Christmas 2011

A warm and toasty Christmas Eve

Jon's Ugly V-neck and matching ladies blazer for our 1st annual Ugly Sweater Chirstmas Eve Dinner

Christmased out

Santa came!

 Santa's cookies on the kids' new table

 Ali finishing Santa's cookies!

 Assembling the Militia

 The beginning of Legoland

Practicing with the new goal on Christmas day

What a fantastic Christmas we had!  It was our first holiday in our new house and we truly filled it to the brim.  Mimi, Auntie Kate, her boyfriend Ray (who Brody calls "raisin"), Nana, and Pop all came down for the long weekend.  We had a million pounds of food, tons of wine, had an ugly Christmas Sweater dinner, played a heated Pictionary tournament, and enjoyed the kids and their obsene amount of toys that Santa (and his entourage) brought.  We are hoping for it to become a family tradition!

ICE Ice Baby

 I thought I was going to die it was so cold!!!

Christmas Eve Eve we headed to National Harbor to see DreamWorks ICE Madagascar's Christmas.  This is an all ice exhibit that features ice carvings of the characters from the movie Madagascar as well as an all ice slide...oh yeah...and it's 5 degrees inside (something the kids were NOT thrilled with at all).  At least we can say we have, "been there, done that" now! There were also very little pictures taken because that would have required me to take my hands out of my coat!

Getting our Tree

 And we all fall down...

 It kind of looks like I am stealing them here!

 The best attempt at getting a picture of both of them

 Brody's prize for finding the ornaments in the trees at the farm

I forgot to post these with the Christmas tree.  We had a fantastic day to get a perfect tree with Papa!

Bragging Mom!

Alison is better at navigating her apps then her Nana!

 Beleive it or not, they worked together while I was cooking dinner to create a "monster castle".  Just in case you were wondering what Brody is making, its the sewer pipe because "even monsters pee and poop".

 Doing his homework

 My brilliant daughter bite the red crayon tip off immediately following this picture (thank goodness for non-toxic crayons)!

 His first "all by himself" snowmen

I love this picture!  When I asked him about it he told me "It's a banana man and his girlfriend with a mohawk.  There is his dog that is going to bite him".  He's a piece of work all right!

I love bragging about how smart I think my kids are:)  Here they are drawing pictures, coloring, using the iPad, and playing legos.

Christmas Decorations

 Tree #1 in the living room

And #2 in the family room (sans ornaments)

We have been very busy getting all of our decorations up and they look pretty nice if you ask me!  We have 4 wreaths, 9 poinsettia plants, candles, garland and 2 Christmas trees! 

Christmas Pictures 2011

 Mr. Photogenic

 Don't let this smiling face fool you...

 screaming followed by getting up and walking away

 Minus the Red eye (which I fixed!), this was the best!

 This picture epitomized the experience...

...as did this

After an hour of pleading, crying (by both kids and myself), threatening, and bribing, we got a few good pictures of the kids together.  I swear, those people who photograph children for a living, rightfully earn every dollar!  We are going to attempt pictures again on a better camera after Christmas.

It's Beginning to Look alot like Christmas

Jon risked life and limb for the sake of our Christmas happiness.  The house looks awesome and tree one is up and decorated.  Brody didn't like that tree because there is an angel on top, so that tree is now called Alison's tree.  His super giant humongous tree is coming...On a lighter note, Brody will do pretty much anything if he is threatened by me calling Santa!  Black mailing is a horrible parenting strategy, I know, but it works SO well!!!  I wish Santa came around all year!

Boating on the Bay

 Captain Brody

 Alison and her best friend Pat

 The Christmas boat

Brody and Dad

A few weekends ago we gathered a few friends and the kids and went out on the bay for a few hours.  It proved to be a beautiful fun day!  The kids got a little nutty at the end, but it was great all the same.  Brody even got to drive the boat!

Go Pats!!!!

As you can see, I did a horrible job of getting both of them in a picture!  Epic fail!  Youc an see though from the video that Miss Alison loves getting her picture taken and says "cheese" all of the time!

Little Pumpkin

 Miss Pretty Pretty Princess (as Daddy calls her)

 Enjoying some pumpkin mousse

 CHEESE!!

 Brody's new partner in crime

We have been very busy this month with Thanksgiving, visits from family and friends, and life in general.  Alison has become more and more curious and into everything while Brody is still obsessed with Christmas, Legos, and Angry Birds.  Now that Ali is a bit older, we let Brody drive her in the tractor much to her delight!  She loves bossing him around and yelling "GO", then proceeds to jump off.  We don't let him drive on the driveway with her in the tractor so we watched him drive into the garage with Alison, put on his helmet, then hers, and drove around the driveway because it was "safer".  Can't argue with that!!