Christmas 2010

We spent Christmas in Kansas with Joe's family this year.
As always, we had a great time.

James came up from Hot Springs and rode with us the rest of the way to Kansas. We were so glad he was able to come home for Christmas.
Both Joey and Kylah think very highly of Uncle James.
Here is Uncle James helping Joey hang up everyone's stockings on Christmas Eve. They all go in a row on the "trophy mantle" because there are so many of them! (I think we are up to 16 now (not counting Joe's parents), and we will be adding at least 3 more next year!!) Joe's mom has handmade all of these stockings. They are awesome!
We still hung up your stockings, Josh and Val and kids and Jeff, even though you weren't with us!

Joey loves having so many uncles who play rough with him!

On Christmas Eve, all of the Manthe side of the family came over (Joe's dad's side of the family).

Kylah was enamored with Mya, who is Joe's cousin's baby.
I think Kylah is more than ready to have a live little baby in our house! She's just like I was when I was little...always carrying around a baby in her arms, and when the baby is real, that's even better!

Joey and Great-Grandpa.

Kylah sitting with daddy and opening a gift. Joey and Kylah were definitely blessed by all of their grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc this Christmas!

Kylah giving Aunt Susan a hug after receiving a My Little Pony.

These three were inseparable all week long (Hannah, Joey and Kylah). From what I hear, they spent a lot of time together and just loved playing together. It's so fun to see the cousins play more and more together the older they get!

We let the kids open their stockings and their few presents from Joe and I on Christmas morning. Then they had to wait for the rest for when everyone else got there later in the afternoon.
Kylah digging into her stocking.

Joey was pretty excited at how full his stocking was, since when he went to bed the night before it was empty. I think we've decided that we will tell the kids that Santa fills their stockings, and then everything else under the tree is from the family member that got it for them. That way they can still enjoy the Santa tradition, while still being grateful for whoever got them the gifts under the tree.

Kylah surrounded by her loot.

As you can tell, Joey got a new Superman costume from Joe and I. Here they are also opening Candyland.

Later in the day, Joey and Aunt Katie playing the Fishing game.

Nana and Kylah.

Joe reading the Christmas story in the afternoon before we all opened presents.

I love this picture because Joey helped Katie open her gift, and then when he realized it was a diaper, he made this face...

The three little ones opening their gifts.

One of Joey's favorite toys. DJ turns color when you move him from cold water to hot water.

Grandpa's job is always to get the gifts out of their packaging.

Kylah opening her gift from Aunt Kris.

I didn't get a great picture of this, but this is definitely Joey's favorite gift of the year. It is a penguin Pillow Pet from Grammy. He has been talking about a pillow pet for a few months now (it must be all the rage at his preschool...) I hinted to Grammy that this might be a good thing to get him, and she didn't disappoint. When he opened it, he jumped up and down like he had just won a big game. He was so excited. Since then, he has not let his Pillow Pet (whom he's named Petey for now) out of his sight, except for school. Kylah got one too, a bumble bee, that Joey makes sure she has with her at all times as well. It's adorable.

Kylah got a new doll (to add to her collection). But now this new doll has become one of her favorites along with her little baby and baby Emma. I keep asking her if this one has a name, but so far she doesn't seem to.

Nana always has a few new pairs of jammies for the kids when they go to visit. Here are some Woody jammies that Joey was excited to wear.

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Back at home, we (and by we, I mean Joe and James) were able to finish putting together the bunk beds on Sunday night so the kids could sleep in them. The kids are loving their new beds and blankets. They almost enjoy going to bed right now.
This isn't the greatest picture, but it gives you an idea of what their beds look like. (I'm not physically able to get up to the top bunk to make the bed nicely right now!) :) I had a really hard time finding matching bedspreads that were for boy/girl, but finally found these gems at Ikea for really cheap!

Kylah is loving her new bed with it's pink sheets. :)

Joey just looked adorable to me tonight, so I had to snap his picture. :)

We had a great Christmas with the Manthe family. We definitely missed those that weren't there: Josh, Val, Mackenzie, Bella and Deacon, and Uncle Jeff. We were able to Skype with Josh and Val and kids on Christmas evening, so that was great. And Jeff had a good excuse this year, because he went to Indiana to propose to his girlfriend, Carisa. She said yes! We are so excited for the two of them.

Christmas time...

The last few weeks I've been trying to do some fun Christmas things with the kids. Last year, we kind of missed out on celebrating Christmas at all before the actual day because we were in the midst of packing our house and moving. And the kids were younger, so they didn't really get into it as much.

This year they have been really excited for Christmas and all that goes along with it. They get so excited at night when we drive and see Christmas lights. Kylah just yells, "lights!" from the backseat.

Last week we went to see the lights in the square in Fayetteville. It wasn't quite as big of a light show as I was hoping for (I was thinking Rhema, for those of you who know what that is...), but it was still fun to look at.

Daddy and Kylah.

All four of us. (You never know whose head is going to get cut off when you have strangers take a picture for you...)

The four of us in front of a carousel of lights. If you click on the picture to make it bigger you will notice Joey's face. He was not happy because he had just been told that he could not ride on ponies, camels, or any other animal. He was really not having a good attitude since we had gotten out of the car, so there was no way we were going to reward him with those things! When we looked back on these pictures a few days later, Joey commented, "I didn't have a very happy heart then." You think??!! :)

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The kids have really been into watching Polar Express this year. I think there are a few scary parts (like the guy on the top of the train), but they seem to love it. I'm not kidding when I say I think they've watched it at least 8 times.
So, when Meredith told me about a Polar Express-like train that goes from Springdale to Fayetteville, I was all for taking the kids. Plus, it was pretty cheap because we went during the day when they take some school classes!

I didn't tell Joey and Kylah until the morning of, and when I did they were so excited. Joey kept thinking it would be exactly like the movie. I had to remind him that I'd never been there, so I didn't know what it would be like. Kylah was a little concerned that there would be a Santa at the end.

Here are Joey and Kylah waiting on the train bench with their tickets.

Waiting for the train to pull into the station with Connor and Audrey.

Can you tell the train has pulled in? It seemed so big compared to these little ones watching it.

Joey was in awe as well.

So I realized when I got home that I didn't take a picture of the actual train. That would have been a good one.

Finally inside the train. It was great. There were little tables and chairs for each child.

The girls were enjoying having their own table too.

Matty was enjoying being there too! :)

Joey took this picture all by himself. I thought he did a good job!

The train ride was so fun. The lady in the red, Miss Lisa, had a microphone and talked to the kids in the train car a lot. There was hot chocolate for each child to drink. Here she is letting the kids sing Christmas songs they knew. Kylah chose Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. (We'll pretend she was thinking about the star of Bethlehem!) :) She was really cute singing all by herself into the microphone.

Joey wasn't timid at all--imagine that! He sang his Christmas solo into the microphone.

Miss Lisa read a story to the kids.

And then she sat and talked with Kylah for a while. She really was great. Mere and I kind of felt like we had a babysitter for an hour!

We'll definitely be doing that train ride again next year!

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This weekend Joe and I decided to celebrate our anniversary weekend. Well, I should actually say that we individually planned to celebrate our anniversary without telling each other. That's right...we were both planning a surprise weekend away for each other, without telling each other. We had the kids shipped off to Kansas, so Jennifer knew we were both planning something. So did Dave and Mere. But, the funny thing was, we were both planning pretty much the same weekend for each other! We have had tickets to a concert in Tulsa on Sunday the 19th for a while now, so we both built our weekend around that.
10 years ago, on 12/1/00, we had our very first date in Tulsa. So, we both had the idea to recreate that date.
I ended up finding out about Joe's plans while I was trying to pack for our trip without him knowing on Friday. A few essential things were missing from my wardrobe, which got me thinking that Joe had taken them, which meant he may be planning something. I called Mere, who finally told me.
I called Joe, who actually ended up being a little relieved that he didn't have to try to sneak everything in the car for me!
It was really funny, and amazing that we both had the same idea! :)

So, we had two days in Tulsa to relax without kids!

After a relaxing afternoon on Saturday, we had our recreation of our first date.

First, we went to see the lights at Rhema. They really put on an amazing light display.

Then, it was on to dinner at Ti Amo. So yummy!

We had a great time staying up late playing cards, going to the hot tub, and then sleeping in the next morning.

On Sunday we just took our time getting ready, then browsed at some stores, finished our Christmas shopping, saw a matinee, and then went to a yummy dinner at Longhorn Steakhouse.

Here is a belly shot for all of those who are interested. 32 weeks.

And finally, we ended our night at the David Phelps Christmas concert. It was a great show, and we had great seats. We didn't get home until really late, but it was worth it!

Joey and Kylah are still in Kansas with Grandpa and Nana. We'll meet them there on Thursday after work. It's been awfully quiet around the house, but we've been trying to be productive while they're gone. The crib is up, and the bedding is washed and on the crib. I'll post some pictures when the nursery is all done. We also went through all of Joey and Kylah's toys and got rid of the ones they no longer need or play with. We took apart their toddler beds and are in the process of putting together their bunk beds. It's fun watching the new rooms come together! We will definitely be ready to see our kiddos tomorrow night!

Pictures

Here's Joey with his other classmates all lined up. They kept the kids sitting the whole time, which didn't make for the greatest pictures, but I'm sure that was the best option for so many 3-5 year olds.

Joey's a ham on stage. He kept looking around until he spotted us, and then we got the biggest smile! :)

And here he is performing his solo. So serious and cute.

After his program he came running over to us so excited. He proceeded to ask Connor about 20 times if Connor heard him sing his solo..."did you hear me sing? Did you hear me in the microphone? Did you hear me in those speakers? Did you hear me?..." Connor was a good sport and was excited for Joey.

They had a Santa there. Connor and Joey were both a little timid to go sit on Santa's lap until I suggested they go sit on his lap together. I didn't want to pay the money for a portrait, so I snapped this one! :)

Kylah wanted no part of Santa. She wouldn't even come over on that side of the room until Grandpa promised her he wouldn't put her down. She did wave to Santa from her vantage point with Grandpa.


Our family of four. (Not too long until this will be a family of five!)

Joey's littlest fans. We were so excited that Mere and the kids came to watch and cheer on Joey (Dave would have been there too, but he was sick.)

Joey also had some out of town guests come! Grandpa and Nana and Grammy drove down just for the performance and dinner afterwards, and then drove back to Kansas. We were so excited they made the drive just to see Joey. He is one blessed little guy! (I know my parents would have driven for it as well if their drive wasn't 12 hours! I'm pretty sure my mom contemplated flying here for it, but probably not worth it for a 30 minute performance.) :) I did get a lot of good video footage for them.

Grammy gave Joey a dollar after his performance. Joe said that this is what his great-grandma did for him when he was growing up. Too cute!

Loving on Grammy.

All smiles with Grandpa and Nana. Thanks again for coming, Jody and Jennifer! It meant a lot to us!