Spider Man and Dora...

This time Syd was caught in the act of wearing Dane's spider man pj's...

So in turn Dane had to wear the Dora ones....

Santa Claus is coming to town!

What did you say Santa was coming?  I will be on my BEST behavior....

We had to get prepared for Santa and his reindeer.  So Christmas Eve we sprinkled reindeer food in the yard....

 We got our Santa plate all ready with cookies and milk for Santa and carrots for the reindeer....

Daddy read The Night Before Christmas....

AND we were off to bed early!  Until we heard the jingles of Santa's bell enter our house.  You knew we weren't suppose to peek BUT we did anyway.  The four of us sat on our stairs and much to our surprise we SAW Santa with our own two eyes filling up the stockings, eating to cookies and ringing his bells.  WOW what a treat that was.  Sydney you ran to your room fast as lightening and told Daddy no need to read you a story you were going to bed and he better run to his room as fast as he could!

SCORE!  Santa and his elves must have been super busy making ALL of this jewelry just for ME....

 The magic of Christmas was in our house this year!  Yes, Santa did come with presents and we had a great Christmas.  We headed over to Sue Sue's and Stuies for Christmas Day and a slumber party...

Jesus is the reason...

for the season!  One of my goals as being a parent is to show you two what Christmas is all about!  It is not about the presents, parties, Santa.  All of these things are fun and nice but the real reason is Jesus!  One of the first things we got out was our nativity set Nonni got us last year for Christmas.  We went through who everyone was and put it out for display...

 A few hours later I saw you (Syd) talking to Jesus.  So I sat back and watched.  You were SO concerned he was not warm enough in his little blanket in his manger so you went and got a towel picked him up and wrapped him tight and said "there now you will be warm".  AWW too precious!  Then you moved everyone else to the side and said "here is your mommy Mary and daddy Joseph"

One thing Nonni taught Mommy was about giving to those around us.  So it is my goal to teach you the act of giving.  This year we went to a really fun cookie exchange.  We had many plates of cookies to bring home.  On our way home mommy decided to take the cookies to a nursing home close to our house.  It was not an ordinary nursing home.  It was in a house with only 6 older ladies.  We walked up to the front door and Syd you said "do you know these people"  I said no, but I bet they would love to see you kids and get some nice treats.  Wow, little did we know how thrilled they would be to see us.  They never got random visitors so we walked around and met each of the ladies and you two brought a sparkle to their eye!  The caregiver was hesitant to bring us over to one of the ladies saying she was not all that pleasant but we went anyway.  Much to our amazement she looked at you two and made the biggest smile and had a tear drop from her eye.  The caregiver said this was the second time she had ever seen her smile!  It just goes to show how a random small act of kindness can really make someone's day!

The second plate of cookies went to a nice man mommy and daddy met 3 years ago on Christmas Eve.  There was a huge snowstorm in Seattle that year and mommy was pregnant with Dane.  We saw an older man on the side of the road.  I had a bad feeling he should not be walking in that horrible weather so we pulled over.  He said his car had broken down and he was trying to walk home.  We insisted that he get in the car and we would take him home.  As I was helping him out of the car, I asked him where he was headed for Christmas Eve.  He said he was on his way to see his wife in the hospital but it didn't look like he would make it.  I assured him he would not miss Christmas with his wife and that we would get him there no matter how long it took with the snow.  The entire ride all he could do was thank us and he said in the 80 some years he had been living he had never had a random stranger do something like that especially on Christmas Eve.  WOW I thought that is crazy it was the least we could do!  It took us quite a long time to get there but we made it.  Several days later I got a call from his daughter in California she was so grateful for what mommy and daddy had done and then she broke down in tears.  She said my mom died and because of you my mom and dad got to spend one last Christmas together.  Let's just say that year God blessed us with the gift of meeting this nice man named Bud.  We realized the gift we received in our hearts was much bigger than any tangible gift we could buy at a store.  Every year we receive a big gift from Bud and his daughter delivered to our door at Christmas with a reminder in our hearts of the true meaning of Christmas!  This year mommy decided we would pay Bud a visit with one of the plates of cookies.  He was shocked to see us at his doorstep but it meant the world to him.  His daughter called me the following day and said how much that meant to the both of them.  It's amazing what a plate full of cookies can do and a couple minutes out of your day.

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 A few pictures of Christmas morning.  We had a birthday celebration for Jesus.  Sydney and Dane loved singing happy birthday to Jesus and blowing out the candles of course!

Pre Christmas Fun...

You two are at such a fun age and are LOVING every minute of the holiday's!  Well...most of the fun that the holiday's bring:)  Here is a look into a few of the "Joys of the season"  

Sydney you loved Santa this year!  You were so excited to tell him what you wanted for Christmas!  Jewelry and a snow globe to be exact!  When you climbed off santa's lap you were so worried that you forgot to tell santa you wanted a snow globe.  SO we let Mrs. Clause know...

Remember how I said "most of the holiday fun".  Well, Dane you were not quite sure about this big man in red!

Then it was off to the Santa Train!  Round two of Santa this year.  Dane you made BIG improvements from the previous week and sat on Santa's lap with no problem!  

We had a great time riding the BIG train to see Santa with Chelci, Brandon and Stella!

The countdown to Christmas was a real treat with our chocolate advent calendar with bible verses we read each morning and our calendar to show us we were getting closer to the BIG day!

Gingerbread House making is always a must for the Holiday's!  You two LOVED every second of making your beautiful candy house.  

Another new tradition that we got from Aunt Sarah is the gum drop tree!  It is the cutest thing ever and SO much fun to make!

Dane your new cheesy grin!  Now when we say smile you say "CHEESE" and closes your eyes!  Too cute!

And I will end with one of the favorite traditions of the season Elf on the Shelf!  The kids LOVED waking up every morning to see where the elf had landed that morning.  He kept a good eye out on you both to see if you had been naughty or nice so he could report back to Santa.  You maned elf "Emily"!   

Christmas Program!

Tonight Sydney was in her first program at church!  They have been rehearsing for weeks at Sunday school.  I was not quite sure how the night would unfold with it starting right when they typically go to bed.  BUT... it was a success!  Syd marched right up to the front and smiled the entire time in front of the  huge crowd:)

 Sydney watching the big kids perform after her part was over.  Mama was video taping so I don't have any photos of her in action.

Way to go Miss Syd!

Aunt Ker comes to visit!

We were SO excited when Aunt Ker decided she was going to come for a visit to Seattle.  We had a fun filled weekend with parties, food, fun and more food:)

Chelci, Ker and mommy had a girls day out.  Chelci got Ker the cutest onsies for her new baby.  If its a boy or a girl she will be covered!  We had a great time having lunch then off to get messages at the "foot massage".  It was a very memorable experience for the 3 of us:)  Lets just say the message was quite an experience!    

A. Ker had seen a show on the food network and they featured Beth's Cafe.  SO we decided we had to try it out!  It was a hit!  Only we could barely walk after eating at a joint that has "Omelets bigger than your freakin head"!!

Then off to Swanson's nursery...

Fun times at Jenn and Al's Christmas Party!

Remember I mentioned a whole lot of eating....  Well we had to test out Oprah's favorite fried chicken spot Ezell's.  Yes, this was a hit too!  Oh boy the holiday's have got to come to an end soon:)

Bye Bye Aunt Ker we had a great time!  Come back again SOON!

Part II Home sweet Home...

Thanksgiving, Mizzou Game, Usher, Swimming, Paradise park, Ducks, Family, Big Brother, FUN TRIP, LOVE!!

Sydney and Dane are quite the frequent flyers due to family living far away. This trip was by far the most enjoyable yet (mind you not all of the 4 hour flights we have been on have been blissful)! Dane climbed right up on Miss Syd's lap mid flight and decided that's where he would be the most comfortable. Miss Syd is the mother hen so she was enjoying every second of this grinning ear to ear!

The mama's and the Dada's had a great day out to the Mizzou game and then to a concert to see Usher. Thanks Nonni and Poppi for playing and having fun with the kids for the day!

Who is the REAL Turkey in this photo??

It is SO great to see how much fun Sydney and Harper have together! I LOVE that they are so close in age and had a ball together!

We got some GREAT news! Harper is going to be a BIG Brother...WOO HOO!! That called for a CELEBRATION!! (shirt says: Guess WHOO has a secret? I'm going to be a big brother Harper)

Uncle Dennis is a huge hunter and Dada loves getting the chance to go duck hunting. The kids thought it was so cool that he brought some of the ducks in. I love that Syd is such a girlie girl but not too girlie that she can't hold a duck:) Dane opted for the one finger touch and Ker "petted" the duck to encourage Harper to touch...ummm...not gonna happen:)

Paradise Park is right by Aunt Ker and U. Brians house. We had a great time playing in the balls, making cookies, story time and they even had a place where you could paint your own face. Nonni even let you paint her face:)

Celebrating an early Christmas at Nonni and Poppi's!

Ker and Brian have a great pool right by their house! What a fun time you all had sliding down the slide and splashing around...

Lee's Summit even had an ice cream shop called Poppy's so on the coldest day we decided to get ice cream...why not???