Sledding Fun!

Darren took the boys sledding on Saturday after we got hit with another couple inches of fresh snow Friday evening. They love the snow and never complain about the cold. They hit park after park all afternoon and even slid down the slope in our cul-de-sac. Our poor neighbors that live on the the hill. Boys are so cute when they are all bundled up!

Christmas Pics!

To start off - we had a great Christmas. Don and Mom DeGracie from Arizona spent Christmas with us this year and the boys loved it! They LOVE Uncle Donny. We ended up being snowed in for 2 days - probably due to Mom D wishing for a White Christmas. The city wouldn't snow plow cul-de-sacs until all the city streets were clear and since it never stopped snowing - we weren't able to get out of our street. We woke up Christmas morning and couldn't leave until Saturday - we even missed Christmas dinner with the extended family and the gift card exchange! Thank goodness I had bought cards that I would want to end up with.

Uncle Donny promised Canon he would take him to see Twilight if he read the book in 3 weeks and he did it! He finished on Christmas night! He was so excited and we were amazed that our 8 year old could accomplish something so big - a 500 page book! Are you kidding? We are so proud of him and he really enjoyed sitting in his room reading his book. He is already wanting to read the second!

We hosted the Carlson Christmas Eve party and packed the house with over 30 people. We had great food, talked, played Ping Pong and opened a few presents. Unfortunately I failed to take pictures.

We only had Ranie and Colin join us for Christmas morning this year which was unfortunate for our kids but I am glad they were there! The boys had an unbelievable Christmas and got more than they asked for. Our then 4 year old, Blaze, kept asking Santa for a bike ramp and was so specific about how it was to look. It had to go up and then have a platform and then go down and he promised everyone who told him it was too dangerous - that he was not getting the unsafe kind. If there is such a thing. Santa came through even though he thought he was too young and Blaze was thrilled. Too bad he won't be able to use it for about 3 more months. Canon asked Santa for an iPod ( I didn't even know he knew what one was) so Santa got him a blue one. Within an hour of opening it up - he had 3 albums already downloaded. He loves it and it is so great to hear him sing with the headphones on - thinking no one can hear him. I got a new zoom lens for my camera, something I have wanted for a year. I wasn't supposed to get gifts this year but I got one anyway! :) Darren wasn't good enough, according to Santa, so he enjoyed getting gifts from family!

We surprised the boys with one last gift at the end of our 3 hour marathon of gift opening. The boys opened up the first "1 of 3" gift and saw the Wii logo and freaked. They were so excited - they never really asked for one but mentioned it would be fun to have. We were so glad they were excited. We bought a couple of games, 2 wheels and an extra controller. They have played it everyday since. It has been a fun family gift for us.

We are sad that Christmas is over and that our decorations have to come down. We will miss the food, the music, the treats, the lights, the gift-giving and the family. We have begun the countdown for next year! We hope everyone had a great Christmas as well!

Waking up Christmas morning...


Waiting on the stairs for all cameras to get ready...











Canon's Christmas gifts...


Next years Christmas card....


Blaze's Christmas gifts...