Wednesday, May 26, 2010

'Tis the season part four

This section of our trip lead us back to my Mom's house, aka Grandma Bryan's for some very cold and very fun sled-riding. There are a lot of pictures, so I'll just get right to it.

What's with all that white stuff out there? We want to investigate!

Jonathan was out the door first. He was so excited! This is a huge change from last year where he didn't even want to be outside. This year, they both wanted to play outside for as long as we would let them. They still don't like the feel of the snow on their bare hands, but they don't mind it all around them. We found their monster hats from last year, thankfully, and lost at least three pairs of gloves throughout the winter season. It was Grandma Bryan to the rescue for this trip with a bunch of new gloves for the boys and she even lent me her boots to wear in the snow. So much better than my heels!

Here's Bryan and Daddy about to head down the hill for the first time. Look at how excited Bryan is!!

There they go! All the other track marks were from when Grandpap Bryan and Matt went down the hill to "test the sleds". Right! We know you were just having some fun. :) It WAS a lot of fun. It really reminded me of all the great times that I had as a child on that very slope and even on those same sleds.

Here I am with Jonathan. I think I was just as excited as he was.

Somehow it was easier to pull the sled up when I was younger. It took a long time to get up that hill!

Here's the family pic. I think the kids were annoyed that we were stopping for a picture at this point. They wanted to sled!

Here's the adorable Bryan having an icicle snack. Another great memory!

The next morning was Christmas and boy were we in for a full day of fun! I tried to down-play the pile of presents and toys that awaited them in the living room while they ate their breakfast of waffles...their "breakfast of champions". Notice Jonathan warning me to stand back or I will lose that camera? He means business when it comes to his food!

Once Grandma and Papap Bryan arrived, there was no stopping the twins from full-destruction mode. Here's Papap trying to tame Jonathan on a sticker rampage.

I'm pretty sure he got everyone with at least one sticker.

Even Daddy...

A short pause to open some gifts.

A view of the destruction once they got into it.

Daddy got his very first All Clad. Pure joy!

Jonathan opened up a box of clothes and just HAD to put on this sweatshirt right away. Grandma Miller offered a helping-hand.

Thanks Grandma and Papap for all our great gifts!!

Bryan examining his Zhu-Zhu(did I spell that right?) pet.

On this trip we met a new addition to the family, Matt Stine. He and my sister, Aunt Steffani are engaged! Congratulations Steffani and Matt! Great name too! :)

Matt and Bryan playing with one of the Zhu-Zhu pets. By the way, we're still missing this one. I'm pretty sure it's either on the side of a road somewhere or it's under Papap's couch.

Here's Aunt Steffani playing "Break the Ice" with Bryan.

There is a landing/reading area at the top of the steps at Grandma Miller's house. The twins thought this was the perfect hiding spot and would often run up there to spy on everyone when we weren't looking. Too bad they would give up their hiding spot the moment they would get up there because they would giggle so loudly. Too cute.

I wanted to give a shout out to my sister, Aunt Lori, for all the wonderful clothes that she gave us for the boys. We had a complete winter/spring wardrobe once I went through the 6 or 7 bags of clothes that she left me. She even has more for them once we meet on vacation. Whoo hoo!! Thank you Lori!!
Our next stop was back to Grandma and Papap Bryan's for more family and gifts on Christmas night then a trip to Glen Hope to visit Nanny and Papu.

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

'Tis the season part three

Ummmm, sorry for the delay? It's only been five or six months since these things actually happened, but to you it's all new so who cares, right? :) Sorry! Work is getting fairly slow now, so I should be able to post a lot more often.

So I left off saying that we went to visit my cousin April at her new house. The boys visited with their 2nd cousins Nathan and Jacob while terrorizing their pet bird.

Here's Bryan and Nathan playing with Legos.

Here's Jonathan playing with a play-pizza.

Jonathan checking out Jacob's new guitar. Thanks for letting us play with all your toys guys!!
Bryan playing the guitar with Daddy.

Checking out the bird. Isn't it beautiful?




Next up, sled-riding at Papap Bryan's and Christmas Day.