Merry Christmas!

We had a great Christmas. Here is Miles on Christmas Eve with his note to Santa (to go with the milk, cookies, and carrot). It says, "DEAR SANTA, THE REINDEER GET CARROTS. YOU GET COOPIES (SIC). LOVE, MILES." Jack left more of an abstract drawing, rather than a note. I hear Santa and the reindeer loved their treats.



The boys got to open one gift on Christmas Eve. Miles chose the box from Aunt Janice and Uncle Andy, which was a remote control car that tumbles and rolls. It's still one of the big hits of Christmas. Here they are with the remote enjoying it to the max.



A Christmas tradition in Julie's house growing up was taking a picture on the stairs just after waking up. We're continuing the tradition. They boys were so zonked on Christmas morning, we had to wake them up. We have to do that with Miles sometimes, but NEVER with Jack.




Opening presents:



Another big hit: Jack's foam car track. You can see a little hint of the Christmas chaos that was our living room.



Why would you play with the Lincoln Logs, when you can play with the container them came in?



Their new table and chairs for snack time, tea parties, and playdoh:



Merry Christmas to all! Special prayers to our family that are ill or have lost a loved one.

Love,
Brian, Julie, Miles, and Jack

Sledding, sad tree and lessons learned

We took the boys sledding at the park. The hill was not very steep so it was very slow going. Thanks to our neighbor Lynn for lending us a sled. Here we are after sledding, getting some hot chocolate.

Here is a picture of our VERY sad Christmas tree. Yes, I cut off about an inch from the bottom before we put it up. Yes, I have kept it watered. It's hanging down to the floor now. There are decorations on the tree that are touching the floor.
Lesson learned: never buy a Christmas tree from a grocery store.

Miles, Miles, Miles

Miles picked out a nice baseball lunch box at the beginning of school. He still loves it. Jennifer is his teacher and Morrison is a schoolmate. That said, a few days ago Miles told me, "If I was the teacher with my big baseball lunch box and Jennifer was blowing on Morrison's hair, I would have to tell her to stop. Morrison is my friend at school. She's not too rough, she's just a little rough."
And here is the outfit Miles came downstairs with today...

Yup, that's a nice green and blue polo with his little brother's Christmassy sweater vest, gray sweats and Spiderman socks. Come on ladies, you know you want to be seen with this snappy dresser!

For Emily

I lived in Toledo for 32 years and I remember one blizzard, '76 I think. We have lived in Colorado for seven years and we've already had two blizzards, '03 and '06. I LOVE Colorado.
Here are the boys in the snow.

Here we are with the mountain of snow I had to shovel off the driveway. And I only did half of the driveway.

Blizzard 2006

I think we will have snow for Christmas. It's supposed to snow a little more between now and then. Here is Olive looking over the snow to see what I'm doing.

Path to the street.

Our beautiful backyard view.

Dog Run.

Haircut #3

Jack had his third haircut today. Here is a picture of Mom reading to the boys with their new haircuts.

In the car, Miles today told us about the green Santa that brings toys to boys and girls who are good AND bad. I don't know any green Santa. I guess he's trying to cover all his bases?

Visit our online garage sale

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Happy Holidays from Our Family to Yours

A few pictures to make the season bright:



"Wait, Santa! I forgot something!"



Decorating the tree:









Playing with decorations:



Watching a particularly intense holiday tv show:



A whacky snow contraption:



Holiday crafts at the Christmas party:

Knees!

What do the boys need for Christmas? PANTS!!!

Comcast

Today Miles saw the Comcast commercial and ran around the house saying, "It's $33! That's cheap!"

The last several school days, Miles has told me that he had a super duper day or super duper, super duper, super duper day because he did so many new works. Thursday he told me he did 9000 new works and everyday it goes up a thousand. Today, Tuesday, for example, he did 12000 new works. Man is he busy.

Our Spelling Champion

Yesterday Miles spelled "jet" and "cat" unaided with the frig magnets. That's my boy!

Jingle Bells

Tuesday quotes of the evening from Miles & Jack

From Miles: "Bread is made from bread...Cows pee milk."

Jack led our dinner with this beautiful prayer... "Ummm fooooood, ummm muffin, ummm peas, AMEN!"

Tuesday quote of the morning from Miles

"It is not respectful to come in and tell me not to play with the toilet."