Cullen's Camera

Cullen made himself a camera about a month ago, it consists of a long magnet (from one of his toys) and a large nut. He pulls his camera out often to "take pictures." The most entertaining thing about the camera is when Cullen says, "say cheese" everyone poses for the picture. It really doesn't even matter that people know it's fake.

Yesterday during lunch Nick was flexing for his "pictures." When Cullen set the camera down I picked it up and continued talking with Nick, we really were not paying any attention to the boys. I looked at Cullen because he was saying "cheese", he had taken his shirt off and was posing so I could take a pictures of him. I snapped a few pictures with Cullen's camera before grabbing my own...

I'd say like father, like son only Nick had his shirt on and Cullen appears to have moves of his own.

Ice Skating

We took advantage of the beautiful weather today by heading to a park to ice skate. The boys started out a little hesitant.

But it wasn't long until Geremu told me, "Me no need your help, you go away Mom." Geremu fell down a LOT but he always got up again...

Cullen's theme was slow and easy, this is typical of him until he feels more comfortable.
Cullen may have enjoyed watching Geremu more then actually ice skating.
Geremu had a great time, the kid just never gives-up.
At one point he said, "Mom, me a great skater!"
He certainly is not lacking confidence:) With his determination he will be a great skater.

Oh Christmas Tree

This year Nick let Cullen pick the Christmas tree out. Nick informed me that Cullen picked out the first tree he spotted, it was all about speed and not appearance. Next year we will know better and have the boys look around before they decides on a tree. We have a tree that has character, when the boys first decorated it all the ornaments were on the lower 2-3 feet of the tree. Every night I grab a few ornaments and move them up to try and balance the tree out a little.

I have learned that some battles are not worth the fight. The tree is one such battle, I don't stop the boys from playing with it, I have bigger fish to fry. We have pretty much lost most of the pine needles on the lower part of the tree for one reason or another. At one point this holiday season Cullen called for Nick to "come find me". Cullen was found in the middle of the tree he crawled under all the lights and up and was hiding. When Nick walked in the room Cullen yelled, "I'm in here" then proceeded to thrust his arms out waving, pine needles were flying everywhere.

I can not wait to get this tree out of the house, I have to use the shop vac every day to clean-up. Nick's family is coming to celebrate Christmas later this week. The tree will remain up until the last guest leaves then it will be the first thing out the door.

In other news, this morning Cullen and Geremu helped to make their own pancakes. You might notice that Cullen's teeth have a reddish tint to them, this is what happens when you lick the cap of the red food coloring...

We've Got a Puker

We ended up leaving my parents house late last night to make the journey home after Cullen threw up. Here is our parting picture...You might recall a similar picture last year of my sisters family after her son puked. This is Cullen's 3rd time in the past 2 months sick like this, he throws up once (clementines) and that is sort of the end of it. Last night after he got sick I asked him how he felt and he said, "I feel like I shouldn't ever eat clementines again." He was also really worried about his "favorite sweater" that has since been washed and is as good as new.

This morning the boys have been busy playing with their new gifts. Cullen got this Crayola Model Magic set from Santa and we had a great time playing with it. I'm going to HIGHLY recommend this for those of you with young kids, it's so much fun. Sort of like a mix between Play-dough and Moon Sand but more fun and not messy at all, can you even imagine this?

It's magic and amazing!

The boys also broke out the new Science Kit, this was also entertaining until Geremu spilled all the colored water. We still have an additional 8 experiments that we will have to break out on a night with nothing else going on.

Merry Christmas

Christmas morning was filled with excitement. The cousins came in to wake the boys up around 7ish. The boys ran downstairs so fast I never got a chance to capture the moment on film.

Gift opening was chaotic, the boys seemed to enjoy everything they received.
Cullen got a sweater to "wrap his mothers love in and carry it around all day."

The boots are a stolen good from one of his Aunts, they just add to his charm and good looks:) The boys spent the afternoon outside playing in the snow. Granny-bird went out to throw a few snowballs at the boys. Pop and Geremu joined the snow removal team.

As did Nick (stop drooling, he's all mine folks)

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve

The evening was as eventful as always, it started with a late afternoon church service and ended with a visit from Santa. After the food was consumed the kids gathered round for a little singing...

Dancing...

And conducting...

Katie played the according...

and the excitement was enough to draw Santa in for an early visit to drop off a few gifts with the promise that he would be back when the kids went to bed.

After the kids played with their new gifts... they went to bed like champs!

After all the kids were in bed the real fun started:) The adults exchanged their gifts and the dice game was played for the loot. In the last 2 seconds I rolled doubles to take home the pick of the year- YEAH for good luck!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

The boys and I came to my parents house yesterday, Nick wasn't feeling well so he stayed back at home. We hope he is joining us later today for the festivities. This morning we spent some time in the bluffs snowshoeing. The weather could not have been much nicer, there was a light snow falling the entire time and two loud boys to break the silence.

The Latest...

Late last week we experienced a bit of a tragedy. A friend of our family passed away unexpectedly so we have been a little overwhelmed lately. Today was the funeral, which was sad (aren't they always?) and a good reminder for us to cherish the upcoming holidays with our family and friends.

I don't have any sort of transition from what I just said to the pictures I'm posting. So I'm just going to pretend that our live is perfect and fill you in on what we have been doing to stay busy.

Below is Geremu relaxing in the early morning. The three things he asked Santa for this year in no particular order are: a kidputer (that's what he thinks they are called), a motorcycle and an iTouch. The kid is tremendous at figuring things out, he is WAY more interested in electronics then Cullen. I let Geremu know that I wrote Santa a letter asking him NOT to bring Geremu those gifts because I don't think they are age appropriate. I did say that perhaps Santa can add some new games/apps on the iTouch for him.

Tonight was Cullen's Holiday Concert at school. Here Cullen is with his "teachers", only one of them is his teacher the other is the spouse but he is sure they are both his teachers.

Where's WALDO?

This was the best shot I got of Cullen, when he was on his way back to the classroom.

After the concert we went to see Santa. Cullen has asked Santa for a sweater so he "can carry my love with him all day".
Doesn't he know that Santa is already done shopping at this point? Too bad Cullen never mentioned wanting a sweater prior to his visit with Santa.

Adam and Eve made an appearance on our doorstep tonight thanks to our neighbors.

Geremu and Cullen have recently been spoiled by our good friends. They went to Build-a-Bear this past weekend and both got new stuffed animals (both of my kids are the stuffed animal type). They also got new blankets to sleep with, they are spoiled I tell ya.

Holiday Show Case

Today the parents were invited into Geremu's classroom to watch the kids preform a few holiday songs and rhymes. Geremu is a performer and really gets into the songs, so it was fun to watch.

Geremu also allowed me to open the family holiday gift from him. It was a cute star with his picture on it, it was an exciting moment.

In other news, I got my hair cut today and now my neck seems REALLY long.

I think I might need an extra long scarf...

Puffy Hair...

Geremu has not wanted me to cut his hair in a long time. We love his "puffy hair" as he likes to call it. It's really curly and cute and he has figured out how to comb it to make it puffier. He doesn't want me to do it, it hurts when I do it. This puffy look he seems to dig... I can't say I blame him for diggin' it, it is pretty sweet!

Oh how I love his hair, it's so stinkin' soft.

Hat season is now upon us and we have been having some tangle issues, I'm now on my 3rd different detangler and none of them seem to work on the back of his head. Recently he has been asking me to cut his hair, this is shocking because he HATES having his hair cut. Tonight I did...

I forgot how tight his curls are when they are not combed out... It didn't look that short when I cut it but after his shower I realized... I cut his hair shorter then I thought I had....

He's happy so I'm happy but oh how I'll miss his puffy hair.
Hope to see you again in about a month!

Let it Blow...

The snow is blowing but that is not stopping my kids from wanting to play outside. They had fun playing even if the camera only captured these looks...They have been back in the house for about 10 minutes but already want to know when they can go back out. How about when Mama's camera hand unfreezes?