Visit With Santa

We took the boys to a MOMs Club event to see Santa. I can't believe it but both boys sat on Santa's lap and Brooks even told him what he wanted for Christmas! Not sure what is up with Colt's "smile" but I think you call that a "Chandler Bing Smile!"

Holiday Decor

I am Jewish and grew up celebrating Hanukkah. Alex grew up celebrating Christmas. We decided to celebrate both holidays with the boys. Hanukkah started tonight, December 1st and the boys opened up two presents for the first night and will open one present each night thereafter for 8 nights.


The boys were super cute tonight. The boys repeated after me while we said the prayer as we light the menorah. The first present they opened was from Nana & Poppy. Brooks opened a fire truck menorah and Colt received a train menorah - they are ADORABLE! Now they have their own menorahs which is pretty cool. Then they opened a present from Alex and me. Each received a personalized book including their names and friend's names as party of the story. We read them before bed tonight.



Colt was hilarious as he ran around the house trying to sing, "Hanukkah 'O Hanukkah!" I have been singing that song to them all week and they love it. All he knows is the word Hanukkah so he just dances around and kind of sings it. Brooks sings it as well but he knows a few more words, and then he just sort of makes up others. Too funny!

Fun first night of Hanukkah!

Silly Boys!

Brooks was circling toys in a magazine with a red Sharpie (mommy's fault) and he was being so good. He then says, "Mommy look!" I turned around and he had drawn a line from the top of his head and down to his chin. He thought it was hilarious and all I could do was sigh and laugh. I googled, "How to get permanent Sharpie off skin" and found either toothpaste or makeup remover and it worked for the most part. No more Sharpies for the kiddos!



And then there is my little ham, Colt. This kid is a ham - the class clown! He is my patience-trying, ornery and aggravating child; but, I guess I said the same thing about Brooks at this age (minus the class clown). He really does make us laugh :-)

Family Photos

We had our yearly family photos done by a friend of mine, and professional photographer, in the MOMs Club. We decided to have them done at the Grapevine Train Station so the boys could run around in a place they found interesting and fun - and boy did they ever! What a beautiful and fun morning we had!!!

ICE! at the Gaylord Texan

The Gaylord Texas Hotel & Convention Center puts on this AMAZING 14,000 square foot ICE! exhibit featuring a variety of holiday scenes and sculptures hand-carved by visiting artisans from Harbin, China. They make it so you think you are visiting the North Pole. They provide HUGE, warm jackets since you enter into a 9 degree space with with TWO MILLION pounds of ice! It is incredible!

This year they recreated Charlie Brown and the whole Peanuts gang from "A Charlie Brown Christmas." There was even a slide made of ice for the kids. Brooks went down a dozen times before he was so cold we had to finish the tour, quickly!

After we left the ICE! exhibit, we headed into the main area of the hotel where all the decorations are, specifically the trains! My boys LOVE trains!