Matching Cuteness

These outfits were a Christmas gift from Grandma. The boys wore them to church today. I have NEVER seen anything cuter than Paul's face in this picture. He's excited because big brother is sitting next to him and holding his hand. Luke is looking pretty pleased with himself as well. Happy boys.

All Partied Out

This is a shot taken on December 23rd after the big Christmas party we attended. There were about 70 people and Baby Paul was completely enthralled with everyone. He fell asleep on the way home and actually made it to his crib still sleeping. This is very rare for him. And the results are pretty adorable. We did remove his coat eventually. :-)

Merry Christmas!

We had a wonderful Christmas celebration that began with singing Happy Birthday to Jesus and Luke blowing out the candle on the cake. He didn't actually want to eat any cake though! He had waffles instead. Baby Paul, meanwhile, had rice cereal. Yum!

Lest I bore you with a play-by-play of the morning, I will just tell you that it took Luke over six hours to get through the gift opening. There was too much fun to be had with each item opened. We had lots of breaks and enjoyed a leisurely morning.

Paul's first Christmas was exciting for him. He sat in his saucer and chewed on a variety of gifts. Good times.

Here are some shots of Luke putting together his wheelbarrow with Daddy, Paul being cute in his saucer and Luke enjoying his trains the day after Christmas.

Gingerbread and Visitors

Luke made his first gingerbread house with Oma today. It was a surprise for Mommy and Daddy who were out shopping when the process began. It was so much fun to arrive home and have Luke so engaged in the "building" and decorating of his house. Mommy and Daddy couldn't resist the urge to get in on the action. Too fun!

This decorating business is very serious work.

Daddy joins in the fun.

Two architects and their masterpiece.

This afternoon we had two very special visitors. Jean and I have been friends ever since her son Paul was in my class as an 8th and 9th grader. No, he didn't flunk! He took German. That might be worse. Anyway, Paul was a good kid and grew up to be an amazing person, so we named our second-born after him. Big Paul and Baby Paul met for the first time today.

The Pauls

Big Paul, a junior at the Airforce Academy, can't actually be squeamish about a little baby drool, can he?

A good time was had by all, except perhaps Big Brother Luke who sat in his crib for two hours straight refusing to nap and was rather manic by the time the guests arrived. Oh dear. Such is the life of the two year old. Hopefully tomorrow will be different as we are headed to an evening Christmas party with 70 attendees. At least it will be noisy enough to drown out his screams. :-)

Waking a Sleeping Giant

"Is Daddy asleep?"

Don't look now, Luke...

GOTCHA!

Five Months Old

Paul turned five months on Sunday. Check out the cute!

I'm so glad he can't talk yet. I would be in BIG trouble. :-)

Tree Traditions

We actually did acquire our Christmas tree last weekend. Sunday after lunch, Erik and I braved the gross weather and drove to the tree farm nearby the one we thought belonged to our BSF friend. Stay tuned for the crazy conclusion to that story. When we arrived it was pouring down rain. I spotted the tree from our vehicle. Small, easy to cut. I didn't notice the red tag denoting that the tree farmers wanted to give it another year to grow. So we didn't cut it down. When we shared with them that we were interested in a small tree, they pointed to a few they had already cut and asked if we wanted a "less than perfect tree". We picked the Charlie Brownest tree they had for the amazing bargain price of $5. While writing the check, I asked whom I should make it to. Turns out this "nearby farm" IS the BSF dude's tree farm. Funny.
We brought our little tree home and had it up in its stand before Luke awoke from his nap. When he came out to the living room he said, "Oh, my Christmas tree." We spent the next few hours decorating and dancing. When it was all done, we turned off the lights to enjoy our handiwork. Luke said, "And now we will sing the song." Fortunately I was prepared. He had been talking about singing "the song" for the Christmas tree all week and I had figured out that he was referring to the Charlie Brown Christmas Special when all the characters gather around the restored and decorated tree to sing. Having discovered that this was Luke's expectation for the Christmas tree event, we all sat around the tree and sang "Hark, the Herald Angels Sing." Great family tradition. Thanks, Luke.

I love the less than perfect trees. They remind me of...me. And Jesus picked me out of the "less than perfect" pile, and He is restoring and decorating me, turning me into the person I was made to be in Him.

Some Snow and Sleeping Sons

It snowed for approximately 20 minutes this morning as we were finishing breakfast. We immediately bundled Luke and sent him out. You have to take what you can get in this neck of the woods. Oma went with him and we took some pictures of Luke in the "snow." That dandruff looking stuff on his shoulders and hood really is snow.
Shortly after the snow moment, we piled into the car to go get our Christmas tree. Sadly this did not happen! Our tree farm of choice, owned by a friend from BSF, isn't open until next weekend. We were contemplating another choice when Luke fell asleep and we thought it best to head home. The hat is courtesy of Grandma. When we first put it on Luke and showed him his reflection he said, "I'm a bunny!" He changed it later to, "I'm an elephant!" Either way he's adorable. Paul has a matching one, but he wasn't facing forward or wearing it, so that picture has yet to be taken.

Lest we forget how adorable Paul looks while sleeping, I just took this picture of him in his swing. He often spends time in the evenings down in the basement with Mommy and Daddy. Sometimes he sleeps, sometimes he doesn't. Tonight he does, hence the post. :-)