Christmas Day

As usual, the boys made out like bandits:
The gifts with the letters on them are from Santa, blue As for Aidan, and green As for Alexander.

Aidan got a special Dino Adventurer outfit
and he couldn't wait to wear it!

Alex enjoys his new wildlife playmobil toys.

Aidan wasn't feeling too well on Christmas day.
But hugs and kisses (and tickles) from Gran made him smile anyway!

We finished the evening with a game of Rock Paper Scissors:
Auntie Tean, Uncle Del and Aidan had so much fun.

It was so nice to have Kristean and Mathias here, the boys loved visiting with them and we had so much fun with them.

The Gingerbread House

This is the story of a boy who wanted to make a gingerbread house.

His mother, having never made one from scratch, decided to buy a pre-baked one, but the boy only had eyes fro the icing:


Once dad mixed the icing, the boy could not keep his hands off it:


The boy and his dad proceeded to decorate the house . . .


With the boy sneaking bits of icing whenever he could . . .


The boy learned to pipe icing on the house . . .


But mostly sneaked bits here and there . . .


He made the door out of his favorite candies, Smarties :D


Putting the final touches to his masterpiece!


Candies and icing galore :D


Aidan's first ever gingerbread house.
I think he did a great job. And he can't wait to eat it all on Christmas day :D

The boys's trees!

We decided to get the boys their own Christmas trees for their rooms, and I scored at Michaels, they had little fake trees for $6.99 but they were 40% off, as were all the mini-tree ornaments. So, for about $15 the boys both got their own trees.

Aidan's tree is next to an elephant, a traditional symbol of Christmas. Ok, not really, but elephants were big (no pun intended) in this house a couple of years ago. Until something bigger - dinosaurs - took over. But elephants are still important and this one took place of honor next to the tree.


Alex's tree is by the Pluto illustration my husband made for his Disney-themed room. Honestly, it's not much of a theme, just a Pluto and a Mickey and the wallpaper border I put up, but by the time we did that he was off Mickey & friends, so we decided to wait until the "next thing" catches his eye. Which still hasn't. He likes his brother's dinosaurs, but he also likes different cartoons, nothing has really caught his fancy yet.


My husband glued the bases of the trees onto some chargers and added fake snow for effect. I think they look so sweet in the boys' rooms!

Time to decorate the tree!

In my house, it's not Christmas time until we have decorated the tree. At least not for my oldest. Ever since he was able to help, he has loved decorating the tree - we have a fake one that has served us well for many years, and after our recent trip to the mountains to accompany some friends get their real Christmas tree, my boy was on the edge, waiting (not so) patiently until we could decorate ours.
Finally it was time, and both our boys did a great job, although my little one thought it was as much fun to take ornaments down as putting them up.

Most of our ornaments are personal to us, either from places we've visited, or celebrating a milestone in our family, or made by the boys. This year a couple of cardstock dinosaurs joined the ornament family - I think they look fantastic!

Back to the mountains . . .

but this time the mountains of Los Gatos, near our home.
We went with some friends to look for Christmas trees - the boys had a blast, and even though we didn't find the little trees we wanted (for the boys' rooms) it was a wonderful time.

Afterward, we had lunch with our friends and the boys filled their bellies with mac-and-cheese, before going home to watch some TV to rest after a busy morning going up and down hills with their friends.

In the evening, it was time to decorate the Christmas tree! I'll be back soon with that post.

Halloween 2010

We had a great time trick-or-treating, my mother-on-law came with us and shared in the fun - Aidan was Drago from Bakugan, and Alexander was Wubbzy, it was a nice, cool (but not too cold) evening.

Camping . . . again!

Since our first camping experience as a family was such a blast, we decided to go again. It was close to a beach this time so it got chilly at night, but the boys had a blast!
My sweet boys.

Aidan putting sunblock on his little brother - so cute!

Aidan loved being swung back and forth by our much taller friends!

Gran and Grandpa also visited us at camp and lots of tickling ensued!