An Evening With Emily and Aaron

Emily and Aaron came over this evening for a few hours so Lisa and Greg could go to an event.  Bryce and Landon were so happy to play with Aaron!  While the boys played, Emily, John and I played cards.

All three boys were on the move the entire night!

2012 Pinewood Derby

The 2012 Pinewood Derby for Bryce's Cub Scout Troop was held this morning.  John and Bryce had a prime spot to watch the cars race down the track.

Bryce's car is on the track and ready to start racing!

Landon was really excited about the Pinewood Derby.  He was especially looking forward to it because he entered a car in the sibling race.

This year's race theme was "Wild West."  Bryce embraced the theme and decorated it with a cowboy hat, horses shoes, and a lasso.  His car was selected as the best "theme car."

 

Bryce's car and trophy.

Pajama Boy

Landon's class had a special pajama day at school today.  Landon said it was one of his favorite days because he could be comfortable all day in his favorite pj's.  It's the little things in life that make him happy!

Tae Kwon Do

Here is a picture of Bryce at Tae Kwon Do this evening.

More Gerber Christmas Party Pictures

I accidentally left a few pictures on my camera when I downloaded some off my camera.  Here are a few more from our Christmas celebration at my parents house on December 23.

Bryce and Landon always love playing with their cousins!  They miss cousins Megan and Chris when they aren't there but we Skyped them on the computer so it was the next best thing!

Before we ate, my mom explained our traditional Christmas meal to the grandchildren. 

Time to start eating!



Landon loved the remote control car he received from the Eckards.

Dads Versus Kids

 

Landon's basketball team had a dads versus kids basketball game.  Here are a few pictures from the game.

 

Snow!

The first snowstorm of 2012!  Bryce and Landon were so excited to wake up to snow covered ground this morning!  They quickly put their snow gear on and headed outside.

Landon was super excited about the snow!  On a side note.....I can tell the kids are getting older.  In the past, they spent more time getting ready to go outside than the actual amount of time they played outside.  Now, they quickly get dressed and spend hours playing in the snow outside.

The boys enjoyed sledding down the small hill in our front yard.

I bought Bryce and Landon these sleds last night.  Unfortunately, Bryce's has already cracked in half.

 

Grayson cried at the front door while watching John, Bryce, and Landon outside.  He wanted to be with them so badly!  His little tail wagged in delight when I put the leash on him to go outside too.

York County Industrial Museum

Bryce's Cub Scout Troop toured the York County Industrial Museum today to earn a historical site visitation achievement.  They learned how manufacturing companies in York County operated in the past.  One of their favorite stops on the tour was a working grain mill.

The boys enjoyed sitting in an old trolly car and looking at the plane mounted near the ceiling.

 Landon came with us for the tour and he was happy to see his friend Evan there too.  They loved sitting in an old train caboose. 

Tae Kwon Do

Bryce began taking Tae Kwon Do lessons a few weeks ago.  He has been asking to go to martial arts class for months and our evenings have finally opened up to enable us to commit to a program.  We decided on the Tae Kwon Do program because our cousin Nic has been participating in it for the past year.  Bryce loves having an older friend to go to classes with!  Nic has been taking great care of Bryce and he makes sure Bryce does the right thing.  Of course, Landon wants to join Bryce in learning Tae Kwon Do.

Happy Birthday Natalie

Bryce went to his friend Natalie's birthday party today.  He was a little apprehensive about going to a "girl" party but he was happy that two of his close friends were there too.

 

Landon enjoyed special "Mom and Dad" time while Bryce bowled with his friends.  He loved the one-on-one attention from us.

New Year's Eve

We went to the Seener's house this evening to celebrate New Year's Eve and Michelle's birthday.  She made an amazing meal - jumbo lump crab cakes, steak, salad, shrimp, great appetizers and a fresh apple pie.

Landon's First Basketball Game

Landon started playing basketball this month and he had his first game this morning.  So far he loves playing and seems to enjoy it more than soccer.

Visiting the Conrad's

Bryce, Landon and I went to the Conrad's this afternoon.  The cousins had a great afternoon of play!  They all got along wonderfully, which meant Lynne and I had a lot of time to visit.

Game Time

We have spent a lot of time this week playing cards and board games.  Bryce received Scrabble as a Christmas gift so we have played several games.  Our other favorite family game is UNO, which we have played many times during the past few days.

An Evening With the Kottmyers

Bryce's friend Nate, and his parents John and Heather, came to our house for dinner this evening.  We all had a great time together and the fun didn't end until after midnight.  Bryce, Landon, and Nate played while the adults talked, played cards and enjoyed a few drinks!

A Week of Play

John is on vacation all this week, so the whole family will be home together.  I have set up a few play dates for the boys during our down time.  Today, Bryce's friend Tanner spent the day with us.

Merry Christmas

Santa's little helper finished delivering presents to our house at 2:30 a.m. (Santa's other helper fell asleep so it took a long time for the sole helper to finish wrapping presents and setting them up under the tree!!!!)  Then bright and early Christmas morning, 5:30 a.m. to be exact, two very excited little boys woke up to see if Santa made it to their house.  They were so excited to see all of the presents waiting for them.

 

Landon was most excited about receiving a remote control helicopter and an Ohio State football toothbrush.

 

The hot items under the tree this year were Star Wars, Nerf, and Beyblades.

Grayson wasn't sure what to think about all of the excitement on Christmas Day.  During the past year since he joined our family he has settled nicely into a routine.  This was definitely not an ordinary day in our house so he was exhausted by the afternoon!

Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve, we went to church with the Eckards, then we all came back to our house.  Bryce, Landon, and Aaron had a great time playing together.

John and I had a great time playing games with Emily and Greg.  First, Emily and John had a checkers rematch from the day before.  Then the four of us played an intense game of 500 rum.

Bryce and Landon put a few cookies out for Santa.  They also poured a glass of milk (all by themselves!) for him and made him hot chocolate.  (By the way....notice the boys' pajamas?  Bryce is starting to fight me about wearing Christmas pajamas on Christmas Eve.  They were with me when I was looking for Christmas pajamas and Bryce told me, "They just aren't cool Mom!"  So, I decided to carefully pick my battles and let Bryce and Landon pick the pajamas they wanted to wear.  Skulls and guitars...YUCK!  Next year, I'll go shopping for the pajamas by myself!)

Bryce and Landon wanted a picture with Grayson in front of the tree.

Family Christmas Celebration

We celebrated Christmas with my family today.  We enjoyed a traditional Polish meal then the kids spent the day playing together.  At the end of the evening, we opened gifts.  Each year, my parents only want a photo album highlighting the previous year.  This was the first year that all four of their children had the photo album prepared before Christmas!  In this picture, my mom is looking at one of the family photo albums.

Play Date

Bryce's friend Keelan came over to our house this afternoon.  While he was here, the boys asked our neighbor Elijah to come over too.  The boys enjoyed an afternoon of Nerf battles and playing outside in unusually warm December weather.  Keelan stayed for dinner then we made playdough before we took him home.

Rocky Ridge Christmas Magic

We went to Rocky Ridge Christmas Magic with some friends this evening.  The kids loved looking at all of the Christmas lights and special displays.  Their favorite was the train display, where they could have stayed all night long!

School Days

I was at Bryce's school today taking pictures for the yearbook, so I stopped by his classroom to snap a few pictures.

Cub Scout Party

We attended the Cub Scouts annual Halloween party this afternoon.  It was supposed to be held last weekend, but it was rescheduled due to the crazy October snow storm.  One of the activities was "wrap the leader."  All of the boys in Bryce's den wrapped John in toilet paper.  It was fun to watch!

Snuggling Boys

When I see tender moments like this, I always run to get a camera to document it!  Bryce and Landon adore each other, but they usually display it through rough housing.  It is so nice to see them being affectionate together.

Landon fell asleep in Bryce's bed while I was helping Bryce with his homework.  Bryce insisted that I let Landon sleep there instead of taking him to his room.  These two lovebugs slept together the entire night.

Trick Or Treat

Happy Halloween!  Bryce dressed up as Captain America and Landon recycled a Star Wars costume from last year.  (Landon refused to wear the costume we purchased for this year!!)

This is one happy Captain America.

Landon ended his trick-or-treating early so he could come home and hand out candy.  He enjoyed that much more than walking around the neighborhood!

Molly and Wally joined us for dinner tonight and stayed to enjoy the trick-or-treating festivities.