Christmas 2010- Missouri Style

The Crew:

All the kids, except for Miss Shelby
The brothers...
The sister-in-laws...Playing with our new presents...

Shelby's sit-and-spin... a big hit with Sophie, too!
New Matchbox cars!!
Showing Uncle Matt his Lego Combine kit from NaliJoseph's new drumAunt Alicia got a new popcorn maker... a big hit with ALL the kids... especially when it popped so much the top popped off and popcorn spilled onto the floor!!! :)
Uncle Greg got Lucas a new basketball hoop... of course, it had to be set up right away!Alana showing Sophie how her new phone works...Nali sharing some of her games on her phone...Plus a few other pics that couldn't be left out...Alicia graciously entertaining the kids with a game of UNO...

Papa Roger and Denise with the kiddos...

Can't help but think that Sophie looks so BIG in this picture!

One of Sophie's favorite toys wasn't even wrapped in a box... it was just some yarn she found and dragged it around for 5 days... :)

Great pic of cousins Ashley and Sophie...

Picture time over yet??? Waiting patiently to open presents.... haha...

Sophie and Sarah... (saying the Star Spangled Banner?) :)

We had a GREAT time in Missouri with Eric's family.... lots of games, entertainment from the kids (of course!), and just time spent together. Lucas' highlight was "playing with his cousins upstairs" and Sophie's highlight was eating her first ever Lucky Charms. She's hooked for life!

Gingerbread-makin' on a snowy day

While Sophie and Daddy were wrapping gifts (we tried peeking several times... to no avail...), Mommy and Lucas made gingerbread men (and gingerbread snowflakes, Christmas trees, and snowmen). Lucas is really fascinated with gingerbread anything... and has been asking about decorating cookies for awhile... needless to say, we had a ball making these.

Just plain goofy! (above picture... and below!)

I left the room for 2 minutes... and came back to him licking the knife... and frosting covering his mouth. Busted!
Love this pic below...

She knows where the good stuff is!

Finally, we had to run off the many MANY cookies we ate... the kids took turns taking rides in the laundry basket...

A perfect Saturday for sure.

A typical Saturday afternoon...

...at least they get along!

Our Little Copy-Cat

Sophie is at the stage where she LOVES to copy everyone around her, especially Lucas.

Story #1: A few days ago we were all playing hide-and-seek and when I was hiding from Lucas, Sophie ran up to me so I put my finger to my mouth and said, "Shhh!" Later on, I turned to Sophie and said, "Your turn! Go hide!" She ran away and hid by the couch, turned around and said, "Shhhh!" to me with her finger to her mouth.

Story #2: Lucas has been into playing school lately-- including saying the Pledge of Allegiance. Today when he and I were talking about school and I mentioned the Pledge, Sophie immediately put her hand to her heart and giggled.

PS--- Check out Sophie's hair once I pull out her little "piggies"...

Let the decorating begin!!

We put up our Christmas decorations, with the help of 2 very lively young children!! Lucas had a blast putting up the ornaments. Do you like where he put them??!! (Most of them are behind the tree or UNDER the tree on the bare branches. On one bare branch we counted FIVE ornaments.) :)Couldn't resist keeping Sophie's Christmas pj's hidden until Christmas.

We explained to Lucas the purpose of an advent calendar. However, he'd rather take ALL of the animals out now. It isn't ususual to find Baby Jesus in a cupboard... Mary under the bed... Joseph behind the couch...

Check out Sophie's little dance... and I'm lovin' the way she moos at every animal.

First snow of the season!!

We had our first accumulating snow last weekend. Of course, Lucas wanted to be out in it as soon as he woke up Saturday morning. The boys had a great time building piles of snow and sledding. Even Sophie got to take a little sled ride around the house.

And who says you can't play on your playset in the winter... definitely not Lucas!! P.S. When Lucas asked about going down the slide I didn't think he'd go like this...