Catching Up

There are so many pictures to share and stories to tell, but I don't want to write several blogs. So I am going to put up all the pictures and stories from the past few weeks. It may be long, but hopefully it will also be mildly entertaining. (I am sorry it is so long.)

Christmas:
Christmas went wonderfully this year! Santa brought the boys a train table. The boys opened it first, and were satisfied with having it be the only present. They refused to open anything else. After a few minutes Kevin figured it out and started opening more gifts, but it took about 10 minutes to get Colin to do anything other than play with trains. I guess it is good that he loved the set, but we were more excited than they were and were anxious to keep opening!

Playing with the new train table.

Opening gifts.

Colin got plates and dishes from Santa. He lined up all the plates on the fireplace to leave pretend cookies for Santa.


Their new snack and play table.

We also hosted Christmas night dinner at our house. Both Kevin and I were very excited about it, and we ended up having almost 20 people here! The list includes: the four of us, my mom Marcia, good friend Steve, my dad Steve and step-mom Tracy, Tracy's parents Sharon and Lee, brothers Jake, Tony, Chris, and Brandon, sister Cathy, Kevin's sister Kelly, and Kevin's parents Kevin and Louise. We think it went very well, and are looking to host again next year! I wish we had some pictures but we forgot to take any. Let us know if you have any!


Kelly:
Kevin's sister Kelly was in town and we were so happy that she stayed with us. It gave her plenty of time to see the boys. We don't get to see her too often and were glad that she had a safe trip her, even if the snow tried to make the trip not happen.

Kelly and me in the snow.

First snow:
It snowed on Christmas and the boys were very excited to play. Colin spent most of his time sweeping the driveway, while Kevin helped his daddy shovel, and later made a few snow angels.

Hair cuts:
Right before the new year the boys got haircuts. Colin already looks 6 months older. And more like Kevin. (Or less. I have heard both.)


Swim Lessons:
Kevin started lessons on Tuesday. This is the first class where he is in the water without us. He did wonderful! He was nice to the other students and listened to the teacher. We invited Colin to go and swim with us while Kevin was at his lesson. He told me "No. Cold." I asked "Is it too cold to swim?" He replies yes. I tried to convince him that the pool was inside, but he wanted none of it. Maybe next week.

Speaking of Colin, he talks so much now. His favorite thing to say is "Cold. Hat. Coat." Colin also wants to return to the zoo. The last time we were there it was 10 degrees out. So he tells us "Zoo. Cold. Hat. Coat." He really likes to let us know how to stay warm. He communicates so well and is starting to string words together. One of my favorite things (for now) is how he walks around the house yelling "Mama!" when he needs help.

Funny kid:
Kevin and Colin got stick horses for Christmas. Most of the time Kevin uses his as a pickax. (His words.) This day though it was a horse. I walked into the room and this is what I saw. He told me "The horse keeps falling down. Now he won't fall and he can eat his food!" (Notice the mouth is in the dumptruck, which he used as a bowl.)