Merry, Merry Christmas

Welcome back! I hope your holiday was merry! We had a wonderful Christmas. Jack is at such a fun age for Christmas. Everything is magical, wonderful, and the best ever! And that is one of the fun parts of parenting; to experience life again filled with the excitement of your child! Brent and I have said many times this weekend that it was just a wonderful holiday. Jack loved all his presents, he couldn't choose a favorite because "everyone of them was his favorite". Will has traveled many miles this weekend pushing his new shopping cart. He has filled it with his 'babies' (stuffed animals), balls, or 'treasures' (this means unloading the junk drawer into the basket) and pushed it all over the house. And watch out...if you are in his way, you'll get mowed over!

Brent says Will is practicing being homeless...we're so proud =).
And with his dirty face, he does look like a little orphan child. Have I mentioned that the boy has a terrible sweet tooth?!?!? He found the chocolate!








And would you believe it?!?! Not only did Jack get a letter in the mail from Santa, but Santa Claus called our house Christmas afternoon! Jack was so excited to hear that he had been a good boy! Whew, we were sweating it out after Christmas Eve mass!







Friday, we continued with Will's birthday celebration. We went to Monkey Joe's, one of those indoor inflatable places, with our cousins C and B and their cousin K. Everyone had a great time. The giant slides were a hit! Just look at all of those smiles at the bottom of the slide!

And the cutest thing was watching B, 20 months old, scaling the steps of the slide like nobody's business and sliding down all by himself! He is just a little monkey and will be quite the little athlete one day soon.








C and K having fun in the toddler play area. C really is having fun! Seems I caught him in between expressions.








Will loved the slides and the firetruck ride, which Gammomma kept well supplied with quarters.






After everyone was sufficiently worn out, we went home for lunch and monkey cupcakes. And I have to brag on myself...I made these cupcakes! I am no Martha Stewart nor a natural in the kitchen, so I was proud of how cute they turned out =).

Saturday, we just hung out at home. I was absolutely worthless! I didn't do a single thing, except maybe unload the dishwasher. The boys played with their toys. Will got a Little Tykes firetruck and has loved riding in that. Even big brother thinks it is fun...check out the knees at the chin. Brent was productive, and prunned most of our crepe myrtles. (Brent is always productive! Just like my grandmother, he cannot stand to be idle.)

Today, we bought a new washer and dryer. Our set is 14 years old and has been dying a slow death for the past 3-5 years. Over the past year, I have been telling Brent, "I think we need a new washer and dryer." And each time he answered, "Well, go buy a new set!" Of course, I have been dragging my feet because I have such a tight grip on the money and hate to part with it easily. But the dryer is taking FOREVER to dry a single load, so long in fact that I can only do about 1 load a day, so I am always woefully behind on laundry. Home Depot was having a pretty good sale on their appliances so we bought a GE front loading washer and dryer set. I have never had a front loader washing machine so I am excited to see if all the positives I have heard about them ring true. Brent is pretty excited today because he officially won his Fantasy Football league! This was his first year to ever play, too. And probably his last in this league, I bet they don't invite him to join next year ;-).

So that is it for us! We have all enjoyed hanging out as a family. My house is a complete wreck and I feel like I have been picking up stuff for 3 days straight. But there is always tomorrow, right?