Christmas with the Moores

Tim's pasta and good company. The kids were the center of attention, of course. We have a new foosball table to assemble :o) All the photos were taken by ADAM. Enjoy.

Sledding

Adam, Christopher and Julia went sledding in our neighborhood today. Christopher somehow lost his socks... I have no idea how!

Christmas at Grandma/Grandpa Browns

On the 26th we ventured out (thank you to the Wachners for loaning us your snow tires!) and made it over to Tim's parents for our official Christmas celebration. It was so nice to get out of the house! The roads were OK, but our street was still not plowed so it was a little tricky to get out of the driveway. Anyway, we made it there and we had a great time opening gifts, playing Wii and eating Mary's famous Christmas Eve chicken. The dogs all had fun too (all 5 of them!).

Tim and Alex exchanging glances. Alex didnt have the best day - he has a cold and was a bit out of sorts.

The gang.....

Adam and Grandpa putting together the Bionicle.

Enjoying some quality time with Aunt Carrie and Baxter...

Adam tried playing the Wii for the first time. He is a natural (uh oh). He now has the record high score in Bowling of 200-something.... The Wii belongs to Carrie, but we are hoping that Grandpa is hooked so he will buy one for his house!

THE SNOW

About 12 inches, I'd say. So many snow drifts. We had a 4ft one in between our house and the neighbors. We are running out of places to put it, since we share a driveway with the neighbors and our two houses are there. We are in trouble if it snows again!

Christmas Day 2009

It's still snowing and Santa came! The kids were up at their usual time (6am) and Adam was ready to run downstairs immediately. He found the castle that he asked for, and some other things stuffed in his stocking. We all had a nice morning and enjoyed our new goodies. Alex got a toy train that sings and talks (how fun for us!). Our friend Jed cross-country skied over to our house from his place a few blocks away. And our friend Jim walked over, too. Both were stuck here without their families. Tim made some sort of runza-like dish (which was very good) and we at chili, played, watched TV, drank wine and the boys scooped the driveway. That was ALOT of work for them. We aren't able to leave the house yet, so better to just get cozy and enjoy. Aften the kids went to bed I snuck over to the neighbors and we watched Elf and did a puzzle. Nice and relaxing. We had a great Christmas but missed seeing our family. There is so much snow!

Mommy and Alex enjoy some Christmas snuggling....

Santa brought Alex a book all about dump trucks......

Adam playing with his Knights castle. We had to put it on the dining room table so that you-know-who would not knock everything over!

Alex is parked in front of some of his loot. He loves the little (actually its big) toy train that Santa brought.

Soon after (like 10 minutes) opening all his gifts, Alex walked into the kitchen and got into the utensil drawer. Just another day in his world! I remember Adam also doing this when he was 18 months old, too. Spoons are so fun.

Christmas Eve 2009

The snow started around 3pm and we ventured out to St. John's for 5pm services. It was a nice service and the boys sat very well considering it was almost 90 minutes long. Adam was happy to be able to ring his bell and shine his flashlight during the service. We had Tim's parents and sister Carrie over the dinner afterwards. By the time we got home, there was a blizzard outside with very high winds and lots of snow. Luckily the Brown's have an Avalanche (truck) so they cruised along just fine. Adam opened one present and fell asleep watching Frosty the Snowman.

Here is Tim's yummy prime rib that we had for dinner...

The Brown gang....
The table.....
Boys hanging out in front of the tree with anticipation....

The Christmas Cookies

Adam and I made Christmas cookies this afternoon. He was a great helper. I rolled the dough and he cut the shapes and put them on the cookie sheet. He and Dad decorated. I ran out of yellow and green food coloring so most of the cookies are blue.

The New Sled

My parents gave us a new sled, which is actually a really OLD sled (well, at least as old as I am - which is getting up there...). Its the old Yankee Clipper with the real metal runners that go flying down the hill. We tested it this morning and it works! Seeing it in action again brought back a lot of memories for me. Adam loved the sled and Alex got all bundled up for his very first sledding trip.

Adam out of control on the sled! Whee!

Alex on his very first sled ride. After this photo was taken, Tim used his foot to stop the sled and Alex got covered in snow and his boot fell off. He still seemed to enjoy it though!

Getting back up the hill. Notice who isn't sledding and taking photos instead?

Alexanders Baptism

On Dec. 19th, Alexander James was baptized (or Bap-a-tized, as Adam says) at St. Pius X Church. We were joined by our parents and Alexanders God "family", Anna, Jim, Julia and Christopher Nubel. It was a nice private ceremony and Alex didnt mind having water poured on his head at all! He actually closed his eyes as if he were about to enjoy a nice spa treatment. He looked real handsome in his shirt and tie. After the ceremony we had dinner and his tie was covered with Macaroni and Cheese.

Adam's Christmas Program

The highly anticipated kindergarten Christmas program was held on Dec. 16th at St. Pius/St. Leo school. There are four kindergarten classrooms and they all joined together to sing at least 8 songs and recite poems in-between. The teachers are miracle workers, really. The kids did a great job and seemed to have a lot of fun singing and posing for the paparazzi that gathered in front of them. You would not believe the cameras and flashes and videos that were happening. We have a video which we'd love to share with you if you'd like a DVD. Just let us now. Here are just a couple of the photos - the lighting was bad so it was difficult to get good ones. Adam is in the back row toward the middle with his red Christmas tie on. So cute.

Bad Santa

Just in - I heard that Santa's underpaid helper who was working at Regency Mall has been replaced. Hopefully by a fun-loving jolly old elf with a belly that shakes like a bowl full of jelly.

Adam on the High Dive

Photos of '09 Blizzard

Here are some more photos of our little blizzard. The last one is our van, stuck in the street for 3 days. :o(.

DECEMBER 11th!

HAPPY 13 MONTH BIRTHDAY, ALEXANDER!

Star Wars in Concert

On Tuesday, Dec. 8th the Browns joined thousands of other crazy people and drove to the Qwest Center in a blizzard to see Star Wars in Concert. We did this because:

1) We paid for those tickets and we were going to use them!

2) Our wonderful neighbors offered us their 4WD and their babysitting services for Alex.

3) We have been keeping this a secret from Adam for months, and couldn't wait to see his face when he found out where he was going.

It was totally worth it. The look on Adam's face when the concert started was priceless. The concert was really quite impressive. A full orchestra and choir with a giant screen above them showing movie scenes. They told the story from beginning to end, showing clips of the movies and accompanying music. We have all heard the music, but I have never really sat and listened to it so carefully - its really so good. There is also that nostalgia that you feel when you hear the opening song with the Star Wars graphics. Such a great time. Here is the website for the concert - you can see a clip of what it was like. Sadly, we were so concerned about getting there safely that we forgot to pack the camera. Adam looked so cute - I took his Jedi costume so he put that one when we got there.

http://www.starwarsinconcert.com/

Here is a photo of Adam dressed up the next morning. He couldn't wait to be a Jedi.

Dear Santa...

Its been a busy weekend! This morning we took the boys to Regency mall to see Santa. Adam had pictures that he cut out of the toy catalog and glued to a piece of paper. He was very excited to show them to Santa... Alex screamed, of course. Adam loved it, but this Santa (clearly one of the real Santa's underpaid helpers) was pretty rough around the edges. He started telling Adam about shooting machine guns in vietnam, and we cut it short. (yes, he actually said that and yes, I have already emailed the mall management about it!). Ho Ho Ho.