Mud. Boy. Truck. Happiness.

Christmas Celebrations!!

Hobbes, not quite awake yet, but still happy to open presents!
Candy cane?
PRESENTS!
Noggin-Bops!
2 pretty girls in red.
Hobbes, being generous with his cars and Amara, and Amara, deigning to play with Hobbes.:)
Cute family pic!!
My White Christmas babies. (a perk from working at Macy's-I found these adorable outfits for under $5 each, and they looked so cute in them!)
Best. presents. ever. Hobbes thought they were his at first, and was a bit disappointed, but these 2 look happy, right? :)
Hobbes and his new 'computer' toy that helps him write his letters!
Happy girl.
Yes. My new favorite pastime with Madeline.
Nambi and Seth gave Madeline the coolest Play-Doh Ice Cream Factory, and all the women had to test it out. So fun!
Laying on the floor, playing with Hobbes' new Lightning McQueen lego set.
The food! I tried a new roll recipe, and it was delicious!!
The amazing cranberry-chocolate cake, made by Vicki Church, with the fun candle-attached to the plate! (Hobbes kept going around and blowing out everyone's candles, and then we would relight them and wait till he noticed.)
Ending the day with a good Daddy-tackle session. Hobbes did a sweet jump/tackle move here.
Amara's new favorite person-Uncle Bray!!

Merry Christmas Eve!

ending the evening with PJ tackles.

Avatar. 3-D. 'Nuff said.

So the boys (Seth, Mike, Bray) all decided we needed to go see Avatar in 3-D at the late showing...it was very entertaining if not somewhat hilarious, and the special effects were awesome!

Gingerbread Houses!

L to R: Seth & Naphtali's, Kathryn's, Mine and Madeline's, and Hobbes and Bray's.

Snow Fun!

Monkeys in a box!

Some things never change.

I have always been amazed at Hobbes' love/fascination with all things machines. Even before age 1, he was into wheels, cars, tracks, things that move. When he was learning to walk, we got him a little push-mower, and instead of walking forward with it, he would lean to the side so he could see the wheels turning. On his 3rd birthday, my parents gave him his first Thomas the train track set, and ever since then, he spends a minimum of about an hour a day to 3 hours a day, building elaborate train tracks. Today, he saw some wheels on a large storage tupperware bin, and he asked if he could have them to make skates like Curious George. This boy has a machine-geared mind, and I love it.

I love being a mom.:)

on a Mommy-date at Bucer's, wearing big girl jewelry, drinking some cocoa and eating the m&m's out of the cookie.
Just some lovin' from the boy. He is always ready to give hugs and kisses. What a sweet boy! These moments make me truly treasure being a mom!!

My crazy girl.

I stole these pics off of Helen's blog, but she is such a good photographer, I had to share them. These are from her son Levi's, birthday party that we went to a few weeks ago. Madeline was in one of her crazy modes, and Helen captured it quite well! Thanks, Helen!