Christmas is Here!

Our Christmas Day this year was busy but very happy. Riley had asked for just one thing from Santa, "a red James" (the James engine from the Thomas the Tank Engine set). He was so happy to discover that Santa had left that with many other new toys under our Christmas tree! Jonah was too little to really understand what was happening, but he had a great time crawling around, checking out the new toys (his and Riley's), and tearing up wrapping paper. We love that Nanny, Poppop and Aunt Kathleen join us to open presents every year and stay to have breakfast with us.

A quick 'before' picture:

Coming down the stairs

Santa was here! Riley and Jonah spent a few minutes checking out their new big toys

Then it was time to tear into the presents:

Santa brought Riley his red James engine!

Jonah checked out one of his new toys with Nanny

Jonah the eater

So our little Jonah has been exploring the world of table foods with gusto! The first time he has something, he always eats a ton of it. There aren't many things that he doesn't like eating, but just like Riley he's starting not to like veggies. However, the first time he had broccoli it was written all over his face how much he liked it!



And he's starting to get the hang of using a sippy cup!

Holiday Fun

We took part in some fun activities to get our house and our spirits ready for Christmas. This season was especially fun because for the first time Riley could really start to understand what Christmas was about. He not only knew that Santa was going to come to our house with his reindeer to bring presents for him, but he knew that the presents were because it was Baby Jesus' birthday. Riley also took part in our church's annual Christmas program with his preschool Sunday School class - they dressed as angels and sang "Away in a Manger" (although if you asked Riley he told you that was going to sing "Away in an Angel"). Plus the fact that it was Jonah's first Christmas made it special all by itself!

First, we decorated our Christmas tree:








We baked cookies with friends:






And we decorated a Gingerbread House:

Seattle!

Not quite a week after we got home from our Thanksgiving trip, we hit the skies again to go visit Theresa (Aunt TT to the boys) in Seattle. We took in a lot of the child-friendly sights while we were there!

Checking out the boats in the locks on the ship canal in Ballard





Jonah turned 9 months old while we were away!


Riley latched onto Theresa's vintage Curious George doll and insisted that he accompany us on our travels.


Riley was so excited to take a train ride that he held onto his ticket for dear life


We visited the Space Needle just as the sun was going down






The Woodland Park Zoo was a favorite of Riley's an included Jonah's first carousel ride.






Aunt TT made us all a very delicious breakfast (among other meals)


Riley got in some good snuggles with Aunt TT, and one afternoon Jonah tried to help Theresa with her work





And since pictures of both boys smiling are so rare, here's a good one from our visit to the aquarium!

Thanksgiving 2010

We traveled to see Abe's family in Wisconsin again this Thanksgiving. This was our first flight with both boys and Jonah's first flight all together. We all made it through remarkably well, and we were so happy to stay with Aunt Sandy & Uncle Chuck again. Everyone was so excited to spend time with Jonah and to see how much Riley had grown & changed since last Thanksgiving.

Boarding pass in hand and ready to fly!


We visited a local children's museum to give everyone a chance to play.






Riley got to help Aunt Sandy prep the Thanksgiving turkey


Jonah snuggled and chatted with Grandma & Grandpa




The turkey hat was passed around...




And one family picture to finish.