Build-A-Bear fun

Grayson and Carter received gift cards for Christmas to Build-A-Bear from Uncle Dave, Aunt Kristen, and Uncle Brett. We decided today was the day to build some animal friends! the "before" picture: C picked out a monkey and G picked a bear
Grayson got to help stuff his bear

Carter loved pushing the pedal with his foot to add more stuffing

Brushing their animals clean....

The finished product! Both boys decided on KU basketball jerseys and shorts for their outfits. They had a ball!!

Thanks so much, Dave, Kristen, and Brett!!

Happy birthday, Jesus!

Here are a few snapshots from our Christmas celebrations... Grayson and Carter in their matching PJs (thanks, Nana!!) on Christmas morning
they had so much fun with Uncle Brentley

singing Happy Birthday to Jesus (and then eating His cupcakes!)

the Buchanan fam (with Fletcher the dog) before church on Christmas Eve

the Anderson cousins on Christmas Day

Nolan, Caleb, Brennan, Carter, and Grayson

gingerbread houses

A favorite Buchanan tradition is making gingerbread houses right before Christmas. We turned on the Christmas music at Nana's house and got to work!
I think Carter ate more goodies than what he put on his house...

He started unwrapping all the Hugs and just setting them on the side of his house. Why not? :)

Grayson was hard at work on his KU house!

Of course, I had to make two houses of my own.

Here's to all the yummy, sugary Christmas treats out there!!

Grayson's 1st piano recital

Here's Grayson with his sweet piano teacher, Crystal, before the recital

He played a great rendition of "Jolly Old St. Nicholas" and we were so proud of him! Both sets of grandparents came to support our budding musician! It was a fun afternoon.

Carter at {almost} 22 months

I had a good friend call me yesterday and say, "Julie, your baby is getting so BIG!"

And he is. It's hard to believe!

Carter is a ball of energy and is finally beginning to say several new words. His vocab includes: Mommy, Daddy, hot, Nannie, Ga-Ga (Grayson), uh-oh, more, blue, Bible, car, bang, bear, diaper, lawnmower, oh well, all done, and lots of other gibberish that we have no idea what it really means. :)
He also loves to make animal noises -- moo, bark, meow, and Uncle Dave tried to teach him to say "cock-a-doodle-doo" over Thanksgiving.

He is in love with the Christmas tree and wants to help me turn its lights on every morning. He was a little unsure of Santa, but did sit in his lap.

He's really a pretty good little shopper -- we do love getting popcorn and a diet Coke at SuperTarget when we're there. It makes it more fun for us both. ;)

He loves all his stuffed animals and carries them around.

He could care less about anything on TV.

He likes playing Hungry Hippos.

He loves riding his Big Wheels outside on the driveway.

He waves at Chapel Hill (where he goes to Kids' Day Out) every time we drive by. He also knows where Jerry works, points out all the fire stations, knows Grayson's school, our church, etc. It's amazing. {My mom tells the story that I told my Nan (Mom's mom) how to get somewhere in Wichita when I was only 2. That will be Carter!}

He plays with trucks, construction vehicles, anything with wheels... endlessly.

His favorite books right now are: Trucks, Things that Go, and Goodnight Moon.

I still have never cut his hair.

I can't believe he's almost 2...

Rockin' around the Christmas tree...

We decided that it was time to put up the Christmas tree tonight! The boys had a blast!!! I had to keep reminding them to spread out the ornaments...
I tried to take some pics with the flash off -- as it makes for such pretty shots with the soft lights in the background. But, oh my, trying to get two boys to stay still AND smile so the picture isn't blurry... now that's hard work! ;)

The finished product!

I've always wanted a house with a fun picture window in front so that you can see the Christmas tree as you drive by -- well, ours is in front this year! We put the tree so you can see it through one of our bay windows in the dining room.

Merry Christmas from Mattie and Zoe!

(I think I'm going to enter them in our newspaper's pet holiday photo contest. Ha!)

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

This morning we headed out to the Christmas party at the Kansas Heart Hospital, where I've worked for over 6 years now. They always have a very nice lunch, beautiful desserts, a special kids' buffet, and the highlight is that SANTA comes! Every year he arrives in a different way, and this year he came in a stretch limo! The kids were in awe. :) We weren't quite sure how Carter would do with Santa, as recently he's been terrified of him. But, after watching Grayson sit on his lap, Carter decided he would check Santa out.
And, then he was ready to get down! Merry Christmas!!