Christmas

Christmas morning, before gifts.

Playing at their new table.

Checking out the tree together.

His new love. =)

My precious little reindeer.

Jesus' birthday cake.

Luke with his best buddy, Opa.

Carson introducing Luke to Star Wars...this moment was priceless.

Tante Soo Jin with her boys.

Isaac and Opa playing with his new truck.

Reading the Bible and looking at pictures with Emmy.

Cousins

We had the most special Christmas this year! It was Luke's first Christmas, and he was much more into the presents and being involved than I expected. Isaac was very into opening presents and talking about the meaning of Christmas. He loved every bit of the day...especially going to both grandparents' houses and playing with all of his cousins, aunts, and uncles.

We had Christmas morning here at our house, just the four of us enjoying the time together. Luke woke up first, at about 7:30 and Isaac was up at about 8. We had breakfast first, yummy rolls given to us by one of our sweet neighbors. And after breakfast it was time for gifts...starting with the stockings. Isaac got some new sunglasses and an army man to use as a driver in his trucks. Luke got a new rattle and a stuffed puppy dog. Then we moved on to the other gifts...books, shoes, an alphabet toy, and a few other things. Luke's favorite was a spinny toy that has four vehicles on it, you spin it one way, then let it go and it spins back and forth...it's hard to explain, but it's cool! Then both boys were surprised to find a new table and chairs, just their size, in the living room. Isaac immediately chose a chair for himself, and pointed to the other saying Luke could sit in it. We put both boys at the table in their chairs, of course with Luke closely supervised. Then after a quick picture Carl moved Luke to his exersaucer...he did not like that and he let us know...he wanted back at the table. So we buckled the booster seat to his chair and put him in it...he loved it! I think it made him feel so big. He wants to do everything Isaac does, so of course that includes sitting at the table with him. Shortly after it was time for Luke's nap, so it was just the three of us. Isaac had one more gift, it was outside, so we bundled him up and headed out back. There he found his very own four wheeler! Oh, he was excited! Immediately he said, "Mama, put Isaac's four wheeler in the grass." He climbed on, after a brief instruction from Daddy, he was off. It's been so cold out everyday, but all he wants to do is go out and drive that four wheeler! He drives it, parks it, then gets off and just walks around it looking at it in awe. On Christmas Day he said many times, Santa left Isaac a four wheeler! After some time outside we had to go in, it was too cold. So we had some lunch, then birthday cake for Jesus! Isaac thought that was great, we sang to him of course and had a Lightening McQueen candle to blow out. We also read the story in the Bible and made a Nativity scene together.

After naps for both we headed over to Oma and Opa's house for Christmas with the family. It was a fun time, of course! It was so sweet to see how excited Carson and Colton were to give Isaac and Luke the gifts they had for them. They both got great gifts from everyone and really enjoyed playing with everybody. Isaac was distracted during present time over there, he just wanted to drive his auto...silly boy. Luke sat with his buddy Opa and watched all the fun, while destroying a Baby MumMum in it's wrapper (snack food). We had a nice dinner, prepared by Oma and Soo Jin, and then some more play time before heading home. It was a wonderful time.

Sunday, was the Christmas party with the Griffin family, and what a fun time it was, too! All of their cousins were there, as well as Aunt Leah, Uncle Aaron, Emmy, Gumby, and our Aunt Donna made a special appearance. It was special to share the evening with her, as she had never met Luke, and hadn't seen Isaac in a long time. We started the party with a delicious meal all made by Emmy...we are so spoiled. After dinner, Gumby read the story of Jesus' birth from the Bible and Emmy showed pictures to the kids. We talked about Jesus and the significance of the day. Then present time...the kids were very excited about that, and Amber was our little elf passing out gifts to everyone. It was a fantastic evening with family fun!

I am so thankful for my sweet family, and the wonderful memories that were made over the last few days are some I will treasure forever. God has blessed me with more than I could have imagined...my boys (big and small) bring me so much joy and love!