Merry Christmas!

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.

Bryce has enjoyed playing with an easel Landon received for Christmas from Santa. When Landon took his afternoon nap, Bryce had fun painting.

Food For Santa And His Reindeer

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!

Christmas Eve

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.

The kids loved playing together on Christmas Eve. Aaron wanted to play a game on Wii so he and Uncle John raced a car on Mario Cart Wii.

Wally was exhausted after a long day! He snuck away and took a nap on the couch!

Christmas Celebration

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.

Oh, Dear! What Did You Do!!!

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!

Bryce's green face blended in nicely with the Christmas tree!

Lunch With Santa

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.

Breakfast With Santa

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!

Friday Night at the Cables

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!

Shoveling The Snow

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!

Dinner With The Martins

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!

Cookie Party

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!

Assistant Bakers

I baked cookies this weekend and the boys loved helping me! Bryce was a great helper!

Playing With Pillows

The boys' new past time is playing with pillows and cushions, and they especially enjoy building beds with them. Yesterday, they piled all of the pillows together, got a few blankets and made their own special bed.

We Love To Paint

Bryce and Landon LOVE to paint! Today they painted wood trains. Bryce took his time painting and tried to stay within the lines. He told me, "I am painting slowly. I am really trying to focus on it."

Landon mixed all of his paint colors together and created a unique new shade! I expected a much bigger mess from him so I was pleasantly surprised when the paint was contained to the table.

Loving Each Other

Landon and Bryce were all over each other this morning. They both woke up earlier than normal and enjoyed extra time together. This is a rare sight lately of Bryce and Landon hugging and kissing each other.

I Love Peanuts

We went to Logan's Steakhouse for dinner last night. Bryce LOVES going there because of the peanuts. He could sit at the table all night long and crack peanuts! After he cracks open the peanut, he really enjoys throwing the shell down on the floor as hard as he can. Landon can't open the peanuts yet but he certainly enjoys imitating Bryce by throwing them on the floor! We have to tell him he can only throw the shells down, not the peanut!

Occupational Therapy

Bryce's fine motor skills are a little bit weak so we decided to send him to occupational therapy. The muscles in his upper shoulders aren't very strong and it is causing him to have difficulty with fine motor activities. He has been going to OT for a few months now are we are seeing great improvements. He really enjoys seeing his therapist, Ms. Karen, and she always has fun games for him to play!

Christmas Party

John and I went to his company Christmas party this evening. Molly and Wally came over to watch the kids. In this picture, Wally made paper airplanes for the boys. Bryce and Landon loved having Molly and Wally over to play with them and put them to bed!