Our Christmas Celebration

We were so blessed to have a fun, healthy Christmas celebration with my family. Brett drove up from Ft. Worth late Tuesday night, and David and Kristen made it in on the last flight from O'Hare on Christmas Eve morning. Right in the middle of blizzard conditions in Wichita!! It was crazy... We were so glad that everyone arrived safe and sound. =) Here are a few snapshots from our time together. So, I look goofy in this picture, but you can see just HOW MUCH Carter loves riding in the front-pack! We ran into Dillons for a few things on Wednesday, and he was happy as a clam.
Everyone was all smiles when Uncle Dave and Aunt Kristen got in at the airport on Christmas Eve!
Obviously Dad had had a hard day... asleep before the festivities were in full swing. Oh, and he has the remote in his right hand, too.

Christmas Eve dinner: Mom, Kristen, Helen, me

We missed having Kate and Ken... Kate's flight was cancelled coming into Wichita, so Ken left to pick her up in Kansas City.

All the "grown up" kids: me, Jerry, Blake, Brett, Dave, and Kristen

And the stockings were hung... at Mom and Dad's house!

Christmas morning!! Carter loved his fun new ball!!

Grayson and Nana love to play like they're working at Dillons, so Santa brought Grayson his own cash register that actually scans. Cool!!

It was a WHITE CHRISTMAS in Wichita... we all set timers on our cameras and tried to take some family pics amidst the blizzard! It was soooo cold. =)

And, then the uncles decided a snowball fight would be fun with Grayson...

The girlsKristen with Carter eating lunch on Saturday at Il Vicino

We decided to brave the weather and do some shopping around Bradley Fair on Saturday... here's Mom with the 3 kids... check out all the ICE on the fountain behind us!

Kristen and I had fun with our cameras!!

Mom and Grayson were busy baking birthday cakes for Jesus!

What a fun-filled Christmas it was. Brett, David, and Kristen, thanks so much for coming to Wichita to celebrate. We loved having you here! And, Mom and Dad, thanks so much for being such fabulous hosts... our time together went way too fast!!

Merry Christmas!

Out with the girls...

My girls' Bible Study went out to dinner at Red Rock last night for our annual Christmas celebration. It's hard to believe that we started our study in the fall of 2004!! Wow!! Usually we exchange ornaments, but we decided to change it up a bit and exchanged candles instead. We all had a wonderful dinner and enjoyed catching up. Kim and Theresa, we sure miss having you all with us! L to R: Jami, me, Stacy, Kristy, Nanci, Katie

Preschool Christmas Party

Grayson's preschool Christmas party was held on Wednesday, their last day of school for 2009! Each preschooler had made a Christmas card, and they sat in a big circle and exchanged their cards with their classmates.Here is Grayson with his lead teacher, Mrs. Ast
And, with his assistant teacher, Mrs. Perrine

While they were having their snack, the kids also got to decorate sugar cookies

Yum!! A fun way to end preschool until January 2010!

Sugar cookies and Christmas decor...

We have a "different" kind of Christmas tree this year. The thought of putting up our traditional 7 foot tree, with a crawling Carter conspiring to disassemble it sounded like a lot of work, so... I bought a 4 foot pre-lit tree at Wal-Mart (for only $20!!) and we put it on one of our side tables in the family room. We picked out about 1/3 of our favorite ornaments and had fun decorating it! Maybe next year this little tree can go in one of the boys' rooms and we can go back to our regular tree... or maybe not. =) We'll see!
And the stockings were hung... I LOVE our stockings. Pottery Barn Kids makes the cutest Christmas stockings! I ordered all four of these after Grayson was born, and left the last one blank. My friend, Tara, embroidered Carter's name on it this year, and they look so festive!

Last Saturday afternoon, we decided to make sugar cookies. We used heart and star cookie cutters, and then rolled some of the dough into balls. Notice Grayson is wearing his BB uniform... he made a basket at his game. Yippee!! =)

Carter thought that sitting in his high chair, eating cookie dough, and supervising Grayson and me was overrated. He was happier sitting on the kitchen floor, scooting around!

Our finished product! They definitely tasted better than they looked. =)

Merry Christmas!!

Amazing

It's nothing short of a miracle, to watch a little one go from this... to this... in just less than 10 months. Wow!!
Of course, it doesn't happen without some help from a very sweet big brother. =)

But watch out, Grayson... this is just the start of Carter getting into all of your toys!!

P.S. I think excessive blogging happens when you're trapped in your own house. Thankfully we're all better now... just have freezing rain pelting Wichita this morning. So much for a grocery store run...

Sick

Last night, after watching the KU game, Jerry announced that he was sick to his stomach and headed to bed at 7pm. I got the boys their baths, and then got them tucked in, and enjoyed the peace and quiet. Oh yeah, I also tackled our house with Lysol wipes. I'm know I'm either a bit obsessive or germophobic, or both. I cleaned all of our phones, remotes, door handles, and the inside of my car with lovely Lysol wipes.

I went to bed at 10pm, and as I was fervently praying that God would protect Grayson, Carter, and myself from this nasty bug that Jerry had, I heard the noise that makes every Mom just cringe. (I know... because I did this to my own Mom.)

The sound of your child, puking their guts out, in their own bed. Ugh.

Poor Grayson. He had a most miserable night. I think we were up with him every hour of the night, from 10:30pm-4am... and Carter decided he would get sick in the middle of it all at 3am. Nice.

I had loads of laundry going, multiple bowls and trash cans next to Grayson's bed, and I would just get up whenever I heard crying or gagging.

Oh the joys of motherhood. Side note: Mom -- I am so so sorry about all the times I didn't make it to the toilet when I was sick. I was notorious for just leaning over the side of my bed. Sorry.

Well, Grayson is now on the couch and hasn't thrown up since 7am. He has eaten some Saltine crackers and kept some Sprite down, so I'm praying he's over the hump. Carter is back down for a 2nd nap, after drinking some milk and eating about 1/2 of an Eggo waffle. Other than having a snotty nose and being crabby, I'm praying he's better, too.

Jerry promptly told me this morning that he could've gone to work today, but didn't. Did I mention that he's been back in bed since 10am and it's almost 1?? I think it's good he stayed home.

Now where are those Lysol wipes??

Basketball pics

Some slightly blurry (my camera was on a funky setting) but fun pictures during Grayson's most recent basketball game. They spend the first 30 minutes practicing, so here's his team doing some drills with Coach Martin. G's on the far right, in the light blue shorts.Lined up and ready to practice shooting... G's #2 here...
Didn't quite go in, but oh well. =)

The last game, Grayson was in tears because he didn't score a basket, but he'd scored in all the previous games. So, we've had the discussion that "basketball is a team sport" multiple times. He did shoot during yesterday's game, but no basket. But, also no tears. Yea! =) Two more games left in the season, and we're hoping for at least one more basket...

A visit with Santa

On Saturday, the Kansas Heart Hospital hosted their annual Christmas lunch for their employees and families. Once again, there was a delicious lunch with everything from shrimp to salmon to roast beef, yummy sides, a chocolate fountain, kids' buffet, and of course, a special visit from Santa. The surprise each year is HOW Santa makes his way to the hospital. He has come via antique truck, helicopter... the list goes on. This year, Santa arrived with lights and sirens on a hook and ladder firetruck. The kids loved it!!Grayson and Carter with Santa... we weren't sure if Carter would be scared or not... and he wasn't. He was way more into Santa's cool jingle bells.

(Santa is actually one of our good friends, Dr. Roger Roberts, and he is a great Santa!!)

Jayhawk Pride

We attended the Wichita KU Alumni Roundball Luncheon yesterday at the Marriott, and the keynote speaker was none other than Bill Self. There were about 350 people in attendance. Let me tell you, Bill is a funny guy. He was so entertaining to listen to... He talked candidly about the team, and even answered questions from the audience for about 15 minutes.

I talked Mom into sticking around and trying to get our pic taken with Bill, and we did! When we walked up to him, we asked him if he would take one with us and he said, "Sure! Party pics, girls!!" It was a great lunch. =)

P.S. Dad and Jerry wanted to take their picture with the life-sized Mangino cut-out, but my camera doesn't have the panoramic view on it. Sorry, guys!

Carriage rides

On Friday night, we let Grayson choose where we went to eat dinner, and of course, he chose Red Robin. His favorite. =) We like it, too! Anyway, after dinner, it was such a nice night out that we decided to head over to Bradley Fair where they have carriage rides throughout the Christmas season.There's a monstrously HUGE (as in 45' tall) real Christmas tree It's all lit up... so festive! We had our picture taken as we were waiting for our carriage.

There's "our" horse... getting ready to lead the way!

Such a fun family time outside in the crisp night air...

The carriages behind us... Grayson was very intrigued that the horses peed... and that they peed a LOT! Ha! A fun way to kick off our month of Christmas celebration!

An early Thanksgiving celebration

On Sunday afternoon, David and Kristen arrived after going to a friend's wedding in Kansas City. They were here just about 24 hours, on their way to have Thanksgiving in Fort Worth. Grayson was soooooo excited to see them... and we were, too! As soon as G saw Uncle Dave, he immediately went into his football position... down, set, hike!
Dave hung Grayson upside down so he could go check out Carter

Carter standing with assistance =)

Chewing on Nana's camera case while wearing Dave's KU hat

So fun to have Aunt Kristen and Uncle Dave here!!

Kristen supervising Carter while he fed himself some puffs

The 3 boys on their riding toys =)

Carter's sweet toothy grin (G's in the background informing D & K about something important... who knows what!)

All EIGHT teeth accounted for... he does bite hard!!

It was very fun to have Nana, Dave, and Kristen all come to Grayson's Thanksgiving party at school before they had to leave on Monday. We loved having you guys here! Thanks for hanging out!!

Disneyland -- Tuesday, Part I

Our second day at Disneyland was just as fun as our first! We decided to hit up some of the rides we hadn't gotten to ride the day before. Nana and Grayson at Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters

Buzz greeting us as we got on the ride to BLAST!


We stumbled upon a cute show with the characters in front of the castle. Donald Duck was the only character we had not yet gotten a picture with... so, as soon as the show was over, the characters all loaded up in the fire engine and headed down Main Street. We followed them!!

And, Grayson was first in line to pose with Donald!!

In front of the castle... it even has snow on the rooftops!

Goofy was out in Town Square so we took a pic with him

Pluto was there, too. We just couldn't resist! =)

After eating lunch at yummy California Pizza Kitchen, we headed over to Disney's California Adventure. Grayson stopped to talk with Lightning McQueen and Tow Mater.

I had read about Turtle Talk on mouseplanet.com and it was amazing!! Crush (the turtle) interacted with the audience the entire time. We were mystified as to how Disney pulled this one off. =)

Crush talked, swam, danced, asked questions, and joked with the audience. What fun!