Christmas Day

Stockings - the aftermath

All kinds of goodies

Nefty's first board game!

Christmas Eve

Nefty helping his brother open his Christmas Eve present (and yes, that's the Twilight DVD on the chair behind Solomon, Michelle's gift to me...hee...hee...)

Neftalí's new car, a paramedic/resuce truck!

Solomon's new mini dump truck

Auntie Michelle reading the kiddos a Christmas bedtime story
(Solomon didn't make it and was already tucked in bed)

We are so blessed to have such amazing friends. My former roommate Michelle and her family invited the boys and I to spend Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with them in their home. We had a delicious chicken dinner, prepared by momma Morse (Michelle's mom), and shared delightful conversation with momma and poppa Morse afterward. The boys stayed up a little later than usual for the special occasion, and Nefty and Savannah could have played until they dropped dead with exhaustion! We opened up a few small gifts before the Morses headed home and the kids were tucked in bed. It was a joyous occasion in precious company. The priceless friendship of my dear friends and their kindness was yet one more example of the true Meaning of Christmas - sharing Christ's love with those around them. It truly was a Merry Christmas.

Bath Time Fun

Those big, brown eyes

"Mom...put the camera away!"

Lovin' the suds

Bath time - the best part of the day!

Thank goodness my boys love baths! They especially love bubble baths. And I love that I can put them in together. I'm thinking we'll need a jacuzzi tub in our next house, so that I can bathe all three in one shot! Wouldn't that be fun? :)

The art of making cookies

Christmas Cookies

Carefully squeezing icing onto his snowman

Adding some decorative silver balls

Gotta make sure it tastes okay!

Fun with frosting

Nefty is quite the artist. I took a short cut and bought the pre-made pre-cut dough, popped them on a cookie sheet and in the oven. They turned out pretty good, especially after being finished off with great detail by cookie connoisseur himself!

Christmas Break

Even though it's Christmas break, my children still feel it necessary to wake up before the rooster crows. Why, Lord, do my children have to be such early birds??? Today, Monday, the first official day of break, and my boys were up at 5:30am. It was still pitch black outside...but they didn't care. And they're hungry first thing too. At least the Lord has made our bodies adaptable, and mine has seemed to adjust fairly well from being a night person to a very early morning person. I didn't really have a choice. :)

Today, once I was able to have 2 cups of decaf coffee, we piled in the car and headed to the mall. I don't have any shopping to do, but we were meeting a friend and her daughter there. Since the boys don't get out during the week when I'm at work, I figure they can use the outing - and I could use the exercise. We walked around a bit, rode the elevator and escalator, played at the children's play structure, and then headed to lunch at Chili's. Then, we went to Waldenbooks, because, like his mother, Neftalí is a book-ie. We found a fun "search and find" book with several superheros (his favorite is Ironman), and a board book on trucks for Solomon. Then it truly was time to head home for some naps.

A busy Monday... and not a minute of lesson planning! Feels a little strange...but nice.

Our Little Tree

Nefty is pretty excited that the tree isn't much taller than him.

The last red star

Not sure what Sol is doing here...striking a pose I guess. He is so difficult with the camera sometimes.

Finally a decent smile from them...and Sol insisted on crossing his arms across his chest with a little attitude. :)

Instead of a real tree this year, we decided on an artificial one. It was a little sad at first, because I love the smell of a real tree. But to keep things simple - and cleaner - we decided artificial was the way to go. Yes, it's tiny - 4' to be exact. But it's perfect for us, and we love it. We couldn't get to our box of ornaments, so I just picked up a few inexpensive decorations and some ribbon at Michael's (arts & crafts store). Nefty made a star in Sunday school this morning, and it added the perfect final touch, resting against the top bow. Now I just need to wrap up a few presents and stick them underneath!