Christmas

Christmas Day was warm!

We were so grateful for the chance to spend the day outside at Grandma & Grandpa Jones' farm.

Grandma had received a new horse for XMAS and "Pal" was so gentle. Brady got to ride her - all over the farm. I couldn't believe it. He loved every minute of it - until she started loping towards the end of the day and he fell off. He quickly recovered though - and I hope feels comfortable and can enjoy riding her again. We think she just got excited because there was another horse out. Brady's story has changed many times since the incident - he becomes more of a superhero through each telling :)





Yep, he's a natural :)





We also got to see Shorty, their miniature horse and play football/Apples to Apples (while Scooter the goat looked on :).





And last, but not least, we had a bonfire and they took a ride on Grandpa's train.

(We were timing to see how quickly the cat would decide this place got too hot!)





It was a fun day! I'm sure it's going to get cold now. Blah.

Christmas Eve

It is tradition to celebrate Christmas Eve with Ed's dad's side of the family and this year we were able to have it at our house. I think a good time was had by all!

The boys always end up on Grandpa's back for rides - pretty soon (if not ALREADY), they will be too big.


Brett was excited to trick Grandma Jacki and give her pickled pigs feet for a gift. They had given him a doll last year (mistakenly) so he thought this was very funny.


Brady was given Apples to Apples Jr. and we had to try it out. Brett loves to play now (even though he has to partner up with someone because he can't read - he doesn't seem to mind AT ALL :)

We ended the night with an egg nog toast - Aunt Debi had brought a cute wreath made out of shot glasses.

Party, party!

The boys had fun at their school holiday parties on Monday.

Brady's teacher is Jewish and he has learned a lot of songs that he really likes and knows how to play a Dreidel game. I'm glad that he is learning about other traditions. (He did have a normal holiday class party Monday afternoon, but I'm not sure what they did :)

Being the room parent for Brett's classroom has been a new experience for me - luckily I had one mom show up to help with the Christmas party. They have been fun to plan/attend and I'm getting better with each one (I think) - 2 parties down, 1 more to go (Valentine's Day)!

This year I got all of my ideas from Pinterest. Love that site!

We played "Pin the Nose on the Snowman"- which Brett said was his favorite thing.



Had Santa Graham's and juice boxes -

The last activity we did was play a version of bingo with Gingerbread men and dice.

And then last, but not least, they took home reindeer treat bags!

Tis the Season

We celebrated Christmas with my family in Lebo last weekend - it is always fun to see how the kids interact as they get older. It has really worked out well (in an unplanned way :) - Garrett and Breckyn, Brynna and Brady and Brogan and Brett can kind of pair of on age-related stuff. And yes, there are way too many "B" names. Lol!



Still playing with the wrapping stuff -



The boys got camo shirts from my brother's family and dart guns from my sister's - they were ready for action!



We made it out to my grandpa's farm a couple times for walks - one of my favorite holiday traditions to do with my brother's family/kids/dogs.



We left one night just as the sun was setting. The ride home was wonderful - we saw more than 20 deer!

Rudolph

I fell in love with this reindeer in the last issue of Good Housekeeping. It was very easy and quick to make - I love it. This is my idea of taxidermy :)

Hoop it up

The basketball season has started for us!

Brady and Brett's basketball games started last weekend. They play in the GABL league. Brady continues to play on the same team and has been practicing for several weeks (5 on 5, four 6 minute quarters) - this is Brett's first year to play and the K league plays 3 on 3 with 30 minutes of practice and then 30 minutes of game.

Fortunately Brady's team has stuck together since they started in kindergarten - they have a great head coach and this is Ed's 2nd year as assistant coach, which I think he really enjoys. It has been really fun to watch them practice and play - they have grown up so much. They won their first game!


Brady's on the end sporting #13 this year.



I think the kindergarten league is set up really well - I love that practices and games take place on the same day, right after each other. Brett had a moment when they were warming up before practice where I think he got nervous and thought he would run over and say he was hurt (his finger :), but he got over it quickly and I was so proud to see him play aggressively in the game and even tell the coach that he wanted to stay in (they had 5 players, so one player always stayed in when they switched in and out). He did great and had lots of fun!




There's my lefty - the boy guarding Brett in this pic is actually his teammate (Brady's basketball's coach's youngest son, Keaton) - they practice together during Brady's (and Landon's -Keaton's older brother) - practice so that is nice!



Should be a fun season!