Bryce loves to "write and illustrate" books. He draws a picture on paper and tells me the words to write. Today, he wrote a book about instruments and animals. After we finished writing and drawing, he stapled the pages together.
Landon never wants to be left out of the action, so he wanted to write a book too! His version of a book is a page of scribbles with a few dabs of glue.
We went to the Whitaker Center in Harrisburg on Saturday. Our season passes expire next month, so we wanted to get another visit in. The boys loved the special train exhibit on display this month.
They enjoyed playing with the Thomas trains much more than watching the electric trains!
I am not sure who had more fun with the water station - John or the b0ys!
Our theatrical son, Landon, enjoyed singing and dancing on stage.
As always, Bryce was fascinated by the bubble machine. 
Reading books is a part of our nightly bedtime routine. Bryce and Landon were so excited last night to read new books they received from Santa.
Bryce received a book called "Mater's Ghostlight."
It was an early and busy morning at our house! This was, by far, the funnest Christmas morning for our family. Bryce was more excited than he has ever been during Christmas morning. He immediately spotted a box that contained his electric guitar and said, "This has to be it. I just know there's an electric guitar in here!"
Bryce had already opened all of his presents by the time Landon opened his first one. Landon wasn't interested in unwrapping - he just wanted to steal Bryce's toys that were already opened!
This keyboard has been one of Landon's favorite Christmas presents.
We wanted to make sure Santa and his reindeer had a snack when they visited our house. Emily and Aaron helped Bryce and Landon disperse food for Santa's reindeer on the front lawn.
Bryce and Landon left three cookies and milk for Santa.
Well, it started out as three cookies! Landon snuck one when he thought no one was looking!
He was kind enough to leave a bite for Santa!
We celebrated Christmas Eve with Molly and Wally and the Eckards. We went to church together then came back to our house for a casual dinner.
Bryce in front of the Christmas tree.
Landon in front of the Christmas tree.
Wally was exhausted after a long day! He snuck away and took a nap on the couch!
We celebrated Christmas with my family today. All of the cousins had a great time playing together, and they especially enjoyed opening presents! Helping Landon open presents was a group effort, with all of the kids helping!
The boys are great buddies!
In this picture, we are sharing oplatek. Breaking oplatek is a beautiful Polish tradition where you share well wishes with everyone present. Our family has participated in this tradition for generations, and I hope my children will share it with their families.
It was a quiet evening at the Danes house. The boys were painting, John went to pick up a pizza and I was doing laundry. While I was downstairs hanging wet clothes, Bryce called down to me and said, "Mom! Look what I'm doing. This is soooo cool!" And this is what I came up to find! That was the end of our quiet, peaceful evening!
I removed Bryce from the situation and Landon snuck in to do exactly what his big brother did!
They were already a mess and needed a bath, so I let them have fun for a few minutes. Life would be so boring (and less messy) without children!
After the Breakfast with Santa party, we immediatly went to a Lunch with Santa party! The boys were much more comfortable with Santa at the second party since they already saw him earlier in the day.
Bryce and Santa!
Rudolf the Red Nose Reindeer made a special appearance at the party. Landon was terrified of him and needed to stay at least five feet away from him at all times! Bryce liked him and even gave him a hug.
We went to a Breakfast with Santa party this morning. The boys were apprehensive about sitting on Santa's lap, but Santa did a terrific job of making them feel at ease. Bryce told Santa he wants an electric guitar and Landon said he wants toys.
I think this is the best picture with Santa we have ever gotten. Last year, Bryce simply refused to get near Santa!
We went to Kim and Jim's house last night. The boys had fun doing what they always do there...play with Matt's old Thomas trains!
Bryce was so excited to try out Matt's Guitar Hero. It was a little more difficult than he anticipated put he still had fun trying. He may not be very good at playing the game, but he certainly has perfected his rock star moves!
John took a turn on Guitar Hero too! He had a blast!
Last week, I bought the boys snow shovels. They were going to be gifts from Santa, however, I forgot to take them out of the front seat of my car and Bryce saw them. For the past week, the boys have been shoveling everything inside our house - laundry, matchbox cars and pillows just to name a few examples. Bryce and Landon were so excited that we received snow today and couldn't wait to go outside and shovel "real snow!"
Who is this big boy shoveling snow? It seems like in the blink of an eye, Landon became a little boy who is now able to shovel snow by himself.
John and I are thinking there will be a day in the near future that we won't have to shovel the snow. The boys will want to do it for us!
Mell, David and Meghan came over to our house for dinner this evening. We had a great time, and we had a lot of fun playing with Meghan.
Bryce has made a new friend! He and David were best buddies and spent most of the evening playing Wii together.
Meghan is so cute....and busy! She was on the move all evening long. She is one tough little girl because she had no problem keeping up with the boys!
Our friends, The Arnolds, hosted a cookie exchange party this afternoon. Jennifer planned a great party with a lot of fun activities for the kids. In this picture, she is reading a special Christmas story to all of the children.
All of the kids enjoyed sitting at small tables together while they sampled a few cookies.
Bryce played with Grant's train during the party. He loved it!
I baked cookies this weekend and the boys loved helping me!
Bryce was a great helper!
