December 2010

Our countdown to Christmas starts with our advent tree.  Every night the boys open an ornament present and hang them on the tree.  So by the time Christmas arrives the tree is fully decorated.  

1st present of our advent tree

What a model!  Daniel showing off his first ornament with a stunning don't smile "model pose".

December has been really great for Ryan.  Charlie (and Jenny) came into town and so Ryan now has someone to boss around.  Although he does do that pretty well with the entire family, but now he can tell someone his size what to do.  

Ryan taking the lead, pulling Charlie around the yard. 

Christmas would not be complete without a trip to go see Santa Claus.  Ryan and Daniel were pretty excited about it and you can read all about Charlie's experience first hand in the Schoonover family blog.  But I think the pictures tell quite the tale already.  

Almost to Santa's lap.  Daniel was not interested in participating, he was focused on telling the big guy exactly what he wanted for Christmas. 

Jenny has always been a project girl, but especially after she became an elementary school teacher.  As soon as Daniel saw her he asked her what project they were going to be doing.  She always has a great idea for something for the kids to do.  Even at nine months pregnant she had the stamina to do an amazing project with all the kids.  Unfortunately this was a secret project and I didn't get to see it until the end.  Thankfully not only did Jenny orchestrate and keep the boys on task, she also documented it for me to enjoy later.

Charlie and Ryan getting in a little play time before getting to work.  The boys are so fun to watch play together.  Everyday they play on their riding vehicles.  They put on the hats a pretend to go to the farm.  Ryan always has to be in front (those are Charlie's rules) leading the way.

"CHEEEEEESE"

"CHEEEESE"

Enjoying some quiet time, relaxing by the fire after a hard days work.  

The completed ornaments.  Don't they look fabulous?! 

 Cookie Day -   I love to make Christmas cookies and this year was a lot of fun with the boys.  Daniel is a perfectionist and had a great time directing my mom on how to decorate the cookies.  He eventually got in there and did some of his own, but I think he really enjoyed watching my mom execute his vision. Charlie and Ryan had a great time cutting the cookie dough.  Charlie really like to eat the cookie dough much to Jenny's dismay.

Charlie excited to cut out cookies from the dough. 

Daniel working hard rolling out the dough.  He wanted to do it all by himself, but he found it a little challenging.  

My mom found the best Christmas card ever.  It was like it was made for Daniel.  Over the summer I taught the boys to shake their booty.  Little did I know how popular that was going to be.  I should know better, but it was very innocent at first.  Nana found a card that on the front read "The Holidays are Here, It's Your Duty.... (inside the card) to Shake Your Booty."  

Here is a picture of the inside.  The booty shakes as the card sings.  Daniel couldn't stop laughing.  And consequently we couldn't stop laughing either.  

My mom also gave the boys $20 and Ryan looked a little confused. 

Back to the best part of cookie day... frosting.  

I can't believe that Jenny "safety patrol" even allowed this to happen!

Jenny, I would like for you to notice how safe I was with Ryan, no knife!  

Post decorating / eating bliss!  

This cookie was so special we saved it for Santa.  

Before Jenny left we got pictures of the boys in their Christmas pjs.  It was pretty tricky getting all of them situated.  But this one turned out well because it has Daniel and Ryan's signature smiles.  

 Ryan can be so helpful sometimes.  On this particular day I was folding up his blankets and making his bed.  He came over to me and told me "No No Mommy" and he wanted to make his bed.  So this is Ryan's bed after he made it.  He was very proud of it !

Christmas Eve - We had a great Christmas Eve this year.  After Ryan's nap the boys got to open one present each (of our choosing of course).  With Daniel's Lego obsession, I was doing some research online and I found that every year the Lego company puts out a holiday Lego set.  We were a little late so I had to pay a few extra dollars to get this years model (a toy shop).  But is was well worth it.  So on Christmas Eve we built out new lego decoration.  Ryan got two smaller lego kits (a snowman and Christmas tree).

Nothing like a special Christmas Eve taco dinner.  It is one of the boys favorite meals.  

Writing letters to Santa

Our last picture in front of the Advent Tree.  Daniel is quite the model these days.  And here are some of his poses.

Opposite shoulder pose. 

Christmas morning.  Daniel is ready to go downstairs but not without a one shoulder pose.  

Santa brought Daniel a Star Wars lego set and Ryan got the Toy Story 3 Imaginex set.  

The gift that Daniel made us at school.  He was so excited for us to open it.  

 Snow Day - Dec. 26th.  On the 26th it snowed from morning to night.  We took the boys outside to play for about 10 minutes after it taking 20 minutes to get ready.  Ryan threw quite a few fits before going outside because I make him put on two pairs of pants.  He was not happy with that.  And now he says to me everyone morning "Only one pair of pants"as I am getting him dressed.  Apparently that was pretty traumatic for him. But I would imagine that really cold legs might also be quite traumatic.

Catching the snow.

Snowballs!  Daniel's favorite thing to do in the snow.  

Ryan insisting on mowing the snow!  He really wanted to play with his outdoor toys. 

 Several days after the storm Jenny built a snowman for Charlie.

Another model pose, this time it was an action shot.  This was all Daniel's idea.  

Daniel is always hot, even in the snow!