Christmas with Grandma Mary and Aunt Anne

We headed to Tom's mom's house on Christmas Eve morning.  Henry LOVES playing in their basement and was very eager to head on down the minute we walked in the door!  After playing for a bit, we convinced him to come upstairs to open presents.

The boys in front of grandma's tree.  The pic cracks me up!

 Henry loved Charlie's new tractor!

 Santa made a stop at Grandma's house!  Boy was Henry confused . . . I think Grandma explained it enough to him that he finally was okay with it! :)

(Still explaining in this pic!)

We had such a wonderful time!  Thanks Grandma and Anne! :)

Pizza, movie and popcorn!

 We decided to have a pizza and Christmas movie night with the Aslesons!  It just might have to be a new Christmas tradition! :)

 The kids all snuggled in their jammies to watch Frosty!

 Charlie quickly aborted the movie but was more than happy to help Auntie Jennie make the popcorn!

Thanks for a fun night, Jen & Darren! :)

Mullenbach Christmas

 We had a wonderful time celebrating Christmas with my side at grandma and grandpa's house!  Here are the boys in front of the tree.

 Grandma had gingerbread ornaments for the kids to make.

 Proud Charlie

 Henry turned his into a walking, talking gingerbread to play with, of course!

 LOTS of wrestling took place!

 The boys patiently waiting for a gift (and melting my heart at the same time!)

 Grandpa had a special surprise waiting for the kids in the kitchen . . .

 He made all the kids chairs!!

Pretty snazzy! :)

For a last minute change of plans due to my aunt's funeral, it turned out to be perfect!  I think we all needed some good family time after a tough week.

Snack spot

The boys tend to enjoy a snack every now and then on the kitchen rug.  Hmmmm . . . no wonder why my kitchen floor has so many crumbs on it! :)

New Sleeping Arrangements

Henry had a bit of a leakage problem that I was unaware of (Tom got him up this particular morning).  I went to put him down for a nap and discovered some pee-soaked sheets.  Lovely.  

I really didn't think Henry would nap in our bed as he's never slept in there before but sure enough, my sweet boy snuggled right in and was sawing logs in no time! 

Doll House Christmas Tree

Henry asked for one of our Christmas Tree decorations . . . I'm not too fussy about letting my kids play with stuff so I handed it over (plus, if I remember correctly, I was in the middle of doing dishes and the tree just might be the ticket to keeping the boys busy while I finished up!).  Here Henry had placed the tree in his doll house so the "dolls could have a tree too, mama."  AHHH!

Christmas painting!

 The boys painted with red and green . . . Christmas painting! :)  (Again, look at that tongue when Henry's concentrates . . . I love it!)

 Charlie thought he was big stuff using the paint brushes!

Henry turned his painting into a bit of body art!

A cookie baking experience I can handle . . .

 I frosted all the Christmas cutouts while the boys were off playing with Tom.  After lunch, Henry frosted the two cookies I left for him.  He was delighted!  (And concentrated very hard . . . check out that tongue!!)  And I wasn't stressed! :)

Charlie enjoyed eating a cookie sans frosting!

Red Hat, Blue Hat

Henry was acting out a book called Red Hat, Blue Hat by Sandra Boynton.  In the story a turkey dresses himself in silly ways.  Henry put his undies on his arms and his shirt through his legs and declared, "I'm a silly turkey!"

Remote Control

The boys were playing with Tom's remote controlled helicopter and Henry had the control.  Charlie went into Tom's office, grabbed a calculator, and came back out to "control" the helicopter with it!  Such a smart young man! :)

O Christmas Tree!

We finally made it out to get our tree on Monday afternoon.  After sadly hearing of my sweet aunt Jill's passing early Monday morning, we were not sure what the rest of the week would bring so it was now or never!  As with every year, our intention was to cut down our own tree and have a true Christmas experience.  But life always seems to get in the way so off to Pahl's Nursery once again!  They do have beautiful trees and it took us less than ten minutes so really, it's a win-win! 

 Henry, through munches of popcorn, spotted the perfect tree!

 While mom gave baths, dad put the lights on the tree.  We attempted a photo shoot (as always!) before the decoration commenced, and this is our best shot!

 Both boys loved to put the ornaments on the tree!  Well, Charlie would chuck the ornaments at the tree and hope they would stick! 

 The next morning brought some well-rested boys who were ready to pose in front of the tree! :)

 Sweetie pies!

Holidazzle!

We headed back up to Tom's work on Saturday evening to have dinner in his office with the Wilfords before hitting up the Holidazzle parade!

 More pizza!

 It just so happened to be Luke's second birthday so his mom brought a yummy cake!!  We were very excited to celebrate Luke's big day with him! :)

 We had front row seats as the guys put chairs down for us to hold a spot.  The boys LOVED the parade!!!

 Santa was Henry's favorite float but I only got a pic of the train!

After the parade, we made a quick trip back up to Tom's office to clean (we had made quite the mess!!) and put some tired boys in their jammies.  SUPER fun night! :)

Kids Christmas Party

Tom's work throws a kids Christmas party every year.  The kids enjoyed pizza, a magician, a visit from Santa and Mrs. Claus, a gift from Santa, and cookie decorating!  A lot was packed in to a short amount of time! :)

 Henry was thrilled to pet the magician's bird and bunny!

 The glass doors at Tom's office will never be the same!

 Henry refused to sit on Santa's lap (but was more than happy to open the gift he was given!) and Charlie clearly was a big fan either!

 Each child got a book with a small stuffed animal . . . Henry's favorite things (books and small stuffed animals!) so he was delighted! :)

In true toddler fashion, Charlie enjoyed the tissue paper and bag! :)

Henry, I think your cookie needs more sprinkles!

My attempt at a Christmas photo shoot

Anyone sensing a theme here?!?!

 These make me giggle! :)

My attempt at cookie baking

 I love Christmas traditions!  Cookies are a big part of the holidays for me as we always baked a ton growing up.  I want to pass on those traditions to my kids.  So, here I thought cookie baking would be a blast with my two little ones.  I thought WRONG!  Should cookie baking be stressful?!?!  I think not!  Between climbing on the table, grabbing and throwing the ingredients, etc., the baking did not go well.  The wine on the counter was looking awfully good at 10am!!!  So Charlie got strapped in to his high chair with a candy cane and then an early lunch, while Henry and I finished up (MUCH less stressful with one little one to deal with!).  The remainder of the cookies will be baked when kids are asleep counting sugar plums in their head! :)

A-town

 The boys and I made a quick trip down to Austin this week so Henry could make the annual gingerbread house with grandma!

 Great grandma came for coffee and to "ooh and ahh" over my boys! :)

 Then Henry and grandma made a special surprise for us!  Snowman cookies!

 Grandpa entertained Charlie while Henry was busy in the kitchen!

The cookies were a hit with all the boys! :)

Check out the coffee mugs.  Those things were coveted items growing up!

Henry also thought the lite brite grandma found in the attic was pretty neat!  Little does he know that Charlie just may have gotten him one for Christmas! :) (Although they are not nearly as cool as they used to be!)

We had such a fun and relaxing time in A-town!  Thanks mom and dad!