the kids were ready to play! 

Block time. 


 The three amigos. 


Henry and I trying to build a tower without the others knocking it down.  







Kenya made a nice cake for dessert and Henry insisted that we have a candle for Jesus's birthday :) We asked my dad how many candles we would need. Turns out we didn't have that many so we opted for six :) 



The boys blowing out Jesus's candles.  


We had to do it about three more times afterwards :) 


Christmas in Sierra Vista ended with lots more playtime with the boys and their toys. My mom and dad did such a great job making sure everyone was happy. It was definitely a wonderful Christmas that I hope Henry will remember at least a little bit. On our drive back to Tucson, Henry held Buzz in his lap the entire time. Then when we got home, it was time to play some more. I am so happy Henry loves all his new toys :) 


Playing with Zurg. 





 Helping Buzz fly. 








 Playing with his toy tool set. 


 He knew what each tool was and how to use it! 





 My sweet little boy playing happily with his toys. Makes me so happy :) 


 Letter puzzles. He isn't too good at it yet, but he's working on it. 


 Looking through his kaleidoscope from nana. 

During the break, I have been trying to do more crafts with Henry. He is such an active boy that sitting to do something with his hands is good for him. I mentioned to James that I would love to try to do a shadow silhouette of Henry but I doubted he would sit still enough to let me trace him. Well James was all over it. He said he could do it with just a picture so Henry would only have to sit still for a second! Even that was challenging so I helped :) 


Me and my baby :) 


Here is the finished product. How cool is that?! 

Whoo-hoo!!! I did it! I am all caught up on my blogging!!! Maybe I can keep caught up but I am guessing you won't be hearing from me again until March ;) 

Sunday, December 30, 2012

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve church service is always a special occasion for us. This year was even more so because we were all together for the first time in a long time. We all got dressed up and enjoyed the service together. Only this time, we filled two whole pews! Whoa! James brought the tripod and we were determined to capture a nice family portrait. We took about 20 shots and there were a lot of good ones and of course some funny ones. I chose the best one to share. 


Left group: Kenya, Matt, Starla and Sean. Center top group: my mom, my dad, Erin and Emily. Right group: Chris, Caleb, Leah holding Logan. Lower center group: James Henry and me! If you lost count that is 15 people!!! 


My little family. 


 Emily, me and Erin (Em and I look like hobbits compared to Erin, she is wearing way higher heels!) 





 Sean and Henry. We wanted to get all the boys but the others were getting restless. 





 Hugs!! 


 Buddies :) 


Great pictures and great memories :)