Christmas Day

Christmas this year was at home and just the four of us. We opened presents around 8:00 am and then really just hung out the rest of the day.  It was nice to have a simple quiet Christmas but by the time the afternoon came I think we missed being with family. We played a few of the new games the boys got, watched our new movies and Ricky and Lincoln built the new Lego sets. After the delicious turkey dinner that Ricky cooked we took cookies over to Uncle Lee and Aunt Carol and visited with them for an hour.  It was a really nice enjoyable Christmas day.

Lincoln noticed that the cookies and hot chocolate we left for Santa were gone.  It was a magical little moment. 

 He found this cute note from Santa thanking the boys for the cookies. 

 Lincoln's first tennis racket.  I'm looking forward to playing with him. 

 The wrapping didn't last long on presents.  

 Each boy got a bucket that had 1,600 Lego bricks.  Logan took Lincoln's bucket and moved it to his pile of presents.  It was pretty funny and adorable.  He loved the bags of Legos. 

His Christmas consisted of mostly Legos. 

 Logan wasn't really interested in his presents.  Mostly he just wanted to open everyone else's presents or play with what was already unwrapped. 

Luckily for Lincoln he was a good boy and got the Clone Turbo Tank that he wanted. His first choice was the Republic Frigate but he said if Santa ran out of those then he wanted the Turbo Tank. 

 He was showing Daddy all the guys that it comes with. He knew everything about this tank before he even opened the box. 

 Logan loved his Playdough set. 

 Once presents were unwrapped it was immediately off to the playroom to start building Legos.  Logan loved dumping the new bags of Lego bricks into our Lego bin.  Finally we have some color! (All of the sets we have a ships, city sets, etc and are mostly gray, black, blue and white pieces.)

 Daddy and Lincoln spent most of the afternoon and evening building this - the Clone Turbo Tank. 

 Daddy built most of it but Lincoln didn't leave his side. He was so excited to get it built.  I think he favorite part is the baby walker that goes inside the tank. 

Ho Ho Ho, Merry Christmas! On another note, Logan knows all the words to Rudolph The Red Nose Reindeer. Pretty cute!

Merry Christmas

Birthday Fun

We spent ALL day yesterday celebrating Ricky's birthday.  It was such a fun day and he said he really enjoyed it....that's all that counts!  Turning 40 isn't so bad after all! Here are a few pictures from the day.

We went to Scottsdale for breakfast so he could eat at his favorite breakfast spot, The Original Pancake House.  (Not to be confused with IHOP - The International House of Pancakes.) This is the only one is Arizona so we made the drive.  

After running a few errands we went and saw Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol.  

We picked up some Sprinkles cupcakes to replace his birthday cake. 

 They were delish!

 

 The Man of the hour! We sang happy birthday with the boys at home and then Ricky opened presents. 

Lincoln was extra sweet to daddy. Lincoln kept telling him Happy Birthday all day and he even made him a special birthday card while he was at school. 

 

 This is a book that Ricky has been wanting for years and he finally got it!  

 For dinner that night we went to the Melting Pot.  Yummy!

It was nice to just relax and talk. 

 Happy Birthday!

Christmas Activities

In the spirit of Christmas we've been trying to decorate, do activities, bake yummy treats all that have to do with Christmas.  We've also received a few early Christmas presents too! Here are a few things we've been up to.

The boys got this special box from Madison and it said to open before Christmas. 

It had a book with special reindeer games so we played a few games...

and ate a few cookies.  They were supposed to be for Santa but we are going to make him some new ones instead.  Here was all of the contents of the box.  We will read the Night Before Christmas poem tonight and leave hot chocolate and cookies for Santa.

Autie Michaela and Uncle Jared came to visit this week and brought the boys a couple gifts.  Lincoln got a fun Lego game and this was the little guy that he built completely by himself following the instruction booklet. 

Logan's school put on a little Christmas performance and his class sang Rudolph The Red Nose Reindeer. 

He was so cute as Rudolph but more importantly you can tell that he felt pretty cool and special to be wearing the antlers and red nose paint.

Once he saw us he ran over to us and gave daddy a big hug.  I love this picture because it's when he first realized that we were there watching him. 

This doesn't look very festive but it feels like Christmas to us.  We now officially own our truck!!

Is it bad that I bought a gingerbread house decorating kit to do with the boys and then decided that I wanted to do it all on my own? Well, it is what it is and I did it.

Since Lincoln had already done one that day at school I figured he wouldn't mind.  I was also doing it at 11:00 at night so it didn't really work with their schedule.  I had a lot of fun though. 

We decorated the Christmas tree and Lincoln was so excited to help.  This is the first year that he's been old enough to do so without destroying everything.  He got to put the angel on top of the tree. 

 Logan has been pretty fascinated with all of the Christmas decorations.  I'm hoping to just get through the month without anything getting broken.  So far so good.

We went to the mall to see Santa.  Lincoln wrote him a letter - he told him he loved him.

Then he got to put it in a huge mailbox. 

We waited in line for about 45 minutes.  Lincoln promised to be patient because he really was anxious and excited to talk to Santa.

Lincoln told Santa, in great details, all about the Lego Clone Turbo Tank that he wanted, if he couldn't have the Republic Frigate. Logan told Santa, Merry Christmas, then he jumped off Santa's lap to smell the fake flowers and trees. Overall it was a successful trip to visit Santa. 

Lincoln and I made a count down chain.  He's been taking off a link every night and counting down the days until Daddy's birthday and Christmas.  Just one day left!!

Happy Birthday, Ricky!

It's the big 4 - 0 today!  He's been dreading this day for a while and for some reason the number 40 seems to have brought a slight damper to the birthday celebration.  We have a fun day planned though and I'm so excited to share it with him.
Ricky is an amazing husband and father.  He has wonderful qualities that allow him to support and love us unconditionally. Our boys love their daddy so much even though they don't always show it.  He is my best friend, my biggest supporter and my love.  We are so grateful to have him in our lives.
Happy Birthday, honey.  We love you!!

 I don't have a lot of early childhood pictures handy but here's one when he was little. 

 In his 20's - yes, he had long hair. 

2002 - When we were dating.

 2003 - Honeymoon in Hawaii.

 2004 - Our trip to NYC

 2006 

 2006 - There's that smile that I love!

 2007 - Days after back surgery.  

 2007 (two weeks after back surgery) - Holding Lincoln the day he was born. Proud daddy!

 2009 - Holding Logan in the hospital the day he was born.  

 2011 - Motorcycles is his hobby.  He's going out for a 9 day trip. 

2011 - My sweet and handsome blue eyed boys!