Christmas Eve 2012

It's Christmas EVE! Bryton never thought the day would arrive! It was so much fun to watch the boys throughout the season of Christmas this year, especially Bryton. Cohen still wasn't sure about it all and actually really didn't like all of the activity. Bryton on the other hand, loved it!

We got to glue on the last piece of Santa's beard! Finally! 

Time to make our cookies for Santa!

Cohen would ice, sprinkle and take a bite....not leaving much for Santa :)

I think we went through 4 containers of sprinkles on a dozen cookies! 

We got all cleaned up for Christmas Eve Service at church...my absolute favorite!

Bryton wanted to play photographer  :)

Then he also thought we needed a family portrait....so we went along with it! 

We left food for the reindeer!

And of course cookies and milk for Santa.....I think Cohen was done, what do you think?!?

A laid back weekend (during the holidays!)

Over the holidays we tried not to over schedule and really enjoy the little moments. We actually had a few weekends where we didn't have parties and craziness and it was SO nice! One Saturday morning, we joined some friends at the Sacramento National Cemetery to lay wreaths on the graves of fallen soldiers. It was a very cold morning (relatively speaking here in CA) and the ceremony was very long, so the children didn't last too long. We enjoyed getting to be a part of such a special day. 

the downfall of having 2 iPads in the house is these two will sneak away to play....

We had a family afternoon of making a gingerbread train! So much fun!

 One of the other holiday favorites was going to the Live Nativity productions put on by one of the local churches. It was amazing! The boys had such a great time! The camel was definitely a favorite!

Happy Birthday Scotty Lew!

On December 13, Scotty Lew turned the BIG 40! I had told him that since his schedule is so insane that I hadn't scheduled a party for him. I fooled him :) At work, we surprised him in his staff meeting with a cake for his whole squadron. He was totally shocked! At the end of the day, he thought that was it. When he got home, we had his favorite dinner waiting for him with a few gifts...it was a great day! Little did he know that another surprise was coming the next night! I had arranged for a few of our friends to meet us for dinner on Friday. It turned out to be a fun few days for him and I was so happy to be able to pull a few surprises over on him :) 

Surprise!!

We got him :)

Opening a few gifts at home

Fun times with Daddy :)

Surprise! 

Happy 40th Scotty Lew!!
We love you and are so lucky to have you in our lives! 

More holiday fun

I promised myself this year that I wasn't going to get stressed out over the holidays and that we were going to really enjoy the season. We got majority of our shopping done early. The house was decorated early and most of the parties were done within the first week of December! I found a great e-book to do with the boys each day, The Truth in the Tinsel, that helped illustrate the true meaning of Christmas with a craft each day. Bryton loved making his ornament each day. It just all came together to be a great Christmas season at our house! 

A Sunday afternoon spent bowling with my boys! 

Cohen is into everything.....all the time....

Bryton wrote his letter to Santa. He asked how to spell each word and it took him nearly an hour.  It was the cutest thing and I will save it forever!

I thought about cropping this picture, but this is our life right now. Cohen has to be held by Scott anytime he is around. We simply wanted a quick picture before leaving for the Squadron Holiday Party. I guess that was too much to ask :) He quit his fit as soon as the picture was over....I promise! 

Bryton's school hosted a night for the families to come do crafts, have dinner, and visit with Santa.  Bryton was so excited for Scott to meet his teacher and he actually talked to Santa.

We had a birthday party to go to at Build A Bear. The kids had SO much fun. They each got to choose a bear. One came home with a firefighter bear and one a policeman bear. So cute! 

Cohen liked playing the computers during the party as much as picking out his bear :)

Reading with each other....priceless!

Kid's Christmas Party

We kicked off the holiday season with our squadron's kids party on December 1st. It was a crafts and cookies party, so it was perfect for Bryton. They made all kinds of fun Christmas crafts including a Christmas countdown making Santa's beard. The kids had a blast and got all sugared up from all the cookies everyone brought to share. It was the perfect way to start the holiday season! 

Making Christmas cards

Cohen spent his time on Scott's lap

Bryton ate lots of cookies with his friends. 

We listened to How the Grinch Stole Christmas. 

The boys weren't quite sure about the whole photo booth, but we thought it was fun! 

Thanksgiving weekend

We had a quiet Thanksgiving this year. It was just the four of us, no traveling and no visitors. We went and had Thanksgiving dinner with some friends. We missed sharing the day with our families, but felt very blessed to have sweet friends to share our day. 

Scott taught Bryton how to make the infamous chocolate pie :)

 Last year, we loved going the day after Thanksgiving to get our Christmas tree. There is a great tree farm with all kinds of fun things for the kids to do. It didn't exactly feel like Christmas out, but we loaded up to go get our tree! 

Cohen spent his time munching on popcorn :)

Bryton voluntarily sat with Santa! He actually asked if he could sit with him after we went on the sleigh ride around the tree farm. I nearly fell flat....last year he was yelling and running the other way! 

Bryton is such the helper! 

Cohen likes to help too! 

Time for the star!

Next up...the ornaments!
I love this one! Cohen went and got his little stool when he saw Bryton had his. He wants to be big so bad! 

We went to the Napa Christmas parade that Saturday night. It was small and fun. Bryton had his fingers in his ears majority of the time. Cohen snuggled on Scott most of the time, but loved the lights. Both of them loosened up by the end of it and really had a good time. 

Monterey Weekend

I had a bit of a blog hiatus because somehow I ran out of blog space...crazy! I think I fixed it, but who knows! Now I have catching up to do...back before Thanksgiving we took a weekend trip to Monterey.  We had a fabulous time. The boys loved it!  

We spent 4 hours at the aquarium on the first afternoon we got there.  Cohen slept majority of the time, so Bryton really got to enjoy all the exhibits. It was so much fun to see the fascination on their faces by on the amazing sites we saw. 

I don't think we could have had enough quarters  for all the spectating that Bryton wanted to do. He loved it!

We spent a lot of time on the docks at Fisherman's Wharf watching the sailboats and sea lions. 

There was an amazing park that we spent a whole morning playing. This slide was the highlight for the boys. The two of them went on it countless times together, and I could have watched it forever. 

Amazing views!

We did the 17 mile drive through Pebble Beach and all the other amazing golf courses. Cohen napped during it but we stopped a few times to take a few pictures. 

We had to get out to listen to the waves....could have stayed there all day! 

We went to a fun kid's museum and the boys had a blast . 

Of course we had to go see the crab :)