Snow Day

While we were in Indiana, we got a little snow. My dad and Gabe spent some time playing in it together.

 First they started by shoveling the driveway...

but Gabe got bored and starting playing in the snow.

This quickly turned into a full-fledged snowball fight...

clearly Gabe won.

Next Gabe tried to make a snow angel...

but he didn't quite "get" it. 

The boys moved to the backyard where Gabe tried to shovel the yard...

but found it was more fun to make a "snow waterfall." 

Finally, it was time to start a snowman...

and a good one it was!

While Dad and Gabe finished up the final touches on Frosty, Uncle Kevin took pity on Claire and brought her out....

but she wasn't quite sure what to think.

It was a fun afternoon, and a rare treat, as TN hardly gets any snow. 

It sure was beautiful...

but I don't miss it ;)

Christmas part 2

After we spent a day in TN playing with our new toys, we went to Indiana to celebrate Christmas with my family. The kids did SO good on the drive- we stopped one time, to use the bathroom, and got right back in the car. We made it in about 5.5-6 hours which is pretty good time. 

One of the first things we did was make sugar cookies. Gabe helped my mom make the dough...

and Claire helped cut out shapes!

(See why she always has a bow in her hair? It's totally not for fashion- it's to keep her hair out of her eyes!)

On the real Christmas eve, we headed to my Aunt Cheryl and Uncle Jerry's house. We met up with my cousin Angie, her husband Tim, and her kids Leah, Jacob, and Luke.

Gabe was so excited to get some new matchbox cars and a carrying case for them!

Claire checking out her new cookies :)

The kids all enjoyed some Christmas tree mint ice cream before we headed home to prepare for Christmas morning!

Christmas part 1

We did Christmas in TN early since we were going to Indiana for the actual holiday. Just a warning, these pictures are terrible. It was reallllly hard to man the Rebel and help the kids open gifts at the same time!

Gabe and I made M&M cookie bars on "Christmas eve" to leave for Santa. We didn't have carrots for Rudolph so Gabe suggested celery. After I took this picture, Gabe snatched the celery and ate all of it. He had never eaten celery before so I was thrilled. 

After I put the kids to bed, I set out their gifts. Gabe was still awake at this point. He kept going to his window and looking for Santa. He would periodically yell "Mom, I heard him! I just heard Santa!" or say he saw him :) He also kept having me come to his room and lay with him while he told me what he wanted (a real red pick-up truck and a fire truck.)

When the kids woke up, they were thrilled to see their gifts. Gabe got giant blocks, a fire truck, a fireman outfit, and some food for his kitchen. Claire got the Let's Rock! Elmo, a dress up outfit, a Little People doll house, and a new doll that she HATES. She loves all baby dolls but for some reason she despises this particular Melissa & Doug doll (maybe because it has hair?) and refuses to play with it or let it be around her other babies. It's really funny and sad at the same time.

Gabe asked a few times where his real truck was. He even went outside to check the driveway. Ha! I have no idea where he got the idea that he could get a real truck!? Crazy boy.

we forgot the christmas jammies.

So, Claire is definitely feeling the second child syndrome. Not only have I done a terrible job of updating her blog/baby book, but I've also done an awful job of photographing the big milestones in her life. 

The little miss made out for Christmas, but I didn't get any pictures of her Zebra walker that she (and Gabe) love. I didn't even put her in Christmas pajamas! Fail. Oh well. I think the cow jammies accurately represent her personality ;) 

This little Colts bear sings and dances. It's from Uncle Brian. The kids love it but you can imagine how Aaron and I feel about it. Brian has made it his personal mission to buy as many noisy and annoying toys as he possibly can! Ha!