Christmas Morning

About two months ago Ike decided he wanted to ask Santa for a kite and because Olivia wants whatever Ike wants she has made it clear that she also wanted a kite.  Denny and I knew this was a terrible Santa gift for a 4 yr old and even worse for a 2yr old.  We put out many suggestions over the next few months of things they may want from Santa but their mind was made up.  Sooooo a kite is what Santa brought them.  

Now keep in mind my kids like to wake up VERY early and so when they got up and found their Santa gift it was still very dark outside.  AND even though I prayed for a windy morning there was not a single leaf moving on the tree outside.  It was a calm outside as it could possibly be.  Thankfully the weather report predicted some winds in the afternoon so we promised we would fly them after nap.  Ike checked the trees all morning to see if the leaves were moving.  Poor guy!  Well, the weather man was right!  We had perfect winds about 3pm so we scooped them out of bed and headed straight to the baseball field.

And we flew some kites!

The kids thought it was cool for about 5 minutes.  Grammie, Denny and I thought it was a lot fun!  The string was 300ft. and it looked like they were flying with the airplanes.

If you know my Via it didn't take long for her to get bored and say, "I wan a shnaaaack".

Christmas Eve

Uncle Ryan and Daddy-O took the kids for a hike before supper.  Then we ate a delicious meal and opened presents.

Presents from Grammie and Grandpa.  They each received headphones, socks, a stocking cap, and a pair of pajamas 

Milk and Cookies are ready!  They all had to be a part of it and carry something to the mantle.

Our sweet babies asleep while Santa drops of their new toy.  Olivia went down pretty easy but Ike came out of the room about 5 times before he finally fell out.

Christmas Vacation in Mesa, AZ 2014

We have had a busy and full filled 10 days in AZ!  We went to the Aquarium, Children's Museum, Science Museum, and the Zoo.  We have also spent countless hours outside playing.  The kids are having so much fun playing together and have really enjoy the various outings.  I, of course, didn't get any pictures of these fun places.  There are plenty of pictures of them having fun around the house though.

Playing with sand

The kids had the chance to roast a few marshmallows by the fire.

We left Uncle Ryan in charge of making four toddlers eat.  

Olivia wants nothing to do with peeing in the potty and made that very clear when I put her on it and she got up and put MooMoo on it and sat on the floor.

Writing letters to Santa while Grandpa supervises.

Via concentrating very hard on peeling and egg.

Thanksgiving 2014 - Corsicana, TX Holiday Inn

This year for Thanksgiving we met some of my Julson cousins and their families in Corsicana, TX.  We took over the Holiday Inn for three days and all had a great time!

Game time

Writing letters to Santa

Running the halls

Jumping on and off the beds

Ike taking a break to check out his shadow

Via untying Jackson's shoe

A trip to the park

Thanksgiving dinner

Bedtime stories

We also went to the movie Penguins of Madagascar.  It was Olivia's first movie experience and her favorite part we the giant tub of popcorn.

Vigil Thanksgiving

We loved having Nanna, Papa, Uncle Derek, Aunt Meg, Uncle Bill, Aunt Danielle and cousin Krissy here to have an early Thanksgiving.  It isn't very often we all get to spend a weekend together.  Thank you all so much for coming!

Nanna and Papa with their grandbabies

Krissy being a trooper and going on the train ride with the littles.  Older cousins are awesome!

Saying goodbyes before going to bed.

Happy Halloween!

Ike and Via had a wonderful Halloween.  It started on Tuesday when they dressed up of Kindermusik. Olivia the Princess and Ike the Firefighter....

Then we broke it into Halloween a.m........

Via Mouse and Ike still a firefighter

and Halloween p.m.....

Olivia as Dorthy and Ike the Astronaut.

The crew!

The funniest moment of trick or treating was when Darth Vader answered the door.  Ike and Olivia froze in place for about 2 seconds and then turned and ran as fast as they could back to us at the end of the driveway.