Cold Weather Cuties

Adult Christmas Party

Susie and John had their 5th annual Christmas Party on the 23rd this year. We've only known them 2 years, so this was the first one that we got to go to and really enjoy. The first two years Lucas and Ellen and their sleep schedules held us back. This year we put Ellen down at 8:00 and left Lucas and Grandpa to watch a movie. I had a great time... we knew a lot of people there and it was fun to get dressed up and relax a little.

Junk Yard

I think I've said it before - Lucas was cut from the same mold as my dad. Lucas reminds me a lot of my brother and dad. He is a tinkerer and a worker. He never stops and is always "working" on something. When my dad offered to take him to a junk yard I knew he'd have the time of his life. My dad says that his dad took him to one when he was a boy and that's where his love for cars began.

I was right - Lucas was in heaven. He climbed in a dozen cars, found old keys (and brought them home as a souvenir), found an old screw driver and found two forks that my dad convinced him to throw into the mud puddles.

My dad came prepared - Lucas was equipped with wire cutters. How did Grandpa know he'd like this so much? My dad showed him how to cut the first wire and then Lucas went to work cutting many more wires that day.

There are a lot of pics. I'll put captions under each.

posing in a red convertible (grandpa's idea)

cutting his first wire

posing in one of grandpa's favorite models

and another...

opening a door

another pose thought up by grandpa

another convertible - my dad is such a goof ball

Lucas thought this was cool - no front or back to this truck

getting a lift over the mud puddles

driving the car and looking for treasures

the screwdrive that he found

just one of many wrecked cars we saw that day

showing one of the keys he found

posing by an engine

so serious cutting this wire (was he supposed to be doing this???)

Mr. Serious

Backyard Adventure

These are good, huh? I didn't take them - my friend Marie did. Thanks Marie!

Surprise Visit from Jenn!

My sister is awesome. She surprised me with a visit a few days before Christmas! I found out about it a few days before she arrived. She wanted to just show up and knock on my door, but good thing she didn't since I would have freaked out if I didn't have a couple of days to prepare. It was so wonderful to spend some quality time with family during the holidays. Our kids are the exact same ages, so it was easy to adjust to everyone's schedule.

On the day that they arrived it snowed. This was good and bad. Exciting that it was snowing during the holiday season, but then kind of wet, cold and messy for the kids to play in. We attempted an outing as the snow fell, but it turned into cold rain by the end and we were all freezing.

So we came inside to warm up with a little hot chocolate and juice.

It took Ty and Lucas a few hours to adjust to the arrangement, but once they got into a groove they were best buds for the rest of the trip. They really love each other and it makes Jenn and I so happy to know they will always have a special cousin relationship.

Jenn's brother-in-law lives in Cary, so they came by for a visit one day. I was a little stressed by the state of my house, but I finally told myself to chill out and I'd worry about getting the house in order after Christmas. The kids enjoyed the chaos.

On Sunday morning Jenn watched all four kids while Jeff and I went for a run. I felt a little guilty leaving her with the wild ones on her visit, but she insisted that we needed a break and that she'd enjoy it. The report was that that were super and it was easier to watch four kids than her own two since they entertained each other so well.

They started the morning with some OJ from their matching snowmen mugs...

And then helped Jenn to make some pudding...

Next they acted silly in the dog beds

While Miss Ellen modeled her daddy's bike helmet.

When the boys weren't playing fast and crazy, they were reading books in their Spiderman t-shirts and undies...

While the girls hung out like sweet little ladies in their jean overalls.

One of Ty and Lucas's favorite things to do was to jump on our bed, dive on our bed, roll on our bed and tackle each other on our bed...

Anything for these little smiles : )

By day 2 we had settled into a nice little routine. When the girls went down for their morning naps Jenn and I took the boys out to burn some energy. Since the weather was still cold and wet, we took our little monkeys to Monkey Joe's for them to bounce, bounce, bounce. Jenn and took our socks too, just in case, but ended up playing nearly as much as the boys.

Again with the matching super hero shirts : )

After an hour of all out playing we treated ourselves to an icee.

And the kid was worn out.

The next day we took the gang to my friend Marie's house for her to take some pictures of them. Here is Tyrus hamming it up...

And then once again Jenn surprised me by insisting that I take a shower in peace while she took the boys for a walk to the convenient store for a treat. She thought it was hilarious that they took 15 min to look over every piece of candy in the store, but then both settled on a 10 cent piece of chewing gum. On the way back she said they were careful to examine every fire hydrant to make sure it was working properly. Here is double trouble posing before the walk...

And here is their choice of a treat... gum that they chewed for hours.