christmastime!

we kind of put up our christmas stuff gradually.  i tried to wait for ryan to be home to set up the tree, but i lost patience and set it up so we could decorate it with him.  isaac and cody were great helpers of course...

its definitely more fun to have the tree up with presents under it to anticipate the coming of christmas! 

with christmas coming comes lots of boxes in the mail - which, of course, make the best and most entertaining toys. 

luckily santa stopped by story time, so we didn't have to go hunt for him elsewhere.  cody was quite intent on telling him what he wants for christmas (a big boy bike this time)

it took a little convincing to get isaac to sit on santa's lap.  its amazing the allure of a candycane. 

i saw this house while i was driving to a friend's house one day.  i thought it looked just like mr. willowby's house in 'mr. willowby's christmas tree' (more so at night) so i couldn't resist snapping a picture.

we all have plenty of jammies, so we decided to do slippers and a book on christmas eve for a change this year. our feet will be much happier on all our hard, cold tile!

the boys loved their books!

(cody got a set of amelia bedelia/frog and toad books and isaac got 'steam train, dream train')

 we start our christmas mornings in our stockings.  

all cody talked about from christmas last year was that santa brought him oatmeal, so we were happy santa remembered again!  they loved watching the dinosaur eggs hatching and were much happier for the rest of present opening. 

they both got bubble bath in their stockings.  we snuck in a bubble bath before taking off for david and julie's house later in the morning. 

the boys got matching sweaters and ties (ryan got a bow tie).  they both wanted to try them on right away. 

isaac is definitely a fun present opener.  with every one he'd say 'what is it?' 'a box!' 

grandma berta made each of the boys a little blanket for their animals.  later on, she told me that cody's was for a specific animal, but ryan and i could not figure it out at all.  when we asked cody in the morning, he said 'elmer'!  of course!! 

isaac got some tools and a way-too-big tool belt 

cody got some 'blegos' that he has been asking and asking for. 

very last we went out to the garage to find two new scooters.  isaac definitely needs some practice, but he'll catch on fast! 

aunt annie got the boys the fishing game.  such simple rules and so easy to play....perfect!!  they play it all the time! 

isaac and cody gave each other some additions to our train set.  now cody has all kinds of new options when he gets building. 

when we went outside to get in the car to go to david and julie's, we found the flag in the yard (we have friends whose kids are doing a flag service) and cody insisted on getting a picture with it - and his new backhoe.

we had delicious cornish game hens for christmas dinner (which took a bit longer to cook since david forgot to take them out of the freezer in time....bit of a thanksgiving 2007 reminder).  while we waited we did lots of playing, resting, facetiming, and picture taking of picture taking. 

grandma and grandpa varga got cody and isaac new jammies so we snapped a quick picture before leaving david and julie's. 

ryan had to work the next day, but the rest of us decided we'd treat the day like christmas day and stay in our jammies all day.  cody was a bit confused at the idea, but i thought it was fun :)  we spent the whole day kicking back and playing with new toys.   

i helped cody set this track up and had to document since i'm not usually terribly creative when it comes to making train tracks. 

sean and nicole gave us this set of ornaments that fit perfectly in an advent shadow box that ryan's parents gave us.  we loved reading the scriptures, talking about the pictures, watching the bible video, and opening the box that contained an ornament relating to christ's life each night.  when we put the tree away after christmas, cody was able to tell me each story from christ's life.  we love the set and are so grateful at how well it helped us remember christ and teach our children the stories of jesus this season!