No place like home for the Holidays.....

I was looking back today and realized that it has been some time since I actually did a post about the family and included pictures.  It has been a busy month but that should be no excuse.  We are finally done with all of our activities until Christmas Eve and can now enjoy the holiday season in our new home.  

Starting with Thanksgiving....

We have not spent Thanksgiving with Family since our 2nd year of marriage.  It just is too expensive and time intensive and chaotic to try to get back to the West coast.  I am sure that with our luck, we would spend the holiday stuck in some airport....like many do every year.  So, we have had to create our own family (small case "f") and if I may say so myself....have done a splendid job of doing so.  :)  This year, like last, was spent with our dear friends, the Linas family.  Alison and I sang together in Dave's choir at UR and her family has been kind enough to invite us to join them the past 2 years.  This year was a bonus because, as you may know, Hanukah fell on Thanksgiving...and being that the Linas family is Jewish...they were terribly kind and gifted both boys with Hanukah presents!  :)

Alison...my Virginia sister.  

Thanksgiving weekend was a wonderfully relaxing weekend full of friends and fun outside and model railroads.  

We.....

....kicked back at home and played with little brothers...

Jeffery showing Jakob how to "play" trains

Row Row Row your boat

.....had cuddle time with baby bears.....

.....helped daddy deal with the leaves in the backyard (for the THIRD time this fall)....

....colored with Beau the Bear.....

....chased daddy at the park....

...went to the Science Center to see the Model Railroad exhibit.....

Perfect picture!!!!

.....had Jakob's godparents and our good friends, Mark & Lauren, and their two children over for Chinese food dinner and frivolity....

....had "Aunt" Kate and "Uncle" Adam and the Woo Twins over for our annual (3rd year running) "Biscuits & Gravy + Mimosas and then get our Christmas Trees together" adventure....

Introducing the twins to George the Hippo

Helping "Uncle" Adam push the twins around

Picking out our Christmas Tree as a family of four!

 .....and played with new Percy engines and read newspapers in bed.

It was a wonderful Holiday weekend and was made even better as it was celebrated in our new home.  We are now looking forward to Christmas and the New Year with great anticipation!  

Some other items of interest:

Jeffery and the Christmas Tree.  He loves it.  He goes up to it and leans in and takes very loud sniffs.  He loves pointing out Santa wherever he can see him on the tree.  He loves the lights and the fact that there are already presents under the tree.  And what I love is that he won't touch the thing.  True story.  This child....this 2.5 year old viking toddler has such self control.  It is remarkable.  Sure...he slips up every now and again.  He is, after all, only 2.5 years old.  But 95% of the time, a quick reminder of "No fingers" suffices and he responds with "Just eyes, mama" and follows suit.  Unreal!

We had an ice storm.  Sort of.  Yes, it got icy.  The trees were covered in ice.  It was rather pretty.  But it was nothing like they had predicted it would be....or like they got just to the west of here.  Phew!

Leaves under a layer of ice

Icicles every where!

I have so enjoyed decorating our house for Christmas!  It just feels so festive and I just feel so blessed to be in this beautiful home.  I can't wait to look out the windows one day and see everything covered in snow!

Dave put up his trains in the living room and it was a "boy time".  :)  Jeffery was so excited that he couldn't sit/stand still.  And Jakob was just amazed at the activity going on.  Jeffery can be found either draped across the chair (as in the picture below) or standing right next to the table.  Again....the self control of this child is amazing.  These are small trains.  N Scale...for those of you who know your model trains.  These are NOT kid friendly trains.  But just a simple reminder of "No fingers" is enough to remind Jeffery to not touch them.

Our entryway is not really green like that.  Not sure what is going on with the lighting in this pic!

And the best part is that when we go to Arizona to visit my family after Christmas, Jeffery won't have to say goodbye to his trains as Papa has already put his up and they're just waiting for Jeffery to come with his conductor's hat and have fun.

So now we wait for Christmas to come.  Our shopping is almost done and I think I will do some more baking this weekend...and relax.  There is so much to be thankful for this year and I think I'm going to put the boys to bed....have Dave start a fire....open a bottle of wine...and we can just sit in front of our Christmas tree and relive this amazing year!