Cookies for Santa

Aunt Megan and Uncle Steve came into town for Christmas.  Uncle "Steve-O" wanted to make cookies for Santa with the boys.  They made sugar cookies from scratch.  

The REAL fun when it was time to decorate the cookies.  Braxton won the prize for eating the most cookies.  After awhile, he forgot the cookie part and ate spoonfuls of icing.  Brennan ate his fair share as well.

Brennan is hard at work....

...on his masterpiece
Some of the finished product...
Some of the cookies actually made it until Christmas Eve.  Here we are putting them out for Santa.  We couldn't forget Rudolph either.

Santa (Kelko and Steve-O) did some damage on the cookies.

Making cookies was a great way to spend the day.  The boys LOVED every minute (especially the decorating)I am looking forward to continuing the tradition next year. 

The Polar Express

A few months ago, I signed the boys up to go on the Polar Express.  I went out and bought the video and the book to prepare them for this adventure.  We have watched the movie countless times and the book is a bedtime favorite.  Needless to say that they were excited to find out that they were going to take the Polar Express to the North Pole to see Santa.  

Wednesday morning, I dropped Colton off at a friend's house (we will take him next year).  Once we arrived at the train station Brennan and Braxton were anxious to see the train.  Here they are looking for the Polar Express.

They had real tickets.  How cool was that? They could NOT wait for the conductor to stamp their tickets.  
Spotting the train for the first time was the two year old equivalent of winning the lottery. There was a lot of pointing, yelling and jumping.  Brennan turned to Braxton and said "Look Braxo, the train!" 
"STOP!"  They were afraid that the train was not going to stop.
Braxton was trying to stop the train like the boy in the movie.  He was pulling on the coat hook.  When the train made the normal stops, he really thought he was the one stopping the train.
This one speaks for itself.  Pure joy!
We were greeted by Santa's elves once we arrived at the North Pole.
Hot chocolate.  We spilled.
The "Big Guy".  I was totally prepared for the worst, but much to my surprise, they were so excited to sit on Santa's lap.  No tears whatsoever.
The conductor on the way home stamped their tickets.  This made their day.   They LOVED the conductor.
Brennan was looking a little sleepy on the train ride home.  They actually feel asleep in about three minutes on the way home.  
We can't wait for next year!

Rocky Start

A few months back I joined a MOMS group.  It has been a great experience for my boys and I.  I was so excited when I saw that we were going to go on a tour of the Fire Department.  Brennan and Braxton LOVE anything that has wheels, so I thought that this would be a dream come true for them. 

Boy, was I wrong....AGAIN.  It started out fine.   We walked into the garage filled with emergency vehicles. Fireman James gave them each a helmet and a badge.  Brennan was proud to sport his, but Braxton started crying (refer to previous post for the type of outburst).    Another Mom to Colton and Brennan to listen to the presentation.  I tried to take Brax to the hall, but we could not get out of the garage.  Who knew you needed a code to get out of the garage?  A wonderful woman that worked in the office let us out.  She tried to give Brax some cookies to calm down.  He declined. I don't think that he will take food from strangers:)  It quickly became clear that I was going to have to leave the Fire Department.  Leaving made Brennan cry.   Luckily, Colton remained pleasant through the whole ordeal.  

Darn You D-Rex

This morning I discovered that there is a Mattel Toy outlet less that 20 minutes from my house.  I LOVE outlets of any kind, but a toy outlet is a dream come true (especially this time of year).  They had a 50% off any item coupon in the paper. Plus if you went before noon you got 25% off everything else in the store.  YES!

After Colton woke up from his morning nap, I threw the boys in the car and we were on our merry way.  I was SO excited.  The ride over was really pleasant.  Brennan and Braxton were repeating the Pledge of Allegiance and saluting every American Flag on the way there.  I unload the gang.  We walk in the store and we are greeted by D-Rex the Interactive Dinosaur

One look at D-Rex and Braxton loses it.  He is screaming at the top of his lungs " I don't like T-Rex"-over and over.  It was like he just saw Santa Claus, or better yet, Chuck E. Cheese.  I failed to calm him down.  It just was NOT going to happen.  After 5 minutes, Brennan decided that he was afraid of him too. Mind you, the dinosaur was no where in sight.  I am pretty sure that Braxton's outburst convinced Brennan to be scared as well.  At least people were understanding.  Most of the adults told Brax that they didn't like the dinosaur either.  I am pretty sure that they didn't sell any of them while we were in the store.

Even though it was a theatrical trip, I will be going back.  The store is AWESOME!

Can't Turn My Back...

..for ONE second.  Brennan and Braxton are definitely a dynamic duo.  They bring a new meaning to great minds think alike.  We were enjoying a morning playing in the basement (or "bay" as they call it)I went upstairs to get a bottle for Colton.  I returned the basement, only to find this....

Brennan's Masterpiece

Braxton just looks creepy.

Don't be too alarmed, it was washable marker.  

Thank God for this smiling face. I am sure that his day will come.  

Off to a GREAT start...

OK, so I never said that I would be good at keeping up with this.  Since I have "started" this blog, we have experienced Thanksgiving with GG, Papa T and Kelko and picking out a Christmas tree.  Thanksgiving was great!  Matt deep fried the turkey and it was FANTASTIC!

  Friday morning, my Mom and I fought the crowds while Matt and Papa T held down the fort.  Black Friday is truly a one of a kind experience.  I can't say that I got everything that I was going for, but I do love my $0.99 poinsettia plants. 

  We took advantage of the wonderful weather (high 40's and sunny) and went to pick out a Christmas Tree.  This is the first year that we went to pick out a tree as a family. Since we have hight ceilings, it took some searching to find the "perfect tree", but we did! It is the most beautiful tree I have ever seen.

 I will have to post the pictures later because I am experiencing some technical difficulty.