Christmas Morning

Santa always visits our house early (we have some pull) so we can have Christmas Morning at home before we head out of town. The night before we let the boys open some movies we got for them. I think they liked them.

Then we set out the Rice Krispie Treat Train and milk for Santa and headed off to bed.

In the morning we came downstairs to see what Santa had left for us. 

We all must have been very good this year. 

We also had the kids open up the presents we got for them.

After a yummy breakfast, we left all our fun new toys and jumped in the car for Iowa.

School Holiday Parties

The day before Winter Break the school always hosts Holiday Parties for the kids and parents are invited. We get to go watch them do different activities put on by the room parents. I went to Daniel's first and watched him decorate a gingerbread cookie and write a card to someone in the hospital.

Then, I left Daniel to eat some snacks and headed over to Josh's classroom. I walked in on them having a paper plate fight. Yikes! They also did this fun activity where they drew a picture on a plate on the top of their head. It was fun to watch and kept the kids entertained.

You may have noticed there were no pictures of my mini-me at the parties. That's because he was at school and I got to join him for his own party. 

We enjoyed being read a Christmas story and then got to decorate cookies, and then eat them. It was fun getting to see Patrick in his own class. That's something I don't get to do very often.

Happy Holidays and yay winter break!

Snow Day #2/Krispie Treat Train

We woke up this morning to about 12 inches of snow and a message from the school saying it was closed. Yay Snow Day!

The boys loved playing in the snow while I watched from the warm house.

Dad was out of town so I did have to shovel the driveway myself. At least I got my workout in today.

The snow day also gave us a good opportunity to make our Annual Christmas Krispie Treat Train.

The boys love decorating it themselves.

I hope Santa likes it.

Meeting Santa

The Broncos Bunch had a family photo event this year. It included getting your picture taken on the field at Sports Authority Field and visiting Santa. We dressed everyone up in their Orange and Blue and headed downtown to the field. It was rush hour so it took us about an hour to get there and I was nervous the line would take just as long. But, once we walked in we noticed there was no line. It was amazing. We walked right up to their display on the field for our picture and then headed straight over to Santa. The boys loved it. They each got to tell Santa what they wanted for Christmas. 

Daniel definitely had the longest list
 and we had to  cut him off

Merry Christmas from The Weldons!

It's Beginning to Look A lot Like Christmas....

We have finally finished decorating for Christmas. This is my favorite time of the year and I love how my house looks all decorated.

Daniel wanted to help out with lights this year. 

Safety first

Each year we let the boys pick out an ornament. We headed out to Hallmark to see what they would choose. 

Josh chose a Green Bay Packers Clay Mathews ornament in honor of going to the Packer/Broncos game. 

Daniel chose a trailer in honor of sleeping in Grandma and Grandpa's trailer at the Linden reunion.

Patrick chose an Iron Man in honor of his Halloween costume. 

Then we picked up some hot chocolate and came home to decorate the tree. 

Here are some photos of the rest of the house. 

How cute are these stocking holders I made out of ornaments?

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

Thanksgiving

We headed out to Des Moines this year for Thanksgiving with the Weldons. We started our trip after school on Tuesday and stopped at a hotel about halfway. The boys always love hotel sleeping. It must be fun sleeping in someone else's bed, I guess. After a good sleep for everyone, we headed back onto the road to Grandma and Grandpa's house. The boys were excited to see their cousins and get some quality dress-up time in. It's always a highlight on trips to the Weldons.

It was a nice visit with good food and great company.

Teeny, tiny wine glasses. We didn't want to over do it.

One highlight of my trip was eating INSIDE the new B-Bops right by the Weldon's house. It was very exciting!

I didn't take a lot of pictures (obviously) so hopefully I can get some copies from family. 

Thanks for the nice visit, Weldons!

It was a great trip but didn't end so well. The trip home went fine but when we walked into the house it was freezing. Literally. The thermostat read 39 degrees!!! Luckily it was an easy fix. We changed the batteries in the thermostat and the heater kicked on. (I guess next time I notice the thermostat flashing "low battery", I will remember to have Joe change it. Oops!) We dressed the boys in their warmest pajamas and covered them with lots of blankets for the night. It took a long time to heat up but it has been working ever since. I won't make that mistake again.