What a feast!

What a yummy feast we had Christmas night! Rich braved the snow and smoked our roast beast (prime rib), which was delicious. Our Christmas was small and a little quieter than usual, but we really did have a nice one. On a side note, Andy's slowly but surely starting to get a little better. He's still wheezing quite a bit and still has a runny nose, but his appetite is back and he's acting like he feels a lot better, which is always good. Based on how sick he's been the last couple of weeks, I think we made the right choice to have a small Christmas at home. Seems that winter just doesn't agree with that crazy kid!

The grown-ups were good, too!

Santa was pretty good to Mom and Dad, too! I got a wonderful wooden cutting board, a windowsill herb garden, a pastry brush and kitchen shears, some red custard cups and a gorgeous necklace and earrings set made by an artist in Israel. Rich got a golf club, a travel mug, some cigars and a box of Hillshire Farms snacks. Aunt Jo and Uncle Terry gave us our subscription to Newsweek, which we always love, and of course Mom braved the crowds the day after Thanksgiving with me, and she and Dad bought us our new TV. Andy and Blake rolled around on the floor laughing when Daddy put their stockings on his feet. Don't you love the aerial shot of the disaster area that was our living room after the unwrapping :)?

Santa was good to Blake and Andy!

On Christmas eve night we left Santa some cookies and milk and then took a look at the NORAD Santa Tracker website to check his progress. When we saw he was already in Canada, Blake hurried up to bed and went right to sleep! They both must have been extra good this year, because Santa was very good to them both. In addition to the parking garage, Blake got a Hot Wheels video game, some things for Piggy, some cars and a cool book about Beetles. Andy got an Aquadoodle coloring mat, some Thomas books and a movie, a cute book with a CD of 50's music and some car and road bathtub stick-up toys. When we woke up there were several inches of snow on the ground and it continued to snow all day long. It was so beautiful and such a treat to have a white Christmas!

Now THAT'S a Roundy-Round!

On Christmas morning, Blake was THRILLED to find that Santa had brought him the "roundy-round" Hot Wheels track that he'd asked for. It's a pretty cool one: it has 4 floors, an elevator, a car wash and a pumping station! It sure took Santa and his helper a loooooong time to put it together on Christmas eve, but it was well worth it to see the glee on his face when he came down the stairs. Needless to say, he and Andy had a couple of squabbles over it before the morning was over. It reminded me of the "Shrek the Halls" Christmas special we watched when Donkey told Shrek, "Mama always said: Christmas ain't Christmas 'till somebody cries!"

Christmas Eve

We opened our gifts on Christmas Eve, and the boys had a BIG time! They got such wonderful gifts, including, among other things, the jersey Blake's wearing, a Thomas the Tank Engine laptop computer toy, a kids' knife set (which Blake is using to help chop our dinner), some wonderful wooden blocks, really cool books from Aunt Jo and Uncle Terry, a Thomas Lego set and an Uno Attack game which shoots cards at you! On my list of things to do next year is get a new camera (sorry about the fuzzy pictures).

What an imagination!

Blake has two weeks off of school for Christmas vacation, so I've been racking my brain to try to think of fun things for us to do to keep him busy. He has a little Christmas tree in his room, so I pulled out the construction paper and stapler and suggested we make a big paper chain to put on the tree. He told me that he'd been doing that at school and came up with the idea of making a "roundy round" out of paper instead (roundy round is Blake's way of saying Hot Wheels track). I was amazed at what he came up with with just a little bit of help....he really is an amazingly creative kid!
He built a tunnel, a road complete with little white dashes, a bridge and a freestanding mountain, all out of paper stapled together. Good thing that he worked on this after Andy had gone to bed or I don't think it would have lasted very long!

Candy, candy, candy!

Mamo called last week and told me about a candy factory in Denver that gives tours (it was on the Food Network's "Unwrapped" show) so Blake and I had a mother/son outing to Hammond's Candies to find out how handmade candy canes are created. We had such a fun time! Here Blake's standing at one of the windows where the people on the tour get to watch as the candymakers do their thing. He was genuinely interested in the whole process and liked watching them pull the candy into long ropes, cut it and bend it into delicious candy canes.

Blake and our "elf" tour guide

After the tour we visited the candy shop and Blake made quite a haul! He got a coiled lollypop as big as his head and a giant candy cane. In the Christmas spirit, he also got some soft peppermints for his sicky brother who had to stay home with Daddy. Handmade candy really is delicious and well worth the drive...thanks for the great tip, Mamo! ( Blake proceeded to eat most of the giant candy cane on our drive back to Aurora. We went to the butcher shop right afterward to get our Christmas prime rib and when we got there Blake started to run in circles in front of the lobster tank with his shirt collar pulled up over his face, laughing maniacally. The people in line looked and him and then looked at me questioningly. All I had to say is that we'd just been to Hammond's Candies and all the mothers in the group nodded and said "ooooh." I guess I'm not the only one with kids who get sugar-crazy!)

Thomas crazy!

Andrew is currently obsessed with Thomas the Tank Engine. He's never very far from a Thomas book or toy. We use this box to keep the boys' toys contained downstairs, but Andy's convinced that it's his own private Thomas reading area! He regularly throws all the toys out of it and sits in it to read one of his favorite books...he's such a funny little guy!

I hope Santa's hungry....

Didn't Blake do a wonderful job with the Christmas cookies this year? When it came time to decorate them he asked me to put the icing "in a bag with a piping tip." Taken aback, I asked him where he learned about that and he said "from Alton on TV." Can you tell how much we have the Food Network on around here? Blake wrote on the "I love you" cookie all by himself with no help at all!

That's quite a chair!

Andy loves to watch cartoons while riding on Peanuts. He's quite a multitasker!

Christmas decorations

I just wanted to show off our lovely Christmas decorations. There's such a big pile of gifts under the tree that we have to step over them to get to the other side of the room...now that's a good problem to have!

Brotherly love

Last weekend I let Blake play a Hot Wheels game on my computer and of course Andy wanted to get in on the action. He kept crawling up on Blake's chair and driving him bonkers, so Rich had the good idea to sit him next to Blake in his booster seat. They looked so cute sitting together that Rich snapped a picture...it's a rare moment when they sit this close and one of them isn't trying to tackle the other one!

Hot Wheels crazy!

For his last birthday Blake got a subscription to Hot Wheels magazine from Mamo and Papa, which he loves. There's a section in every issue where they publish pictures of kids and their Hot Wheels collections. Blake decided that he wanted to have his picture published, so he picked his favorite cars, handwrote signs explaining why they're separated into separate groups, and changed into his brand new footie PJs (I have no idea why he did the last part). We'll see if his picture gets picked to be in the magazine!

Boys-in-a-box

At the end of November Blake's school's PTA hosted a "holiday shop" for the kids to buy presents for their families. We were there helping all three days and Andy ended up having a blast with the other kids! Needless to say, Andy was a ham the whole time and kept everyone entertained. He had the bright idea to put his friend in an empty box, get in himself, and have the bigger boy push them around. Nobody got hurt, thank goodness!

All dressed up

Don't my guys look handsome with their picture outfits on?

Santa Claus, 2007

Here's the "official" Santa photo. Although I would have prefered it if Andy hadn't looked terrified, it's pretty funny!

Blake's Magazine

Just like last year and the one before that, Blake took his "magazine" (Toys R Us wishbook) with him and showed Santa what he wants for Christmas. Santa was tickled at how serious Blake was about the whole thing!

Visiting Santa!

The Saturday after Thanksgiving Mom and I took the boys to have their portraits made and to see Santa. I really don't think I've ever seen Blake so excited! Andy was less than enthused: he just wanted to get his hands on all the pretty shiny things on the giant Christmas tree!

Yay!

The expression on Andy's face pretty much sums up our Thanksgiving...we couldn't have had a better time!

We match!

Andy and his Papa had so much fun! I don't think they intended to wear matching shirts, but they sure do look handsome!

Our new family member!

Ever since we sadly had to give our George cat away (Andy's allergic to cats and dogs) we've been promising Blake a rodent pet of some sort when he was old enough to take care of it. After his 6th birthday we decided that he was probably up to the task, so when my friend Kim offered their guinea pig to us, we gratefully accepted. We call him Piggy (unique, I know) and he really is a sweet little guy. Blake absolutely loves him...he carries him around pretty much from the minute he gets home from school until he goes to bed. Here he's enjoying a carrot, which is his favorite snack.

Happy family!

The table was so beautiful (red computer, red table, red kitchen....Rich is pretty sure I'm obsessed). It was actually my first time hosting a holiday meal and I'm proud to say it turned out very well!

Mmmmmmm

Rich grilled a fabulous prime rib (we opted for chicken and beef instead of turkey). It was soooo good!

The chicken dance

We obviously had a whole lot of fun while cooking Thanksgiving dinner!

I love my Mamo!

Thanksgiving was so much fun! Mamo, Papa and Cocoa came to share in the fun with us and we had a really great visit.

Have you ever seen a more tasty-looking bouquet?

Mom and Dad got me this gorgeous cookie bouquet for my birthday...trust me, it tasted as good as it looked!

My new computer!

I had such a fabulous, laid back birthday this year! My wonderful husband gave me the computer that I'm now using to write this. The best part about it is that it's my favorite color and even has a matching red mouse!

Andy and Peanuts!

I'm so ashamed that I haven't posted any new pictures since the weird Halloween sandwich, but I'm determined to catch up! Last month Andy met Peanuts, which was Blake's funny legless horse that Mamo and Papa gave him. He LOVES it...he rides it all the time while he watches cartoons. Yes, the poor kid has a black eye in this picture. He must have hit his cheek pretty hard on something, but he never cried so we have absolutely no idea how he got it!

I decided to make a creeeeepy dinner for Halloween. On the left is an alien sandwich and on the right is some cream of creature soup. Blake begged to eat in the living room because he couldn't bear the thought of missing seeing one of his friends trick-or-treating. I know this is a weird picture to put on the blog, but I couldn't resist!

Ready to go!

The boys all dressed up! It's not easy to take pictures of Andy lately, since he's always too busy to look at the camera!

Fearsome fivesome!

We went to my friend Kim's house to trick or treat before hitting our neighborhood. There's Blake, of course, as the skeleton, Izzy as Dorothy, Alyssa as a pirate, Gracie as Cinderella and Andy as a monkey. If you look carefully, you can see Kim's husband Anthony's arm holding Andy in place from behind. He kept running off!

The Great Pumpkin

Blake was chomping at the bit this morning to carve pumpkins, so we got started bright and early in our PJs.

Ewwww

Scooping out the guts is the best part! Andy's just waiting patiently to get his hands in that goopy mess!