Festive Sweater Day at work

Work is always fun!

I couldn't get enough of Steve and Josh...so disturbing : )

Holidazzle and Dusty's Birthday Get Together

Heather (Daycare provider) MADE these awesome capes for the boys. They are SO cute! Here they are watching Toy Story before we went to the Holidazzle parade.
Waiting for the parade.

It was CHILLY! Carol and Uncle Bob. Grandma C made hot chocolate for everyone!

Mikko looks thrilled. He pretty much screamed the whole parade. Damon walked him up and down the block the whole time.

On Uncle Dusty's shoulders.

Leah got a light stick. It was super fun til she poked herself in the eye - ouch.

After we went to Green Mill for pizza to celebrate Dusty's Bday.

Luckily Mikko cheered up and had a grand old time with Leah. He didn't even cry when he gagged and puked on himself : )

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Happy Birthday Uncle Dusty!

Going to see Santa....well, kinda!

Damon and Grandma Carol brought the boys to Bachmans today to see Santa. The line was too long though so they didn't actually get up to sit on his lap.

But, Damon got these beautiful pictures of the boys!

Christmas with Counsins!

The Fraser's are going to Mississippi for Christmas so we got together to celebrate last night.

We did all kinds of crafts, cookie-baking, games and eating. We had planned to have a craft/cookie day last Satuday but couldn't get together because of the weather. So, we packed in lots of activities into one day. We made a wreath for Grandma and Grandpa for Christmas. Each kid painted their own ornament.

Mikko painting.

David's turn.

Between crafts the kids would go WILD.
Then we'd wrangle them up for the next planned activity.

Onto cookie decorating.

Going Wild again.

More wildness.

The Mommies needed some "courage" to make it through the craziness.

Christmas Card toss game.

Making Reindeer food with Auntie Carrie.

Showing off their prizes from the games.

Our attempt to get the kids together for a picture next to the wreath they made.

At this point they are completely amped up on sugar.

Funniest gift ever. Carrie found this book called "It's Christmas David".

The cover is an absolutely exact rendition of our David on Christmas last year.

It is a picture of "David" reaching wildly for a candy cane at the top of the Christmas tree.

I had David hold his picture from last year of him holding his candy cane he got when he pulled the Christmas tree over at the Shack.

I can't believe how perfect the book is!

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We're bummed that we won't be together for Christmas, but we had a super fun and WILD night with all the kids. I was COMPLETELY exhausted when the Fraser's left for the night. But it was worth it - the kids had a blast together, as always.

Skating Lessons

David's skating class.

Learning how to stand up - the first step!

Getting help from his teacher.

This was David's third week of lessons. Today was the first day he was able to stand up and skate! We were so proud of him!

After class the parents can go on the ice to help out - too cute!

Mikko watching the zamboni.

Mikks was occupied for the whole lesson by this box of Fruit Loops.

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SHORT VIDEOS

Video - push play
In David fashion, here is his being silly on the ice.

Video - push play

Here he is on the move!

My new space!

We turned a small storage room in the basement

into my very own "Creative Sanctuary"!

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Finally, a space for all my crafting stuff! Whenever I crafted or sewed, I'd have to drag everything out and put it away before David would get into it. It was totally disorganized and I never knew where anything was.

Now I have my very own creative retreat.

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My Dad made this desk for me and delivered it last week. It is perfect! I picked up the chair at TJMaxx today to complete the room. (forget the huge mess I still have in the rest of the basement. I need to figure out where to store everything I took out of here. But I always want to do the fun parts first!)

Fun wall art from TJMaxx.

David and Damon sheetrocking!
I Love how supportive Damon was and got everything done so quickly.
And...has anyone noticed David doesn't like to wear pants around the house?

Visit to Mommy's Work

Today Heather (daycare provider) was sick so the boys couldn't go to daycare. I brought the boys to visit work because we were doing our annual ornament exchange today and I had to pick up my books to study for an exam I have next Monday. Here is my group holding our ornaments.
David loves to come to my office so he can play with office supplies. He was so proud sitting in my chair and taping and coloring.

Mikko was running wild around the office.

And charming all the ladies, of course. He is good at that.

He wasn't as shy at all, compared to the other times I brought him in. He was running around and smiling the whole time.

The boys loved looking out the windows at the "Christmas trees" 3 stories down.

Stopping at Carol's desk for some treats.

Decorations

Grandma Carol and Grandma Mary bought this Advent Calendar for David when he was a baby. It is the BEST calendar - there is lots of room to hide treasures in it. David can count all the numbers this year so every morning he remembers what # day it is. This year I put chocolate in it every third day. The other days are stamps. He is starting to get REALLY disappointed when he opens the rubber stamps. "Oh no" he says, "Another stamp". It is pretty funny. But it makes the chocolate days all the better.

Theses are the mailboxes we are going to put our letters to Santa in.

My reindeer collection.

I love this tree my Mom made a long time ago. Mikko does too!

Stocking Grandma Marlene made. Mikko loves to pick at them. Mar - you might be repairing them again after this Chritmas!

My Grandma Opal gave me this Christmas decoration and it will always be one of my favorites. I remember thinking it was so magical when I was little. I love putting it up on her China Cabinet every Christmas.

My Mom made me the ceramic reindeer and angel when I was little. The plastic reindeer are from my Grandma also. Love them! The "pipe" was from the Snowman in 1984. Not only did we get presents from Santa when we were little, we always got one gift from the Snowman.
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Our tiny house is full of Christmas. We have no room, but I will not compromise when putting Christmas decorations up!