Christmas Morning

We had a beautiful morning at home opening gifts and drinking coffee.  We were so proud of Walker who showed amazing restraint in the face of all these amazing gifts!  He took his time with each gift, thanked the giver with hugs and kisses, then waited and watched while others opened their gifts.  He took turns and had lots of fun.  Gifts and coffee lasted for three hours!  It was fantastic!

Here is Pa John in his new plaid shirt!

Charlie enjoyed siting up in his walker!

Walker inherited Uncle Joel's HUGE collection of legos - vintage 1985.

Charlie can't wait to get his hands on all those tiny little pieces of plastic!

Here are the boys and Pa John playing with toys and reading the paper.

Here is a photo of Walker enjoying his new electronic reader.

He can enjoy stories and word games with the click of a button!  Amazing.

Here is the living room in a state of Christmas morning aftermath. 

Not too bad for four adults, a baby and a four-year-old!

Hope you're all having a beautiful Christmas day!

xoxo

Tuba Christmas

Yesterday, we took Pa John and Uncle Joel downtown by train to meet our friend Jim and his son, Cameron, to hear some Christmas music. We all went to Thanks-Giving Square in Dallas for something called Tuba Christmas. Every year, 200 or so Tuba and Euphonium players congregate in Thanks-Giving Square to play an hour of beloved Christmas songs. It was such fun!

Below is our Master of Ceremonies:

...and a sweet shot of Cameron and Walker. 

Notice that Cameron is holding W's head in place for the camera.

Once In A Blue Moon...

Pa John and Uncle Joel have joined us for the Christmas holiday and Grammie Betsy and Happy have gone home for the holidays.  As a send-off for Grandma Happy, the whole clan went out for Gelato - a suggestion made by Walker.  Here we are enjoying a sweet treat...

Every once in a blue moon Grandma Happy, Pa John, Uncle Joel and Mommy are all in the same room at the same time.  And when that happens, its good to snag a few photos!

Home for the Holidays

Jack and I are back from our week away to Cancun.  Thank you Pa Obbie and Grandma Happy for our amazing time in Mexico and thank you Happy and Grandma Betsy for kid-wrangling while we were away.  Here is a short slide show of our trip...

As wonderful as it was to be away for a bit, 

returning home to our beautiful family was WONDERFUL!  

Grandma Betsy took some lovely photos of our little family yesterday.  We realized that while we had hundreds of photos from the past few months, we didn't have any of the four of us.  Here is the result of our impromptu photo shoot! 

The photo below was taken by Walker!

I'm so happy that I caught this sweet moment of cuddle time
for Charlie Bear and his Grandma Happy.

...and some play time in the back yard for Walker.

The Piano Lesson

Walker has been waiting a very long time to set up this train track.  In fact, he's been waiting since November of 2010 when Uncle Billy and Aunt Jany visited and gifted this beautiful set.  Now that Walker is old enough to deal with tiny parts and electricity, we pulled it out and set it up under the tree!

And Charlie has discovered a new and exciting way to make some noise!  Here he is with his Grandma Betsy at the piano.  Go, Charlie, Go!

"I shall call him Christmas Tree"

Today was the much anticipated tree day.  Walker was totally overwhelmed with excitement - so much so that he was talking non-sense and twitching the entire time we were getting the tree set up.  It was adorable.  When the tree was standing straight and lit with twinkle lights, Walker announced "He is my friend and I shall call him Christmas Tree."

And we can't forget to say happy 16 month-i-versary to Charlie!  He's a long, lean thumb-sucking machine.  But he was also completely mesmerized by the tree and the lights.  He lay for quite a while under the tree tonight, just happy to watch the twinkling boughs above him.  Pretty sweet.